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The Archbishop of Canterbury's office has withdrawn an interfaith award given to a Muslim cleric after past comments surfaced in which he praised Osama bin Laden.

Maulana Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi received the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation at Lambeth Palace last Friday, during a ceremony that coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Lambeth Palace announced the reversal Thursday after previous comments by Ashrafi had "come to light," causing it to reconsider the award.

"It is a longstanding principle of interfaith dialogue and co-operation that we must engage with one another across deeply-held differences, and that remains the case," Lambeth Palace said in a statement.

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"However, previous comments made by Imam Ashrafi have come to light that have led Lambeth Palace to reconsider this award and we can now confirm today that the award has been withdrawn," the statement continued. "We have contacted Imam Ashrafi to make him aware of this decision."

Lambeth Palace added that it continues "to pray for the Christian community in Pakistan, and for all those working for interfaith dialogue and harmony in Pakistan and around the world."

According to Lambeth Palace, the award was given to Ashrafi because of his "longstanding support for religious minorities in Pakistan, particularly the Christian community."

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According to the BBC, Ashrafi said in 2007 that bin Laden — the architect of the 9/11 attacks — had "been fighting for Islam against the Russians, Americans and British."

The BBC also reported that Ashrafi said he would give bin Laden the title "Saifullah," meaning "Sword of God."

Ashrafi told the BBC that his remarks had been "totally taken out of context" and described the backlash against him as an "unfair campaign."

He said he made the remarks about bin Laden in 2007 in response to "the hurt felt by many Muslims" over the British government's decision to knight "The Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie.

During the award presentation last week, the Archbishop's office said Ashrafi was being honored for "his outstanding work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan, known for his commitment to promoting religious tolerance."

Russian tactics designed to disrupt European nations forced neighboring Finland to fundamentally rethink its border security, culminating in the recent completion of a new border fence along its eastern frontier.

Finland constructed roughly 124 miles of fencing along its border with Russia — a secondary security measure intended to stem the flow of unauthorized Russian migrants, Petri Hakkarainen, political director for the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, told Fox News Digital.

"We have in the past witnessed Russia's attempts… to instrumentalize migrants at the Finnish border," Hakkarainen said. "Basically pushing migrants towards our borders, forcing us then to take them on."

A sudden influx forces the Finnish government to process large volumes of asylum claims, which could destabilize society if carried out on a massive scale, he explained. 

In response, Finland closed its entire land border with Russia in 2023. Moscow swiftly filed a formal complaint, condemning the closure as "Russophobic."

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The Kremlin expressed "deep regret" over the move, claiming it replaced decades of "pragmatic, mutually respectful relations" with an anti-Russian political stance.

Finland shares an 833-mile border with Russia — the longest of any European Union or NATO member state. The completed border fence supplements the border closures.

As Russia remains locked in a war of attrition in Ukraine, Western officials have accused Moscow of launching widespread destabilization campaigns, ranging from disinformation to state-sponsored economic coercion intended to erode public trust across Europe.

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"We think it's important to listen to those of us who live next door to Russia," Hakkarainen said. "Listen to our analysis of the situation: we consider Russia to be a long-term threat to transatlantic security — not only to Ukraine, not only to Europeans, but to transatlantic security as a whole."

Finland launched the border fence initiative after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a landmark conflict that prompted the historically neutral Nordic nation to join NATO in April 2023.

Moscow has long viewed NATO’s eastward expansion as a direct security threat, using it to justify reinforcing its western defenses. 

When Finland officially joined the alliance, Helsinki saw an immediate reaction: over 1,300 migrants without visa arrived at its eastern border.

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Finland accused Moscow of weaponizing migration as an act of "hybrid warfare," a charge the Kremlin denied.

Closing the border checkpoints has proven "very effective," Hakkarainen noted. Beyond physical barriers, Finnish lawmakers passed the Border Security Act. 

The temporary law allows border authorities to restrict asylum applications and turn back migrants if a foreign actor attempts to destabilize the country by funneling people across the border.

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While the law sparked some initial debate over potential human rights and international law violations, Hakkarainen emphasized that national defense took priority.

"We take these concerns very seriously," he said. "But national security and our own sovereignty... weighed more heavily in this conversation, though there is broad majority support for the act."

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"We take our security and preparedness very seriously," Hakkarainen added. 

"I would say not despite that, but because of that, we are able to lead very normal lives here — regardless of the neighbor we have."

Turkish authorities launched an unprecedented crackdown on the country’s LGBT community on Sunday, raiding gay bars and shutting down activist organizations, in what the government said are efforts to protect Turkey’s family values.

Since the nationwide crackdowns began, Turkish authorities have arrested and detained some 116 people across 15 provinces in actions against LGBT rights organizations and activists. The Turkish criminal justice system has also launched investigations of more than 160 people, according to Amnesty International.

Amnesty International reported that 180 social media accounts belonging to LGBT organizations, activists, journalists and media outlets have been blocked or restricted.

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"This appalling escalation in Türkiye’s crackdown amounts to a full-scale assault on LGBTI rights and those who defend them. The relentless raids, arrests and demonization of LGBTI people under the spurious guise of ‘protecting the families’ demonstrates why defending LGBTI rights in Türkiye is more important than ever," Esther Major, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, said in a statement.

In a statement posted on X, Turkey’s minister of justice, Akın Gürlek, said, "We are steadfastly continuing our efforts to protect the family, our children and our youth from all forms of exploitation, obscenity, crime and harmful content."

Gürlek stated that the Ministry of Justice sent a comprehensive directive to the 175 chief public prosecutor's offices in all of Turkey’s 81 provinces to go after content and behavior that the government considers opposed to "public morality" and harmful to the country’s youth.

"The best interests of our children are not open to debate for us. We will show no tolerance for any criminal organization targeting the institution of the family, the future of our youth, and the order of our society," Gürlek’s statement went on to say.

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Turkey’s focus on family values and traditional norms is part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Decade of Family and Population vision, a long-term strategy aimed at tracking population trends and promoting an increased fertility rate to spur population growth.

Many see Erdoğan’s renewed emphasis on "family values," and his targeting of groups he portrays as threats to those values, as an effort to cement his legacy.

An enduring question asked by analysts as Erdogan ages and approaches another election in 2028 is what kind of Turkey he leaves behind.

"Erdoğan’s ‘family values’ agenda is about more than defending conservative values, it is about defining what kind of society Turkey should be and who belongs in it," Gonul Tol, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital.

"The LGBT community is a particularly useful target because Erdoğan can portray it simultaneously as a threat to the traditional family, a Western import, and a symbol of the cultural values he says his movement is fighting against," Gonul added.

With protests against the moves beginning to take shape, the crackdowns show no signs of letting up, even as international attention and condemnation begins to pour in.

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Police used pepper spray against peaceful protesters in İzmir, along Turkey’s Aegean coast, and detained more than 95 people on Tuesday who had gathered outside İstanbul Courthouse in protest.

Turkey, which officially became a candidate for the European Union in 1999, received strong pushback from the commission.

A European Commission spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "The Commission is concerned about the recent arrests and legal proceedings initiated against LGBTIQ+ activists, human rights associations, and businesses, as well as of the blockages of websites and social media accounts, accompanied with allegations concerning funding of civil society organizations. We are following developments closely." 

The commission reiterated that Turkey, as an EU candidate and member of the Council of Europe, should promote and ensure respect for the human rights and dignity of all individuals, regardless of gender or sexual identity.

A spokesman for the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital, nor did the U.S. Embassy in Ankara or the State Department.

New satellite imagery shows Iran has added new defenses around tunnel entrances at Pickaxe Mountain, the deeply buried nuclear-linked site President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike, as Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a U.S.-drafted Security Council resolution aimed at preserving international monitoring of sanctions on Tehran.

The Institute for Science and International Security said in a report released Thursday that satellite imagery from Sept. 11 shows earthen roadblocks remain in place on roads leading to Pickaxe Mountain’s western tunnel portals near the Natanz nuclear complex. The institute said the continued restricted access reinforces its assessment that the facility is not currently being used for normal operations, while assessing that valuable equipment or materials remain inside.

The report also identified additional soil placed over one western tunnel portal and over a nearby cluster of entrances first built in 2007. The institute said the added soil increases the amount of earth protecting the entrances and helps harden them against aerial bombardment.

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The findings come one week after Trump issued his latest warning over Pickaxe Mountain.

"We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe," Trump told reporters last week. "I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard."

Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of attacking the site. In a July 28 "Fox & Friends" interview highlighted by the White House, Trump said the U.S. was watching Pickaxe closely and knew "exactly what’s going on," adding that Washington could "take out Pickaxe" if diplomacy failed.

Pickaxe Mountain lies roughly two kilometers from Natanz and features multiple tunnel entrances leading into a deeply buried underground complex. Construction began in 2020 following sabotage that damaged an advanced centrifuge assembly facility at Natanz, and Iranian officials subsequently said a replacement underground facility was being built for advanced centrifuge production. Analysts estimate portions of the facility may be buried at least 100 meters beneath the mountain. Iran has said there is no nuclear activity at the site.

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Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that some analysts believe the opportunity for a straightforward strike on Pickaxe Mountain may already have passed.

"The window to strike Pickaxe Mountain, according to some, has already expired because the regime has dug an underground nuclear facility several times deeper than Fordow," Ben Taleblu said. But he argued that Washington retains military options even if destroying the underground complex itself proves difficult.

"Washington can do what it’s traditionally been able to do with sites that are underground, hardened and fortified, and that’s to bury their entrances and raise the political cost to the Islamic Republic of being able to dig out," he said.

"While there may not be the perfect munition just yet, Uncle Sam always has a bigger bomb," Ben Taleblu added. "And in the meantime, what they can do is show that they mean business by burying the entrances."

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The Pickaxe findings came alongside signs of reconstruction at another sensitive Iranian facility.

