US and Israel conduct strikes on Iran
WASHINGTON — On Saturday, the Department of Defense commenced Operation Epic Fury at President Donald Trump’s order, launching military strikes against Iran. The joint attack by the United States and Israel targeted Iran’s leaders: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian. The Iranian government confirmed that the attacks killed Khamenei.
While there is limited information, officials from Washington and Tel Aviv said that the strikes were an effort to reduce the potential threat from Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The U.S. and Iran were negotiating last week to agree on a new framework of the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international deal no longer in effect that limited Iran’s development of nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. No formal deal had been agreed upon before the U.S. and Israel conducted the strikes.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Iran refused to make a deal regarding its nuclear weapons program.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, an Iranian human rights media agency based in Washington, D.C., the U.S.-Israel strikes killed at least 133 people and wounded 200 others in Iran.
In response, Iran has condemned the strikes and attacked Israel and other Middle Eastern countries that host U.S. military bases. On Sunday, Iran struck a base at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, killing three U.S. service members and severely injuring five others. Iran’s strikes also killed nine people in Israel and four people in other countries in the region.
The U.S. has continued to launch attacks. The strikes have hit Iran’s ballistic missile sites, Iranian air defense systems, the joint headquarters of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its Aerospace Forces Headquarters, submarines, and antiship missile sites, according to the U.S. Central Command.
New Trump policy allows ICE to detain refugees
MINNEAPOLIS — The Trump administration threatened to detain refugees who were legally admitted to the United States that have not applied for green cards after a year of arriving in the country.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a memo from Feb. 18 that it can detain a refugee for an indefinite period of time if an application for permanent resident status and an interview do not occur after one year. After being detained, refugees would either be examined for green card status or placed in removal proceedings.
The administration’s new policy rescinds a memo from 2010 that determined that a refugee’s failure to apply for legal permanent residence within a year was not enough to detain them. The recent policy fits into a wider set of immigration enforcement actions by the Trump administration aimed at strengthening immigration enforcement and targeting refugees in the U.S.
During the administration’s second term, the DHS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services launched Operation Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening, allowing federal authorities to reassess and detain refugees who entered the U.S. legally but have not become permanent residents. President Donald Trump also signed Executive Order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” on Jan. 20. The DHS’ new policy exists under executive actions and immigration directives like these.
In January, amid federal immigration enforcement presence in Minnesota, the DHS reviewed thousands of refugees’ cases in the state, causing immigrants who were already approved for a green card to undergo background checks and interviews again. As a result, 100 refugees were arrested and sent to detention centers for interviews. However, a federal judge later issued a temporary restraining order requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to release those detained for reexamination and to limit further arrests of refugees in Minnesota.
Medicaid funding paused in Minnesota
MINNESOTA — Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration paused $259 million in Medicaid funding for Minnesota on Wednesday. Vance, joined by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, alleged that the halt in funding is to prevent fraud.
“We have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligation seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money,” Vance said in the announcement.
This announcement comes as the Trump administration highlights alleged fraud happening in various states, The Hill reports. Minnesota has been the focus of broader discussions about welfare fraud since the pandemic, when the nonprofit Feeding Our Future stole $250 million through a state program that was intended to feed children.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will have 60 days to “propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem,” Oz said in the announcement. The direct impacts of the paused funds remain unclear. Services across the state that the federal government could consider high-risk for fraud include home- and community-based services, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In a statement following the announcement, Walz called the administration’s action “totally illegal and unprecedented.” He also outlined an 18-point antifraud package that would implement more safeguards in Minnesota to prevent welfare funding misuse. The package will instate strong financial controls and heighten penalties for people who mishandle taxpayer dollars.
Oil prices rise after US and Israel strike Iran
UNITED STATES — Crude oil prices in the U.S. rose 7% during Sunday trading after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran on Saturday. This rise in oil prices is expected to increase gas prices between 15 to 25 cents per gallon for U.S. consumers, according to ABC.
NPR reports that attacks on Iran have restricted major oil exporters’ ability to ship crude oil around the world. The Strait of Hormuz, a passageway in the Persian Gulf, shares a northern border with Iran. Three vessels traveling through the strait have been attacked since the U.S. and Israel’s initial strikes. Roughly 20% of the world’s oil and gas exports travel through this strait to be exported, according to BBC.
In a note to NBC on Sunday, JPMorgan analysts described the impact of the strikes on market oil prices. For oil prices to fall, they said, the length of disruption to the supply chain and the amount of supply that is disrupted needs to be minimized. They also said prices will depend on whether the U.S. can import oil from other sources.
It is currently unclear how long the strikes in Iran will continue. The impacts of the strikes are also anticipated to cause a depression in stock futures, according to CNN.