In a separate report Thursday, the institute said Iran was "rapidly moving forward" with reconstruction of Taleghan 2 at the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran. Vantor Technologies satellite imagery from Sept. 13 shows Iran erected a tarp over the destroyed hardened facility, obscuring work underneath from satellite or aerial observation, while dump trucks, bulldozers, concrete equipment and cranes were active around the site.

The institute said Iran also built new concrete reinforcement that could provide additional protection against aerial attack. Taleghan 2 was struck by Israel in October 2024 and again in March 2026 after Iran had rebuilt and hardened the facility. The institute said significant questions remain about Tehran’s plans for the site.

The military developments unfolded alongside a separate confrontation over Iran at the United Nations.

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Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a U.S.-authored Security Council resolution that would have extended for another year, until September 2027, the mandate of the Panel of Experts supporting the 1737 Iran Sanctions Committee. The measure received 11 votes in favor, while Pakistan and Somalia abstained.

The panel investigates alleged sanctions violations and reports on implementation. The dispute reflects a deeper split over whether UN sanctions suspended under the 2015 nuclear agreement were legally restored through the "snapback" mechanism. Most Council members maintain that the sanctions and related monitoring structures were revived, while Russia and China reject the legal and procedural validity of that position.

A day before the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz told reporters in New York that Washington considers the sanctions legally restored.

"The snapback sanctions… occurred, the United States and this U.N. Security Council followed appropriate procedures for that to occur," Waltz said Wednesday at a news conference attended by Fox News Digital. "Those sanctions are in place and we expect those who are a party to fully enforce those sanctions."

Waltz said the expert panel is important because sanctioned companies and individuals can attempt to evade restrictions by changing names and corporate structures.

"The president has been clear, and the world community has been clear with resolution after resolution, that the Iranian regime cannot have a nuclear weapon," Waltz said.

Thursday also brought fresh U.N. scrutiny of both Washington and Tehran. An independent U.N. fact-finding mission said it had reasonable grounds to believe two U.S. strikes on civilian sites in Iran in February constituted war crimes, while separately concluding that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their crackdown on anti-government protests. The mission is investigative rather than judicial, and its findings do not themselves constitute criminal judgments.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Iran U.N. mission for comments but didn’t receive them in time for publication.

Saudi Arabia is currently facing "the biggest threat" ever to its production of oil as the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen are launching cross-border attacks and seizing territory near the Red Sea’s Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an expert told Fox News Digital.

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Thursday that the situation is escalating in the Middle East as Iran "likely instigated the Houthis to force a blockade on Saudi Arabia."

"I think this situation is really precarious for the Saudis. This is the biggest threat to their production of oil since their kingdom was founded in 1932. And this is almost existential," he said.

"We see that the Saudis are trying to shop for some force to fight their war for them. And I think along the lines, they also called President Trump. It doesn't look to me that Washington is going to get involved in this one," he added. "We'll probably offer them advice and tell support, but I don't think we, the United States, will get involved with this war over Bab el-Mandeb."

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Saudi Arabia was forced to temporarily close its East-West oil pipeline last week following a drone attack launched from Iraq, which Trump said he believes Iran was behind. Then on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia destroyed a Houthi drone that attempted to enter the airspace near Mecca, among other recent provocations.

"We know that the United States imposes a blockade on Iran, so Iran is unable to export any of its oil, licitly or illicitly. What the Iranians are trying to do is that they're trying to telegraph to the other oil exporters in the region that either we export, all of us export oil, or none of us will export oil," Abdul-Hussain told Fox News Digital. "This is why you see Iran shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. This forced Saudi Arabia to switch its oil production from east to west, from Hormuz to the other side to the Red Sea. Tankers started picking up oil at the port of Yanbu in Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea and sailing south through the Bab al-Mandeb all the way to the Asian markets.

"Iran didn't like this because clearly all or none didn't work," he said. "So they likely instigated the Houthis to force a blockade on Saudi Arabia."

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Fox News Digital, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported on Friday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged Trump to take military action against the Houthis.

Trump then said the next day during a visit to Ireland that "the Houthis called us and they don’t want to fight with us."

"They let us know, they don’t want to fight with us...they don’t want us to go after them," Trump added. "But they have called and they have talked to us, and they don’t want us to, they would much prefer not having us involved."

Abdul-Hussain told Fox News Digital that "Our expectation as Washington is that the Saudis, with all these arms that we've sold them over the past few decades, with all the military support and advice we give them, that they should be able to protect their own tankers and ships in this waterway and keep it open.

"The Houthis announced that they're only going after Saudi ships and Saudi navigation and they made it clear that they are not going after international shipping, whether [they] are U.S. ships or European ships," he continued. "So this forces a choice on us. Do we go to war with the Houthis out of nowhere, even though they're not willing to, or at least they didn't wage war on our ships and our navigations through Bab el-Mandeb?"

"Or we ask the Saudis to handle this, you know, after all the Houthis are not really a state, they're a non-state actor and Saudi Arabia should be able to deal with them," Abdul-Hussain added. "Unfortunately, the Saudis don't seem to have been able to deal with the Houthis."

A senior administration official told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the U.S. remains focused on protecting core national security interests such as the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea while simultaneously empowering allies in the region to manage and resolve security challenges.

The Trump administration also remains in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and Yemen over regional stability , the official added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.

A family member of Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish lawyer who escaped Europe during World War II and coined the term "genocide," is in a fight to have his name removed from a Pennsylvania nonprofit organization that accuses Israel of the exact term he came up with.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security has "warned of genocide in Gaza since Oct. 13, 2023," less than a week after Hamas terror attacks killed about 1,200 and resulted in the capture of 251 hostages in 2023.

On Oct. 28, 2023, the institute issued a "statement of mourning for the Gazans and the world," saying that "these two major military powers [the U.S. and Israel] are committing genocide in Gaza only weeks after actively enabling genocide against another besieged people: the Armenians of Artsakh." It also warned that "if the world allows these two powers to continue to act with this level of impunity, genocide will become the normative policy of both dictatorships and the world’s so-called democracies alike."

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The man calling for the change is Joseph Lemkin — whose father was Raphael’s cousin — and the sole survivor after his family of six was killed during the Holocaust. Joseph told Fox News Digital that growing up the son of a Holocaust survivor meant being followed by "a black cloud" that colored his entire life.

In one example, he explained that when the families at his Jewish day school placed ads during an annual banquet to celebrate their successes, his father wrote a yearly commemoration of the memories of his more than 40 family members who died during the Holocaust, including his parents and brother killed at Auschwitz and two brothers who died after joining underground resistance groups.

He said his father raised funds for the impoverished Raphael’s funeral when he died in 1959, and worked until weeks before his death to fundraise for the betterment of his fellow Jewish Americans.

Joseph’s experience as the child of a Holocaust survivor came to mind again when his teenage son showed him a social media post from the Lemkin Institute using the family name to accuse Israel of genocide.

"Seeing the impact and how my son came across it made me really more concerned about it," Lemkin said.

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In an effort to keep the family name from being "turned on its head," he said he has worked with the European Jewish Association (EJA) to submit a letter of complaint to the office of Democrat Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and to Pennsylvania’s Department of State’s Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations. In June, Lemkin and his team also sent out letters referencing their concerns to other leaders in Pennsylvania.

In response to a request from Shapiro’s office for additional information, Lemkin and the EJA submitted a 32-page comprehensive legal submission and statement of facts and a 58-page evidentiary appendix in April 2025. He said that he believes that an investigation has been opened into the complaint.

Pennsylvania's Department of State spokesman, Geoff Morrow, told Fox News Digital "the Department [of State] cannot confirm or deny whether any organization has had a complaint filed against it or is under investigation."

Gov. Shapiro’s office did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

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In an Oct. 13, 2025 press release responding to an op-ed, The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention stated that "it is very hard to imagine that Raphael Lemkin would not have seen the genocidal dynamics of the present conflict early on, given his definition of the term and his historical studies. We share Raphael Lemkin’s belief in the need for a Jewish national home, but that has not meant that we are unable to see the genocide before our eyes."

The same press release also noted that "Joseph Lemkin does not speak for the entire Lemkin family, nor does he officially represent a Lemkin estate. We have Lemkin family members on our side who reached out to us after October 7, 2023. Peter Lemkin, in whose childhood home Raphael Lemkin was a frequent visitor, has been particularly supportive, offering encouragement, sharing insights into Lemkin’s work, and informing us of his family's close collaboration in the effort to get the Genocide Convention ratified by states."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the institute again questioned Joseph’s representation of Raphael, stating in part that "Over the years, members of the Lemkin family have reached out to express their support for our work. Joseph Lemkin has expressed his disagreement with our work. There is no legal battle between the Lemkin Institute and the Lemkin family."

Peter Lemkin did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. Nor did another family member identified to Fox News Digital by the institute as being supportive of its work. 

The statement to Fox News Digital continued, "The Institute was founded in 2016/2017. In 2021, it was renamed to honor the life and work of Raphael Lemkin, whose research and moral commitments, reflected not only in the 1948 Genocide Convention but also in the many case studies he completed before his untimely death at age 59, have deeply influenced the work of the Institute's founders. Since Raphael Lemkin died without heirs or an estate, there was no official representative for the Lemkin family to contact for permission," it stated.

The statement also noted that "The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is an all-volunteer organization founded to fill the gaps in genocide prevention that co-founders Dr. Elisa von Joeden-Forgey and Dr. Irene Massimino observed during several visits to Northern Iraq in 2016 and 2017, when they met with religious leaders, government officials, and survivors of ISIS genocide, including Yezidi, Christians, Shabak-Shia, Kakay and other religious, national, and ethnic minorities.

It continued, "This includes, of course, security for the Jewish people, who continue to be the targets of one of the oldest and most lethal global genocidal ideologies — antisemitism. This also includes Palestinians, Darfuris, Armenians, Artsakhsis, Rohingya, Ukrainians, Uighurs, Amhara, trans people, Yezidis, many Christian populations, many Muslim populations, Somalilanders, Kurds, the Karakalpak, many Black and Native communities in the Western Hemisphere, and far too many other groups to mention here. Our world is unfortunately awash in genocide and it benefits all humanity for all of us to be involved in preventing the crime."

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The institute utilized the October 2025 press release to start a fundraising campaign "to cover urgent legal fees, hire a full-time administrator, and ensure the survival of the Lemkin Institute." They stated that "the attempt to discredit us or to shut down our work is part of a wider effort to silence opposition to Israel’s genocide in the USA. But we will not allow our work to be smeared, or our voices to be silenced."

Israeli civil rights attorney and president of the Shurat HaDin Law Center, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who is not party to the dispute, told Fox News Digital that "the real question is not simply ‘standing,’ but whether the Institute has a lawful right to use Raphael Lemkin’s name in a manner that implies his endorsement, his family’s authorization, or fidelity to his beliefs. The Institute apparently never received permission from Lemkin, his estate, or an authorized representative when it appropriated the name. While using a deceased scholar’s name is not automatically unlawful, it becomes legally actionable when it misleads donors and the public, creates a false impression of endorsement, constitutes deceptive charitable solicitation, or appropriates the reputation and goodwill attached to that individual’s identity."

Commenting recently on the growing threat of antisemitism worldwide after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, renowned historian Sir Simon Schama called accusations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza a "blood libel" in his keynote address at the Holocaust Educational Trust on Sept. 7. Schama stated that "We, the victims of the greatest genocide the world has ever seen, are being called perpetrators of genocide."

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has published multiple reports on the Israel-Gaza war which allege genocide by Israel. On May 28, 2024, they wrote that "even if there were legitimate doubts about Israel’s genocide, there is no doubt that Israel is committing atrocity crimes of the most barbaric kind. Israel must be stopped." 

The Institute also said it is "disgusted by Western leaders, especially in the USA, Germany, and the U.K. They have demonstrated not only that they don’t care one bit about genocide prevention and human rights, but also that they are willing to allow an ally to commit atrocity crimes while they offer material and diplomatic support." The Lemkin Institute suggested that "they should also be put on trial."

Video captured an Iranian flight descending into chaos Tuesday as sudden, violent shaking appeared to tear apart the plane's cabin, causing overhead compartments and ceiling panels to collapse onto passengers.

The incident happened during a Sepehran Airlines Boeing 737 flight over Iran that departed from Mashhad for Kermanshah, according to Jam Press.

According to the outlet, the aircraft may have suffered engine damage and a tire blowout during takeoff.

During the chaos, the plane's cabin appeared to disintegrate, causing ceiling panels and debris from damaged bins to fall and strike travelers. Passengers were heard screaming and praying as they held their hands up against the falling debris.

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The pilot reportedly declared an emergency landing and sought to return to Mashhad Hashemi Nejad International Airport in Iran.

The aircraft landed safely, Jam Press said, citing NeedToKnow. No injuries were reported among the 127 passengers and crew members.

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The incident caused the temporary closure of one of the airport's two runways.

An investigation into the incident is underway, reports said.

Passengers were reportedly placed on another flight to complete their journey.

According to Jam Press, decades of international sanctions have left Iran's aviation industry struggling to access newer Western-built aircraft, genuine spare parts and other modern upgrades.

Local carriers have been forced to rely on aging aircraft while completing complex maintenance on their fleets.

NEW YORK — Israel and Morocco agreed Wednesday to upgrade their diplomatic missions to full embassies and exchange ambassadors, nearly six years after Morocco joined the U.S.-brokered normalization drive that reshaped Israel’s relations with parts of the Arab world.

The agreement came during a trilateral meeting in New York between U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, one day after officials marked the sixth anniversary of the Abraham Accords.

The original accords were signed by Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on Sept. 15, 2020. Morocco followed through with a separate U.S.-Morocco-Israel Joint Declaration signed in Rabat on Dec. 22, 2020, restoring official contacts and committing the countries to move toward full diplomatic relations, direct flights and expanded economic cooperation.

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Wednesday's agreement advances several of those commitments. Israel and Morocco agreed to establish full embassies and exchange ambassadors, reinstate direct flights by both Israeli and Moroccan airlines before the end of 2026 and finalize agreements on investment protection and avoidance of double taxation.

The countries also pledged to expand cooperation in trade, finance, technology, tourism, water, agriculture, food security, energy, telecommunications and regional security, according to a Sept. 16 joint statement.

The statement also reaffirmed U.S. and Israeli recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and support for Morocco's autonomy proposal as the basis for resolving the territorial dispute.

But the discussion quickly widened beyond Morocco to whether the normalization framework could eventually include Saudi Arabia.

Asked by Fox News Digital whether Saudi Arabia could be the next country to join the Abraham Accords — amid reports of growing Israeli-Saudi security cooperation against the Iran-backed Houthis — Waltz focused on the regional threat posed by the Houthis and their attacks on international shipping.

"The scourge of terrorism from them is unacceptable to the entire region," Waltz said. "They continue to act as a proxy of the Iranian regime."

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"You cannot attempt to punish the rest of the world to achieve a political end," he added. "The oceans, trade, and international waterways must remain open."

The comments come as the Houthis have made major gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Reuters reported Sept. 16 that the offensive has exposed new vulnerabilities for Saudi Arabia and strengthened Iran's regional leverage.

The 18-mile-wide Bab el-Mandeb links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and carries roughly 7% of global oil output. Houthi attacks beginning in 2023 forced major shipping companies to reroute vessels around Africa, increasing costs and transit times.

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Sa’ar said the threats at Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz demonstrated why countries with shared interests should cooperate.

"What’s happening in Bab al-Mandab, like what's happened in Strait of Hormuz, demonstrates the significance of all nations that want to respect freedom of navigation, world trade, and cooperate against this kind of modern piracy," Sa’ar said.

He declined to elaborate on any operational cooperation involving Saudi Arabia but made clear Israel wants the normalization framework expanded.

"It is clear that we would like this camp to be widened," Sa’ar told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP CALLS ON ARAB NATIONS TO SIGN ABRAHAM ACCORDS

Bourita, meanwhile, said that Morocco's experience demonstrates that relations with Israel can also give Arab governments practical tools to help Palestinians.

"We can help the Palestinians, humanitarianly, because we have these relations with Israel," Bourita said.

During the Gaza war, Morocco used its ties with Israel to secure a land route for 40 tons of humanitarian assistance into northern Gaza in March 2024. "Is it better to continue in the rhetorics, political positions, while sitting in our cities, our capitals, or take initiatives?" Bourita asked.

"We don't agree with Israel 100%. Each one may have its policy," he said, arguing that Morocco uses the "Abraham Accords spirit" to "promote peace" and "promote stability in the region."

Bourita also pointed to Morocco's participation in Gaza stabilization efforts.

"I think it needs courage to contribute to peace," he said, "and it's easier to keep on making statements and engaging in rhetorics."

Waltz echoed that argument, praising Morocco's humanitarian work and its role in postwar Gaza efforts.

"It is far more than just signing agreements or coming to ceremonies," Waltz said. "The Moroccan government, the Moroccan people are leaning in, in very meaningful ways for a more peaceful future."

President Donald Trump recently amplified a report about a U.S. government investigation that referred more than 100 current or former UNRWA employees over alleged ties to Hamas — as a new watchdog report accuses the U.N. agency of overstating how much it has reformed.

The scrutiny, which included Trump sharing the report on Truth Social in August, comes as Geneva-based UN Watch released a report Monday challenging UNRWA’s claim that it has completed 41 of the 50 reforms recommended by an independent review led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

UN Watch says that when it compared UNRWA’s claims with what Colonna actually recommended, at most 13 of the 50 reforms had been completed as prescribed. The group argues that UNRWA repeatedly counted drafting policies, launching pilot programs or creating plans as completed reforms even when full implementation had not occurred.

UN AGENCY ACCUSED OF HAMAS TIES SEES ANOTHER EUROPEAN NATION CUT FUNDING

"UNRWA is grading its own homework — and giving itself credit for reforms that exist mainly on paper," UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer told Fox News Digital. "A policy is not a reform if it is ignored, unenforced or blocked by staff unions dominated by Hamas."

Among the examples cited in the report is staff vetting. UNRWA lists a "Commercial Vetting Pilot & Costed Plan" as completed, along with other screening measures. UN Watch argues that a pilot and implementation plan do not amount to a fully operational outside vetting system.

The report also challenges UNRWA’s education reforms. UNRWA lists systematic textbook reviews and randomized classroom inspections among completed steps, while a policy prohibiting problematic educational content is still described as "in progress."

Colonna herself said when presenting her review in April 2024 that some educational content remained problematic, citing "glorification of jihad," incitement to violence and maps that did not show Israel, while calling for a zero-tolerance approach.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TOUTS MORE THAN $1B IN UN BUDGET CUTS AS REFORM PUSH GAINS MOMENTUM

Pressed by Fox News Digital at Tuesday’s U.N. briefing over who independently verifies whether the reforms are actually working on the ground, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric defended the process.

"It is not just checking boxes for the sake of checking boxes," Dujarric said, "It’s about the implementation of those things."

Dujarric said UNRWA regularly reports to the General Assembly, holds integrity meetings open to member states and gives governments opportunities to scrutinize what the agency is doing.

WATCHDOG DEMANDS APOLOGY AFTER UN MEMORIAL ERRONEOUSLY HONORS HAMAS TERRORIST

Asked specifically about staff screening, he said UNRWA relies in part on countries where it operates.

"We rely on the member states also, where we operate, who have the capacity to check people to do so," Dujarric said, adding that UNRWA shares staff lists with Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese and Syrian authorities. "If there are concerns, they need to be shared directly with UNRWA. When they are, they take action."

The Colonna review was commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in February 2024 after allegations that UNRWA employees had participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Guterres accepted all 50 recommendations in April 2024 and agreed with UNRWA leadership to establish an action plan to implement them.

Neuer rejected the idea that the disagreement is merely about terminology.

"This is not a semantic disagreement over the meaning of ‘completed,’" he said. "UNRWA says the job is done, yet teachers tied to terrorist organizations remain in classrooms, Hamas-dominated unions obstruct discipline, and children continue to be exposed to incitement. Those are real-world consequences, not technicalities."

Critics are slamming Norway over new legislation that they say singles out Jews. The proposed law could send individuals to prison for up to three years for knowingly conducting certain forms of business with Israeli communities in the West Bank.

The proposal, introduced by Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, would prohibit the importation of goods originating in Israeli communities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the exportation of goods to those communities. It would also restrict certain real estate transactions, construction and engineering services and investments in businesses headquartered and operating there.

Intentional violations could result in fines, imprisonment for up to three years or both, while negligent violations could carry fines, imprisonment for up to six months or both, according to Section7 of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official consultation document.

ISRAEL’S E1 PLAN EXPLAINED: THE JERUSALEM-AREA CORRIDOR SPARKING INTERNATIONAL BACKLASH

The measure remains under public consultation, with responses due Sept. 19, and has not yet been enacted.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, condemned the proposal in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"Norway’s proposal to criminalize trade with Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria is the latest expression of their obsessive and openly hostile policy toward Israel. Instead of contributing to peace or regional stability, Norway has chosen political grandstanding, selective outrage and punitive measures against Israel. This approach damages bilateral relations, encourages rejectionism, and exposes just how detached Norwegian policy has become from the realities of the Middle East."

The Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Northern Europe Department also referred Fox News Digital to a statement it posted on X condemning the proposal.

US AMBASSADOR HUCKABEE SLAMS EXTREME GROUP OF ISRAELI SETTLERS FOR SEIZING PALESTINIAN HOMES ON WEST BANK

"Norway’s legislative proposal to criminalize trade with Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria is the latest example of the Norwegian foreign minister’s obsessive anti-Israel activism on the global stage. Norway has repeatedly chosen to sacrifice its bilateral relationship with Israel in favor of one-sided rhetoric and hostile actions that serve domestic interests, undermine efforts to reach peaceful solutions, and are completely detached from the reality in the Middle East."

In response to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred the outlet to its June 19 press release announcing the proposed legislation. The release states that Israeli settlements violate international law and undermine prospects for a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and freedom.

"By proposing legally binding prohibitions, the government makes it clear that Norwegian citizens and Norwegian companies must not profit from or support activities that help sustain Israel’s unlawful settlement activity in Palestine," Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in the release.

Eide also said the settlements contribute to "displacement, extreme violence and a situation that makes a peaceful solution impossible."

UN AGENCY ACCUSED OF HAMAS TIES SEES ANOTHER EUROPEAN NATION CUT FUNDING

The ministry cited United Nations Security Council findings and International Court of Justice advisory opinions supporting its position on the settlements’ illegality. It said the proposed restrictions would cover imports and exports, property purchases, certain property-related services and acquisitions of businesses with headquarters and production in the settlements, while safeguarding legitimate Palestinian activities and humanitarian assistance.

The proposed legislation would exempt humanitarian activities, as well as transactions the government determines have "sufficient Palestinian ties" and do not contribute to the construction, expansion or maintenance of Israeli communities.

Dag Juliussen, national director of the Norwegian branch of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, said that the exemption could permit business with Palestinian residents while criminalizing comparable transactions involving Jewish residents in the same territory.

"The bill is based on a fundamentally misguided understanding of the Middle East conflict, which in turn rests on a rewriting of history," Juliussen said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "In addition, such a law would effectively serve as a reward for terrorism and, at its core, is deeply racist toward Jews."

CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS TAKE ON ANTI-ISRAEL ‘PROPAGANDA’ FROM BIBLICAL HEARTLAND

The consultation document does not characterize the proposal as targeting Jews. Instead, it says the measure is intended to prevent commercial activity that helps maintain Israeli communities beyond the pre-1967 lines, while shielding qualifying Palestinian commerce and humanitarian assistance.

Under the proposal, exemptions would be evaluated according to the people involved who benefit from the transaction and whether the activity contributes to the construction, expansion or maintenance of an Israeli community.

Juliussen said purchasing agricultural products from Muslim, Christian, Arab or Bedouin residents could be permitted, while purchasing similar products from Jewish residents could become a criminal offense. He argued that the determining factor would effectively be the identity of the seller.

Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state in 2024 and has become one of Israel’s strongest European critics since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.

Juliussen warned that the proposed legislation would not bring Israelis and Palestinians closer to peace but could instead deepen divisions and encourage extremist forces in the region.

Iran is deliberately targeting U.S. naval drones in the Strait of Hormuz to gather intelligence on American surveillance capabilities and learn how to evade U.S. defenses, drone experts warned Tuesday.

Tehran’s strategy is coordinated, they said, and involves exposing critical insights into U.S. Navy theater operations in the world’s most vulnerable maritime choke point even when classified data is uncompromised.

The warning came as tensions escalated in the Gulf region Sept. 14 after the U.S. military destroyed two Iranian small boats amid an attempted seizure by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of an American unmanned surface vessel (USV) patrolling the area, according to reports.

US MILITARY ATTACKS IRAN IN 'SELF-DEFENSE STRIKES' OVER WEEKEND

Iranian state media initially said the incident was a U.S. strike on civilian fishing vessels while its officials reported search-and-rescue operations off the coast of Kargan and near Larak Island, claiming local fishermen were missing.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins confirmed the attempted seizure on Tuesday.

"Iranian small boats recently attempted to take possession of a U.S. unmanned surface vessel, but they were unsuccessful after CENTCOM forcefully responded," Hawkins said.

"The surface drone remains under U.S. operational control."

"What’s going on with drones generally in the Strait right now—when we see all these types of intel capture missions that Iran is launching—we need to make no mistake that these are very coordinated, absolutely deliberate drone capture missions," Cameron Chell, CEO of U.S. drone manufacturer Draganfly, told Fox News Digital.

PENTAGON JUMPS FROM $225M TO $55B ON DRONES AS CHEAP ATTACKS OVERWHELM US DEFENSES

Chell warned that even a brief examination of a captured drone provides Tehran with a quick win by revealing how the U.S. conducts surveillance and how to counter those systems.

"If Iran captures a drone, it could give them an immediate tactical advantage," Chell said.

"It may not yield specific classified data, but it gives insight into the theater of operations, which at any given moment offers an advantage. I wouldn’t doubt it for a heartbeat that it is escalating." 

"Just getting little tidbits of intel starts to paint a picture, giving them different attack plans, battle plans, and thoughts on what the U.S. might be doing. I would be very surprised if this wasn’t an ongoing effort."

WHO CONTROLS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ RIGHT NOW? HERE'S WHAT THE SHIP TRAFFIC ACTUALLY SHOWS

Iran's attempts to capture drones underscore growing security volatility in the Strait of Hormuz, the vital international shipping lane where commercial transit has fallen below historic levels since the war broke out in February.

Chell emphasized that any access to captured hardware over the last six months would allow Iranian forces to evaluate sensitive onboard sensors.

"It really speaks to the bigger picture of how the whole intelligence infrastructure works of, say, the Navy, for example," Chell said.

"The other important thing is that when they get their hands on these drones—even if they’re only able to spend some time glimpsing at them before they have to evacuate or abort a mission—is they get a real understanding of the types of sensors on them."

IRAN SAYS ITS SMALL SUBS DEPLOYED TO STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS EXPERT EXPLAINS THREAT: ‘VULNERABLE TO DETECTION’

"That gives them a complete picture of how they can launch attacks and evade the type of sensing equipment out there," Chell continued.

"They can understand how to counter or measure the intelligence being gathered, and potentially use that design offensively in their own equipment."

The latest escalation also follows a Sept. 8 incident involving Iran’s capture of a Dive-LD autonomous underwater drone manufactured by defense contractor Anduril.

While Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey said the drone was designed to operate in "environments too dangerous for humans where capture is an expected possibility."

"I can't get into the details, but it provided significant value for months before capture," Luckey dded.

IRAN’S DRONE SWARMS CHALLENGE US AIR DEFENSES AS TROOPS IN MIDDLE EAST FACE RISING THREATS

"Unboxing ceremony by our reverse engineers, tomorrow morning!" Iran’s embassy in Hyderabad also wrote on X.

U.S. Navy representatives however, said the recovered drone was an older model that had malfunctioned and gone dead in the water.

"The U.S. being alert to the fact that these are high-value targets dictates where and how they use and protect them," Chell noted.

"I don’t doubt that the captured underwater drone had sensitive information on it, but that’s not the point. Again, the point is, they want to see the type of equipment and information being gathered, or view logs to see where it has been. This all just puts the U.S. on higher alert."

Tehran has previously leveraged captured U.S. assets—including an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone seized in 2011—to bolster domestic technology and regional propaganda.

Then-President Barack Obama publicly asked Tehran to return the aircraft. Iran later claimed it reverse-engineered the platform to build domestic lookalikes.

In 2022, a U.S. Navy patrol ship and an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter intercepted an Iranian naval vessel attempting to tow a Saildrone surface vessel in the Gulf.

RUSSIA PREPARING HYBRID ATTACKS ON NATO'S EASTERN FLANK, INTELLIGENCE WARNS

"Iran actually has a history of attempting this in the past, and at times has been successful," Chell said, noting Washington takes the threat "very, very seriously."

"In other instances where they’ve gotten sail ship drones, for example, and tried to bring them into Iranian territory—" Chell said, pointing back to the RQ-170 seizure: "a number of Iranian drones look suspiciously like the RQ line."

"Still, when the U.S. knows a drone has been captured, they adjust their tactics and operational overview accordingly," Chell, whose firm has been awarded a five-year contract by the Government of Canada to provide low-cost tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance uncrewed aircraft systems to the Canadian Armed Forces, concluded.

"There is no question that autonomy and unmanned systems are the new standard in warfare," Chell said.

Taraneh and Romina Rahimi were 19, still in high school and living with their mother when masked men came for them in the middle of the night.

According to their U.S.-based cousin, the twin sisters were dragged from their beds with bags placed over their heads about a month after they joined anti-regime protests in Isfahan. Their family was given no explanation and spent months searching courts, hospitals and government offices trying to determine where they had been taken.

Four months later, their mother, Marzieh Nourmohammadi, was finally allowed to see them at Dowlatabad Prison. She barely recognized her daughters.

ONE GLARING ISSUE GOES UNADDRESSED IN UN CHIEF'S HIGH-STAKES TALKS WITH IRAN'S PRESIDENT

Their cousin, Masoud Nourmohammadi, told The Guardian that the twins had badly swollen and bruised faces, injuries to their elbows, hands and feet, and significant hair loss that he said resulted from guards pulling them by their hair as they were moved between cells. He said their mother also learned that the sisters had been held in solitary confinement.

Now 20, Taraneh Rahimi faces execution over her alleged role in the January protests, while her twin sister could spend decades in prison, in a case unfolding amid a sharp rise in Iran’s use of the death penalty.

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that Taraneh was sentenced to death and an additional 11 years in prison, while Romina received a 36-year sentence. The sentences were issued by Branch 1 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court and remain initial-stage verdicts.

The twins are among 16 defendants prosecuted in what has become known as the "Isfahan Shohada Square" case. HRANA said 10 defendants received death sentences and the 16 defendants collectively received 256 years in prison.

The sisters’ family says the abuse was intended to force confessions.

IRAN JAILS PSYCHOLOGIST OVER TRUMP PLEA AS REGIME DEMANDS HE MAKE AMERICANS ‘LOOK STUPID’: FAMILY

Nourmohammadi told The Guardian that Taraneh was threatened that prison guards would rape Romina in front of her unless she signed a confession. The outlet reported that Taraneh later told the court that admissions attributed to her had been obtained through torture. Her mother was not permitted to attend the trial, according to the family.

Radio Farda separately reported, citing Nourmohammadi, that the sisters suffered physical and psychological abuse and were forced to confess to accusations they deny. The Hana Human Rights Organization told Fox News Digital they have verified the torture allegations.

Concerns about torture extend beyond the sisters. HRANA reported that another defendant in the same case, Ahmadreza Saeidi, told judges during the hearing that the investigating judge personally used an electric stun gun on his neck and genitals. Defense lawyers also reportedly complained that they had not been given access to substantial portions of the case file or adequate time to examine evidence before trial.

The sentences come as rights organizations document a sharp rise in executions across Iran.

COULD NARGES MOHAMMADI UNITE IRAN’S OPPOSITION? HUSBAND SAYS IMPRISONED NOBEL LAUREATE STILL FIGHTING

The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran documented 901 executions during the first seven months of 2026, including 56 people executed on political or national-security charges.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran program senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that the executions should be viewed as part of a broader campaign by Tehran to suppress dissent at home.

"Despite the war in the region, despite the drone war, the missile war, the war over the Strait of Hormuz, the real war is the one that's happening on a day-to-day basis inside the Islamic Republic," Ben Taleblu said. "The Islamic Republic is quite literally cracking skulls, cracking down on civil society, on dissidents, on protesters."

Among those imprisoned in Iran’s broader crackdown is Seyed Ahmad Seyedabdollahi, a 32-year-old psychologist whose case Fox News Digital reported in August.

Seyedabdollahi posted an English-language video on Jan. 4 appealing directly to President Donald Trump to support Iranian protesters, according to his relatives and Fox News Digital’s previous reporting. He was arrested 10 days later and ultimately sentenced to seven months in prison and barred from government and public services for five years.

His relatives told Fox News Digital that Iranian authorities later pressured him to record another video insulting Trump and Americans and alleged that he was subjected to solitary confinement and torture.

The Hana Human Rights Organization reported Aug. 9 that Seyedabdollahi had been held in Borujen Prison since July 7 and that authorities opened a second case against him on a charge of "propaganda against the system of the Islamic Republic." Hana also confirmed that he was serving a seven-month sentence and had received a five-year disqualification from public and governmental services.

His relatives confirmed to Fox News Digital that authorities have continued pressuring him to say he was a "foreign agent" paid by the U.S. government. They also said authorities revoked his professional license, adding financial pressure on his family.

Ben Taleblu said Tehran has followed a similar pattern after previous periods of external conflict, turning its attention inward against perceived opponents.

INSIDE TEHRAN: IRANIANS DESCRIBE IRGC'S BRUTAL RULE, POVERTY — ASK TRUMP TO 'STAY THE COURSE'

"We saw this trend in the aftermath of the 12-day war as well," Ben Taleblu said. "Lose a war abroad, come home and pretend like you're the victor."

"Simply here, the Islamic Republic is continuing the longest war it's ever fought, which is the 47-year war against the Iranian people," he added.

Wednesday marks four years since the Sept. 16, 2022, death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained three days earlier by Iran’s morality police over what authorities described as "improper hijab." Her death sparked nationwide protests that became known internationally as the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement. The U.N. said reports that Amini had been beaten in custody warranted an independent investigation, while Iranian authorities maintained that she died of "natural causes."

'KILLING OFF THE COUNTRY': IRAN EXECUTES DOZENS, ARRESTS 4,000-PLUS IN WAR CRACKDOWN

The 2022 uprising was itself part of a longer cycle of unrest. Nationwide demonstrations beginning in December 2017 rapidly spread across Iran and represented the largest challenge to the government since the 2009 Green Movement. The 2017-18 protests were followed by another major nationwide wave in 2019 and then the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising.

Ben Taleblu argued that whenever another major protest movement emerges, Western governments should be prepared to help Iranians communicate with one another and the outside world, particularly when authorities shut down internet access.

"We know every single time another major protest is happening, the way the regime cracks down is to first turn off the internet," he said. "That means the regime fears what comes of coordination between Iranians and fears what comes of when the Iranians are able to send their message outside to the international community."

"The partners of the Iranian people, America, Israel, the West, these are largely all cyber superpowers," Ben Taleblu said. "We should not let the Iranian people continue to die in the darkness."

It's known as the "Red-Green Alliance" — a political coalition between Europe's far-left parties and Islamist groups that is increasingly shaping policy, particularly regarding Israel as the continent experiences a worrying rise in antisemitism that critics are linking to this partnership. 

With the rise of Muslim voters across Europe, many on the left and extreme-left are being influenced by this increasingly important voting bloc. 

Just last week in the U.K., critics accused the left-wing Labour government of sanctioning Israel as a ploy to win back Muslim voters from the far-left, anti-Israel Green and Independent parties. Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat called the sanctions' announcement "performative politics."

In Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Sweden, exit polling from the state broadcaster shows that votes from non-European Swedes are giving an alliance of left-wing parties a narrow three-seat lead over a right-leaning coalition led by current Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

GERMAN OFFICIALS WARN ISLAMIST, FAR-LEFT RHETORIC DRIVING SPIKE IN ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS

One Swedish political researcher, Tobias Hübinette, pointed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani's win in New York City and said that the numbers in the Swedish election show a growing divide not only between rural and urban voters but that this "election meant a 'Mamdanification' of urban Sweden, and the gap between city and country is now larger than ever before," he wrote on X.

"They should be in disagreement," Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, the senior envoy to Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Fox News Digital, "but the Islamists are very capable of covering that up for political purposes… The antisemitism that we have today, in particular in Western Europe, is definitely fed far more (by) the far left's discourse."

Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society Executive Director in the U.K. said that, "For a decade, Europe has trained its anxieties almost exclusively on the far-right, and while that vigilance is warranted, it has left a blind spot on the other flank… Antisemitism is not less dangerous because it arrives waving a progressive banner."

Germany-based Dresden University of Technology research fellow Janek Treiber said that, "There is indeed an intriguing alliance between the supposedly progressive Left and regressive forces within Islamism." He told Fox News Digital that, "The unifying factor is a kind of victimization narrative. For the Left that supports the Palestinian cause, Muslims are the oppressed and the West – including Israel – are the oppressors… Whether Muslims hold conservative-religious views in this context is irrelevant."

ANTI-MIGRANT AFD SEEKS TO BREAK GERMANY’S POLITICAL ‘FIREWALL’ IN HISTORIC STATE ELECTION

Voters in Berlin head to the ballot box this coming Sunday, with polls showing the far-left Die Linke party, literally translated as the "The Left", leading the center-right Christian Democratic Union by two points.

"In Berlin, a party polling at the top of the field has factions that share platforms, demonstrations and slogans with networks the German security services themselves link to Hamas and the PFLP," Mendoza claimed. "When 'Death to the IDF' and 'Intifada' are chanted at an election event, and the response from parts of the party is to defend the man who led them, the red line has been erased, not crossed."

Rodan-Benzaquen says that while Germany’s political "firewall" against far-right parties like the AfD "seems to work more or less on the right, it doesn't on the left," because, "there is a perception that whatever comes from the left, even the far-left, is not morally as repugnant as anything that comes from the right."

ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE REACHES DEADLIEST LEVEL SINCE 1994, NEW GLOBAL REPORT FINDS

Germany and the U.K. are not alone. The far-left Sumar party in Spain is part of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s ruling coalition. Their support in the last election was strongest in areas with high Muslim populations, with party members attending demonstrations with Muslim Brotherhood-adjacent groups and Gaza protests organized by Islamist-leaning networks. Members have also pushed for Spain to recognize a Palestinian state while also referring to Israel as an "apartheid state." Spain recognized a Palestinian state in 2024.

The far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party in France has been accused by academics and ministers of "Islamo‑leftism" after their de facto leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization and party members marched with Islamist-linked NGOs during Gaza protests. The LFI’s popularity has been on the rise in polling ahead of next year’s presidential election and, according to French newspaper Le Monde, the LFI’s electoral strength lies in Muslim-majority suburban districts.

The Israeli Ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, recently told Fox News Digital that, "The way [LFI leader] Jean-Luc Mélenchon speaks in front of a crowd reminds me of Hitler. The way he uses the idea of uniting against one enemy by speaking of Israel is similar to the way Hitler used to speak about the Jews."

In the U.K. commenting on the sanctions imposed by the government on Israel, Britain's Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called the announcement on X "a truly dark day for British Jews." His statement continued in part, "Gesture politics of this kind feeds into an increasingly hostile discourse about Israel," he wrote, warning that the cumulative effect of such policies could "further embolden those, at home and abroad, who use hatred as a weapon against Jews."

EXILED MUSLIM SCHOLAR WARNS FAR-LEFT–ISLAMIST ALLIANCE BEHIND ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS ECHOES IRAN’S RISE

Pointing to the U.K., Rodan-Benzaquen said the alliance grew while Jeremy Corbyn was the Labour Party leader. "You have this far left anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, opposition to American power and, of course, to Israel itself. An alliance with Islamist organizations and movements that sort of adopt a common language, despite the fact that on many topics they are in certain disagreement… They have basically turned themselves from a party that cared about class, that cared about improving (lives), social rights, etcetera, into a party that is basically looking at identity politics and is trying to appeal to certain voters."

She said the red-green alliance is nothing new. "We've seen it for a long time. We've actually seen it in the Islamic Republic of Iran when the Islamic Revolution happened."

Europe’s Muslim population is estimated to be 45–46 million, up by 15.9% from 2010, based on Pew Research Center projections. That same study revealed the population of European Jewry had fallen to under 1.3 million — down 8% from 2010. 

Rodan-Benzaquen says of European Jews, "electorally, we don't weigh," so they have again become a political football. She says when left and far-left parties say, "Oh, we want to fight against antisemitism. The only reason why they're saying it is because it's a tool to attack the far-right."

Two Italian Eurofighter Typhoons operating under NATO command scrambled overnight and shot down a drone over Lithuania, marking the first time a drone has been downed in the Baltic nation's airspace, officials said Tuesday.

The incident came less than a day after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned that strikes close to alliance territory would drive the 32-nation bloc to increase its support for Ukraine.

The drone was destroyed near the village of Pratkūnai, about 60 miles northwest of the capital, Vilnius.

RUSSIA PREPARING HYBRID ATTACKS ON NATO'S EASTERN FLANK, INTELLIGENCE WARNS

"Last night, two Italian Eurofighters deployed on NATO Air Defence mission at Siauliai, scrambled and shot down a drone over Lithuanian airspace," a NATO official told Fox News Digital. "The operation was coordinated through NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre in Uedem, Germany. Investigations are ongoing together with national authorities."

Lithuanian officials said the drone most likely entered from neighboring Belarus and remained in the country's airspace for about 30 minutes before it was intercepted.

Lithuanian Air Force Commander Antanas Matutis said the recovered drone was "likely" carrying explosives.

Authorities are examining the wreckage of the downed drone to determine its origin and purpose.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions along NATO's eastern flank.

RUSSIA EXPOSES NATO WEAPONS GAP AS TOP COMMANDER WARNS ‘THE MATH IS NOT IN FAVOR OF THE WEST’

Speaking in Brussels on Monday, Rutte said strikes "close to NATO territory" showed Russian President Vladimir Putin's "desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror."

"Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine," Rutte said, while pledging to strengthen NATO defenses along its eastern flank.

In a separate incident Tuesday, Denmark said a Russian frigate fired flares toward a Danish military helicopter conducting routine surveillance over the Baltic Sea. Denmark summoned the Russian ambassador over the encounter.

Meanwhile, Russia continued drone strikes across Ukraine, killing three people in Kyiv, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv remained ready to support de-escalation if the U.S. could ensure Russia was prepared to stop its attacks. Ukrainian forces also struck an oil refinery in Syzran and targeted a drone production facility in Taganrog, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland called Monday for the British government to "prepare for, plan and facilitate" constitutional change that could lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom, with the remarks coming days after President Donald Trump said he would "love to see" Irish reunification.

"Westminster’s time is coming to an end," Scottish First Minister John Swinney, Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said in a historic joint declaration issued in Cardiff.

The nationalist party leaders had met Monday to strengthen cooperation among Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and advance what they described as "constitutional change."

KEIR STARMER REPORTEDLY CONSIDERING STEPPING DOWN AS PM AND COULD ANNOUNCE TIMETABLE FOR DEPARTURE

The declaration, signed during the summit in Cardiff, signals an unprecedented challenge to Prime Minister Andy Burnham and the U.K.’s constitutional settlement.

Trump spoke about the status of Northern Ireland over the weekend, saying Saturday during a visit to Dublin: "It’s going to happen eventually. It might as well happen now."

On Sunday, Trump repeated his support for a united Ireland, saying it made sense to merge the Republic of Ireland with Northern Ireland.

"It just seems to me that you have Northern Ireland and you have Ireland, and it would seem to me that one of the naturals of all time is put them together," Trump said in Doonbeg.

NIGEL FARAGE RESIGNING FROM UK PARLIAMENT

"You asked about Scotland. That one I won't talk about yet. I'll save that for another day," he added.

By Monday, the nationalist leaders had released a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to drive constitutional change.

They said no Westminster government has the right to block democratic decisions made by Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

"Each of our nations has the right to determine its own future, through democratic means and in accordance with the wishes of its people," the three leaders wrote.

"For the first time ever, people across these islands have First Ministers in Scotland, in Wales and in the North of Ireland who are all committed to independence from the United Kingdom. For people watching across these islands – for people watching around the world – there could be no clearer sign that Westminster’s time is coming to an end," the statement continued.

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"We call for the British Government to prepare for, plan and facilitate constitutional change in each jurisdiction," the memorandum said.

According to GB News, Burnham was told Monday that he could not stop the breakup of the U.K.

Sinn Féin, the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, issued the warning after signing the memorandum with the SNP and Plaid Cymru.

O’Neill said the three nations shared a "common cause" because "Westminster does not and will never serve our people well."

She added during a news conference that Burnham would not be able to "hold back the tide" of nationalism.

"We’re certainly living in times of enormous change, change that is unstoppable, change that, no matter what is said by any British prime minister, will not be able to hold back the tide of what’s happening in front of our eyes right now.

"Our common cause here is the understanding that Westminster does not and will never serve our people well," she added.

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The memorandum commits the parties to cooperation on economic policy, renewable energy and rebuilding ties with the European Union, among other areas.

It also calls for greater self-determination and states that the nations should work together as equals.

A spokesperson for Burnham said: "The Prime Minister is committed to delivering change across all four nations of the United Kingdom and believes strongly in the Union.

"The United Kingdom is at its best when people come together around our shared values and problem-solving, rather than division, and the Prime Minister will continue to ease pressures on household finances and delivering greater economic security, rather than engaging in constitutional debates or further referendums."

Fox News Digital has reached out to 10 Downing Street for comment.

Moscow is preparing for a final test of a new ballistic missile capable of striking targets hundreds of miles away and potentially maneuvering in ways that could challenge Ukraine’s already strained air defenses, a defense analyst warned Monday.

The warning comes as Ukrainian military officials said that Russia could conduct the test in the coming months and potentially in live-fire strikes.

"According to our estimates, Russia plans to conduct final tests of a new type of ballistic missile with a range of up to 800 km by the end of this year," Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), said at a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council, according to Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.

"If, for instance, this 800-kilometer missile has more advanced maneuverability, well then that's going to create greater problems for Ukraine in that they're going to need the more sophisticated interceptors to get them," Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital.

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"This means terminal maneuvers that weave a little bit so that the defender doesn't quite know where it's going or what trajectory it will have," Karako said.

"Another possibility is that they just figured out a way to make some kind of 800-kilometer missile more cheaply or in large numbers," the expert said of the Russians.

Karako said developments in precision-guided munitions, along with a broader shift away from unguided weaponry, could offer clues about the type of missile Russia will launch.

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"Everyone is going for increased maneuverability," Karako explained. "Just about every gravity bomb that we have has some kind of terminal guidance for precision," he said, specifically of the U.S. arsenal.

"In a similar way, a moment's not too far in the future where you don't really have that many purely ballistic missiles."

"You have things that may be ballistic for a good part of their path, but are also equipped with maneuvering reentry vehicles or some kind of terminal end game surprises," he warned.

Meanwhile, according to Ukraine's DIU, Russian forces may try to strike targets in western Ukraine during the missile tests as a live-fire demonstration, which Karako said is standard practice in wartime.

"This is a business-as-usual arrangement where you might do lots of developmental testing and then formally field and then have your operational testing," the expert said.

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"There are all kinds of norms being broken, though, because it is, after all, wartime, and so it may well be the case that some of this stuff is tested — maybe not the first time — but some of the early tests are done, frankly, in the field in Ukraine," he added.

The missile would, however, fall into a category once prohibited under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Karako warned.

Signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, the INF Treaty required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (roughly 310 to 3,400 miles).

The United States withdrew from the treaty in 2019 amid alleged Russian violations.

"This range is one that was formerly prohibited by the INF Treaty that capped ballistic and cruise missiles at 500 kilometers in range," Karako said.

"To some extent, you see Russia filling that gap, which is understandable and reasonable. Of course, they were violating the INF Treaty, which was why the United States got out of it."

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Missiles and artillery have been central to Russia's campaign against Ukraine since the start of the war in 2022. Ukrainska Pravda reported Aug. 10, citing Ukrainian military intelligence, that production of Russia's primary missile types had reached between 110% and 120% of monthly targets.

According to the Kyiv Independent, Russia fired at least 1,858 missiles of various types at Ukraine from the start of 2026 through Aug. 27.

"This is what's hitting Ukraine on a daily and weekly basis. And so it's in that broader context of that demand for standoffs of various kinds that you see new things pop up," Karako said.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the growing strain on air defenses in an interview with Deutsche Welle at a Canadian military base in North Bay Sept. 12.

"I want to have 100-120 [interceptor missiles] for these difficult months, especially the cold months," Zelenskyy said. "We'll see how many months this winter lasts — that is, these cold months: one, two, three. We don't know. This is truly a major challenge."

"It is the case that Russia really is on a wartime footing, and they really have mobilized their defense industrial base to be cranking these (missiles) out like sausages," Karako said.

"There was a point in which everything was going to the front, everything was going to Ukraine."

"There have been other reports more recently that suggest that Russia may be keeping some in reserve," Karako added.

"There are lots of worries. If you're in Poland, if you're in Romania, if you're in the Baltics, you're worried about the Russians."

The Houthis’ rapid advance toward one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints is putting fresh scrutiny on the sprawling financial network that has helped transform the Iran-backed group from a Yemeni insurgency into a heavily armed regional power capable of threatening global trade.

The group has seized new territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including the strategic port city of Mocha, and expanded toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The waterway connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and carries a significant share of global maritime trade and energy shipments.

For the Trump administration, the Houthi advance is becoming as much a financial challenge as a military one. Washington is intensifying efforts to choke off the money sustaining Iran and its proxies, but the Houthis have built a sprawling sanctions-evasion network while controlling ports, trade routes and millions of Yemenis — raising a difficult question for Treasury: how do you cut off the cash fueling the group without cutting off food, fuel and other lifelines to civilians?

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The Houthis operate a financial network that extends far beyond Yemen, according to Adam Rousselle, founder of Between the Lines Research. 

"We’re dealing with a very well-capitalized group," Rousselle told Fox News Digital.

In a 2025 investigation for the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, Rousselle traced a financing system spanning Houthi-controlled ports, tariffs, Iranian oil, informal hawala networks, cryptocurrency exchanges and foreign facilitators across Russia, Türkiye and Southeast Asia.

Control of ports has historically been central to Houthi revenue because Yemen depends heavily on imports. Rousselle’s GNET report said the Houthis have imposed steep fees at ports they control and tariffs on goods brought into their territory from rival Yemeni ports.

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The group’s latest territorial gains could strengthen that economic base even further.

Nadwa Al-Dawsari, a Yemen expert and associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, told lawmakers in Sept. 1 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that territory is central to the Houthis’ ability to withstand outside pressure.

"The most important source of that leverage is territory," Al-Dawsari testified. "The Houthis have been able to consolidate their power and build increasingly sophisticated military capabilities because they control significant territory, a large population, ports, infrastructure, and resources."

"That territorial base allows them to recruit, generate revenue, manufacture and store weapons, control smuggling routes, and regenerate capabilities degraded by airstrikes and sanctions," she added.

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Rousselle said the Houthis’ finances should not be understood simply as Tehran handing cash to an Iranian proxy.

"It’s a bit of a misunderstanding that the Iranians just give them money," he said, describing the Houthis instead as embedded in a broader Iranian commercial ecosystem.

"The Houthis aren't sanctions-proof; they're sanctions-adapted," Miad Maleki, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. "Most of their money is made inside Yemen — customs and taxes at Hodeidah and Ras Isa, and fuel above all."

Treasury has estimated that the Houthis generate more than $2 billion a year from oil sales, while Iran provides the group with a free monthly oil shipment through Iranian-owned or affiliated companies based in Dubai. Treasury has also documented Houthi revenue from taxes imposed on petroleum imports.

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"Sanctions can't reach domestic extraction," Maleki said. "What they can reach is the plumbing between Sana'a and the outside world; the exchange houses, the Dubai and Muscat correspondents, the tankers and the wallets."

At the center of that system is Sa’id al-Jamal, whom the Treasury Department has identified as an Iran-backed Houthi financial official operating an international network that sells Iranian commodities and channels proceeds toward the group.

Treasury said in April 2025 that al-Jamal’s network had procured tens of millions of dollars in weapons, sensitive goods and commodities from Russia and identified eight digital-asset wallets used by the Houthis. Blockchain analytics cited in Rousselle’s GNET research identified nearly $900 million in outflows across those addresses.

Rousselle cautioned against treating that figure as a complete picture of Houthi wealth.

"The system is more important than the number itself," he said, describing the network as fluid and difficult to quantify.

Russia, he argued, has become a particularly significant part of the network. "The Russians are definitely more hands-on in their support," Rousselle said.

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Al-Dawsari’s congressional testimony similarly highlighted the Houthis’ expanding relationships beyond Iran, saying the group is "deepening ties with other U.S. adversaries, particularly Russia and China."

She cited reports that Russia provided targeting data used to help the Houthis attack Western ships in the Red Sea and that Russian petroleum products were transferred ship-to-ship into a Houthi-controlled tanker before reaching the Houthi-controlled port of Ras Isa.

The China connection is more complicated. Rousselle said Chinese-linked private commercial actors appear in parts of the network but distinguished that activity from proven direct Chinese government involvement.

"The Chinese are kind of … turning a blind eye," he said.

His GNET report described Iranian oil flowing to privately owned Chinese "teapot" refineries and examined transactions linked to Southeast Asian financial networks, while cautioning that the available evidence did not establish direct Chinese government control of Houthi financing.

Al-Dawsari pointed to a broader Chinese role in Houthi supply chains. Citing U.S. officials, she said a Chinese satellite company with ties to the Chinese military provided satellite imagery supporting Houthi attacks against U.S. warships and international shipping. She also cited interdiction data showing that 60% of the components and materials used in the Houthi Qasef-2K drone came from China, compared with roughly 15% from Iran.

That sprawling network is now testing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s broader effort to isolate Tehran economically and disrupt the financial channels sustaining Iran and its proxies.

Rousselle said decentralized illicit-finance networks present a fundamental challenge.

"You’re dealing with a ‘you shut down one, another pops up’ kind of situation," he said.

Maleki argued that Washington should concentrate on the points where Houthi money intersects with the formal financial system.

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"The soft spots are wherever Houthi money touches the formal system," he said. "Treasury has named the Yemeni banks and the Sana'a exchange houses that pay for missile components; it should now name the foreign correspondents still clearing for them. That is the one tool that changes behavior overnight."

Oman represents another potential pressure point. "Oman is the Houthis' land bridge and their mailing address," Maleki said.

But squeezing Houthi finances presents another dilemma: Yemen remains one of the world’s most fragile humanitarian environments, and the Houthis control ports and infrastructure through which civilians receive food, fuel and other basic goods.

"I would be lying if I had a concrete answer to it," Rousselle said when asked how Washington could disrupt Houthi revenue without worsening the humanitarian crisis.

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"The humanitarian argument is the Houthis' best shield, and it's backwards," Maleki said. "Food and medicine are licensed and should stay that way."

"Keep the goods flowing and take away the toll," he added, arguing that Washington should seek ways to prevent humanitarian trade from generating taxes and fees for Houthi authorities.

Rousselle warned that the challenge extends far beyond Yemen.

"This isn’t just about the Houthis," he said. "This is about any sanctioned actor worldwide capable of harnessing financial systems that are completely outside of regulatory control."

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels captured Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait Sept. 11, opening a new front at a vital global shipping chokepoint as a former Pentagon official warned Sunday the militants had entered a "kill box."

The island's capture came after a month-long offensive along Yemen’s western coast that killed more than 1,500 soldiers and forced Yemen’s government to acknowledge a "painful" defeat, according to The Associated Press.

"With Perim, they have gained what we could call the cork in the Red Sea bottle," Morgan Murphy, a former Pentagon press secretary and retired Navy captain, told Fox News Digital.

"But they've put themselves into a kill box. They're nowhere near the capability of the United States and if the president so chooses, he can wipe them off the face of that rock pretty easily," Murphy warned.

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Despite Perim sitting in the middle of the narrow maritime passage, Murphy detailed how the Houthis had effectively placed themselves in an area that is vulnerable to concentrated fire.

"Perim cuts that chokepoint right in half, and it's only 18 miles wide there," Murphy said.

He said the island has served as a pivotal maritime vantage point for hundreds of years, previously targeted for control by French forces and held by the British Empire for over a century.

Perim — a desolate volcanic island also known as Mayun — also sits roughly 20 miles off the Horn of Africa, placing it in proximity to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, home to one of the largest U.S. military installations on the continent.

"We have incredible firepower in that region, and that's a little rock in the middle of that strait. It's a volcanic rock. It doesn't have any water. It's uninhabitable," Murphy warned.

"There's no vegetation to speak of. And the Houthis have just massed their troops on that rock. So what that is, what we would call that in the Navy, is a kill box."

Satellite imagery of the island shows a 1.85-kilometer (6,070-foot) runway alongside three military hangars, which regional intelligence reports attribute to past construction by the United Arab Emirates.

"There's a 6,000-foot airstrip on that island. I think that Emiratis built it," Murphy said.

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"It's nice to have an airstrip, and especially a long runway, but we don't know the condition of that runway. We don't know how they could possibly use that runway, and they certainly don't have the sophisticated air power that the United States and its allies have to project power from that runway."

He added that the U.S. military holds overwhelming force options if commanders elect to target the island.

"We could wipe that rock into glass, just blast it into a smooth glass surface, put skates back on our feet, and skate all over it," Murphy said.

"That's why the Houthis have kind of played coy with the president, and they know that even if they fortify that rock they're not going to be able to hold it in the face of the United States Navy."

The developments come amid diplomatic maneuvering between Washington, Riyadh and the Houthis in recent days.

Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had called President Donald Trump twice Sept. 10 to urge him to authorize U.S. military strikes against Houthi positions.

Trump declined direct intervention, with U.S. officials noting the administration has no immediate plans for direct combat involvement but will continue offering intelligence assistance.

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Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Sept. 12, Trump also indicated the Houthis had signaled a desire to avoid direct confrontation with American forces.

"The Houthis called us, and they don’t want to fight with us. They let us know, they don’t want to fight with us... they don’t want us to go after them," Trump said.

Murphy suggested, however, that Washington’s restraint should not be mistaken for inaction.

"I can't speak for the president. But this administration has not shown a lack of resolve to use force," Murphy said.

"I wouldn't doubt at all if the president took steps to pound some of these folks into the sand if they continue to really disrupt the global energy supply."

Yemeni government, regional and Iranian sources told Reuters the Houthi advance was sustained by Iranian weaponry and tactical direction from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, with U.S. officials estimating hundreds of IRGC officers remain active in Yemen.

Murphy noted that Tehran's strategy appears designed to drive up global fuel prices by choking critical shipping lanes.

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Comparing the conflict to historical naval power struggles, Murphy emphasized the strategic mismatch.

"We're in a different era. They are nowhere near the sophistication of the world's major powers. The Houthis are using a 19th-century playbook. They are not using 21st-century warfare," he said.

"So, yes, they've caught a critical cork in the Red Sea bottle, but how they use it remains to be seen," Murphy concluded.

"This is an example of why great powers really have to have a strong Navy. This is why Great Britain had a strong navy. This is why the United States has a strong navy, because there's so many regional powers who want to try to bottle up shipping, whether it is in the Strait of Malacca, whether it is in the Strait of Hormuz, and here, in this case, in the Red Sea."

"I think what we're going to see in the next several days and weeks is a coordinated effort by the Trump administration to make sure our allies are on board in helping us keep these critical waterways open, free, and clear for freedom of navigation," he said.

FIRST ON FOX: Africa could become the next major frontier for data centers and Artificial Intelligence, experts say.

The Trump administration is backing and promoting American companies to make AI development, in their words, ‘the gold standard’. The U.S. is trying increasingly to grab business opportunities in Africa, as backlash and environmental restrictions hit data center development in the U.S. and Africa.

"Africa is emerging as a significant potential location for building AI infrastructure, especially as many mature markets face increasing environmental and power constraints," Abhishek Goyal, Consultant at specialist research group Arizton Advisory & Intelligence, told Fox News Digital.

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He added, "The continent could become the next major frontier for AI infrastructure development. As the U.S. and Europe encounter challenges such as power scarcity, grid congestion, permitting issues and environmental regulations, Africa's underdeveloped infrastructure presents an opportunity rather than a disadvantage."

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "We are committed to ensuring that American AI – including enabling infrastructure like data centers – continues to be the gold standard worldwide, and that we remain the partner of choice for foreign governments and businesses who are seeking to upgrade their telecommunications networks and AI capabilities."

Amongst other deals, this year with U.S. help, an American company has won a $6.2 billion deal in Lesotho in Southern Africa for a data center and hydropower plant.

In the central African country of Gabon, the U.S. Embassy helped win $600 million in business for American companies in 2025. And this year, the embassy in this central African country has assisted in securing a $100 million contract to supply two data centers and a gas-to-power plant, in the face of strong competition from China.

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Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia previously told Fox News Digital, "Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States is assisting U.S. companies to find new markets and flourish in Africa."

"Africa is experiencing a data center boom, but it begins from a very small base," Arthur Goldstuck told Fox News Digital. Goldstuck is CEO of South African technology research group World Wide Worx, and author of "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI – The African Edge."

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Goldstuck said that because of a lack of capacity currently, "Africa will not replace either market as any kind of center of global computing. Rather, its attraction lies in serving a rapidly growing African cloud market, and processing African data closer to the people and businesses that generate it.

He continued, "Africa also gives U.S. companies access to a cloud and AI market that remains severely under-served. The opportunities extend from operating data centers to supplying AI chips, cooling systems, cybersecurity and power infrastructure. In some countries, a data center can also become the guaranteed customer that makes a new renewable-energy project financially viable. American companies can therefore develop computing capacity and electricity generation together, in partnership with African companies and governments."

But Goldstuck said that data center growth is fueled by local needs on the continent. "It is a boom by African standards. Africa remains far behind the U.S. and Europe in installed capacity, and weak electricity grids make construction and operation more difficult. Demand is growing rapidly as governments, banks and other large companies seek local cloud and AI services. They increasingly want sensitive information stored within their own countries, which adds momentum to the expansion."

Arizton’s Goyal added that "countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco and Egypt are attracting large-scale (AI) projects. 

"The U.S. Government aims," a State Department spokesperson said, "to offer credible solutions that leverage public and private financing in priority areas, such as emerging technology, which demand that global telecoms networks remain secure for U.S. citizens and business. For example, undersea cables networks are being constructed across the Atlantic, providing more opportunity and connectivity to Africa than ever before."

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U.S. companies using undersea AI cables to connect with African data centers is a possibility, Goldstuck said, but there are limitations. "Distance creates a slight delay, so African facilities would be less attractive for U.S. services requiring an instant response from American users. They could work well for backups, disaster recovery and some intensive AI processing, provided that the cost, security and legal jurisdiction made sense."

Analysts say presently, much of Africa lacks regulation and is creating the risk of a wild west approach to business. The South African government recently claimed the country hosts 70% of the continent's total data center capacity.

But Pitso Tsibolane, senior lecturer in information systems at the University of Cape Town, told Fox News Digital that in South Africa "there is currently no public register of data center facilities, no requirement that operators disclose how much water, electricity and land they will use and no binding commitments against which performance can be measured."

Tsibolane added, "That gap serves nobody. Communities cannot see what is being traded on their behalf, and responsible operators cannot distinguish themselves from the rest, because nobody’s numbers are on the table. South Africa hosts the majority of Africa’s data center capacity and has a real opportunity to become the jurisdiction that gets this right early: transparent disclosure, an independent factual baseline and predictable approvals. That combination is good for households, good for the grid and good for every investor who intends to be here for the long term."

Arizton’s Goyal says the future for Africa could be bright. "Several African countries present a unique opportunity due to their abundant renewable energy potential — such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal sources — as well as available land, lower development costs and fast-growing digital economies."

Swedes head to the polls Sunday as Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s center-right party is slightly behind the center-left Social Democratic Party led by Sweden's former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, with the election dominated by fears of mass migration, crime and the economy.

"Years of gang violence, Islamist extremism, persistent unemployment and pressure on public services have intensified the debate over whether integration has kept pace with immigration," foreign policy expert and author Daniel Schatz, told Fox News Digital.

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Following on from Germany's AfD victory in a state election last week, Sweden's hard-right Sweden Democrats are in a position to enter government if Kristersson's party wins again. The Associated Press reported that the anti-immigration party has shifted toward the political mainstream and is likely to get cabinet posts. It has so far supported the Kristersson government from the outside.

The Associated Press reported that the Sweden Democrats were founded by activists in far-right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis. But since then, under its leader, Jimmie Åkesson, it toned down that rhetoric and kicked out racist members. Åkesson, who has led them since 2005, is said to be responsible for the success of a once marginal party. 

Sweden, once a model of the Western social welfare state, has been under economic strain as governments from both the left and the right were forced to restructure their welfare system.

While social benefits continue to be extensive, Sweden’s welfare state has changed amid rising crime rates, but the expectations for public benefits remain.

"Sweden went from being described as a ‘humanitarian superpower’ to a "humanitarian basket case.’ Discontent with migration policies extends to both foreign-born and native-born residents. Shootings have declined sharply, but fewer shootings do not mean the integration problems are solved," Schatz, who is Swedish, added.

Prime Minister Kristersson’s government took power in 2022, as the nation was experiencing a dramatic rise in gun-related violence, with the country witnessing 391 shootings resulting in 62 deaths, according to The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, a government agency under the Ministry of Justice.

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The homicide rate in Sweden has been on the rise since 2013, when gun homicides contributed to a general increase in Sweden’s total homicide rate.

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention notes that Sweden’s homicide rate ranks very high compared with other European countries, at approximately four deaths per million inhabitants per year.

The average for Europe is approximately 1.6 deaths per million inhabitants.

The issue of immigration is another major issue that dovetails with voters’ concerns over crime and gun violence. Like much of Europe, Sweden experienced a wave of immigration in 2015 coming from those fleeing the Syrian civil war as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sweden took in over 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, or 12% of all those who sought protection in the EU, according to Sweden’s Migration Agency.

"After the 2015 influx of asylum seekers from Syria and other war-torn countries strained its reception system, Sweden began tightening its borders. The current government has taken that shift much further," Schatz said.

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Prime Minister Kristersson’s parliamentary ally, the right-wing Sweden Democrats, filled the void in the anti-immigration position in parliament.

Nicholas Aylott, professor of political science at Södertörn University in Stockholm, told Fox News Digital that the link between the increase in immigration and the rise in crime changed Swedish politics.

"Migration and law-and-order became much higher electoral priorities," Aylott said.

"The Sweden Democrats based their pitch on them. The other parties, rather belatedly, adapted their positions. The Sweden Democrats had at first been completely ostracized by the other parties, but they were gradually accepted as a legitimate partner by three of the other parties of the right between 2018 and 2022," he said.

As the anti-immigration backlash rose and the Sweden Democrats were more included in the policymaking process, Sweden cracked down on immigration and made it harder to seek asylum.

While asylum claims dropped and gun violence was dramatically reduced as well, with only 158 shootings and 44 fatalities to date, the government still might suffer a defeat at the hands of Andersson’s center-left coalition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.