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Iran Vows Hormuz Closure, More Attacks After US Strikes

Iran warned Wednesday that it will close the Strait of Hormuz and fight to maintain control of the strategic waterway if the United States launches additional attacks, as Tehran and Washington exchanged fresh military strikes that further unraveled a fragile ceasefire.

An informed Iranian security source told the state-run Press TV that Tehran has adopted a new military doctrine following developments over the past 48 hours.

"Following any strike against Iran, two immediate actions will be taken: first, the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed to all maritime traffic; and second, Iran will strike enemy targets at a ratio of at least two to one, meaning that for every Iranian target hit, at least two enemy targets will be struck in return," the source said.

"The memorandum of understanding signed on this matter clearly states that Iran will reopen the Strait in accordance with its own arrangements. Therefore, Iran will not permit the establishment of any new route outside the framework of its own arrangements," the source added.

The source also warned President Donald Trump 

 

against further military action.

"Any threat will receive a powerful response. Iran does not distinguish between the United States and its partners in the region," the source told Press TV.

"Trump will gain nothing from these recent threats, but he will certainly lose both the Strait of Hormuz and the negotiations over a final agreement. The choice is now his."

The Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, is one of the world's most important energy chokepoints, with roughly one-fifth of global oil shipments passing through the narrow waterway.

The renewed fighting followed a series of attacks by Iran on commercial vessels moving through the strait.

The latest escalation threatens to reopen a conflict that had briefly paused after Washington and Tehran reached an interim memorandum of understanding aimed at reducing hostilities and moving toward broader negotiations.

The U.S. military launched new strikes against Iran Wednesday after Trump declared the ceasefire agreement had collapsed. Speaking during his trip to the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump said the interim agreement intended to halt the fighting was "over."

"As far as I'm concerned, it's over," Trump told reporters, while indicating diplomatic contacts could continue but expressing frustration with Tehran's actions.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it responded by launching missiles and drones against what it described as 85 U.S. military targets in Bahrain and Kuwait, including facilities associated with the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Ali Al Salem Air Base. The IRGC also claimed it shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone.

Those claims could not immediately be independently verified.

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters warned that "the source of any support for the aggressor U.S. army to violate the sovereignty and territory of Islamic Iran will be a legitimate target for the armed forces."

The military command also declared that "the only safe route for commercial ships and oil tankers ... is the path designated by Iran," adding that Tehran "will not allow any interference in the management of the Strait."

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf accused Washington of repeatedly violating the memorandum of understanding.

"Major MOU violations by the US: [1.] Violating Iranian adjustments in the Strait, [2.] Reinstating oil sanctions, [3.] Attacks on southern Iran, [4.] Continued Zionist aggression on Lebanon," Qalibaf said.

"The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don't fold."

The Trump administration had not publicly responded to Iran's latest threat to close the Strait of Hormuz as of Wednesday night. Newsmax reached out to the White House for comment.

© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

 

Judge Hannah Dugan, Who Helped Illegal Alien Evade ICE, Gets Unbelievable Slap on the Wrist

Former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan walked out of federal court on Wednesday with nothing more than a $5,000 fine after being convicted of felony obstruction for actively helping an illegal alien evade ICE agents inside her own courthouse.

Despite facing up to five years in prison and federal sentencing guidelines calling for 15 to 21 months behind bars, the 67-year-old was spared any jail time.

In fact, she didn't even get slapped with probation.

U.S. District Judge Lynn S. Adelman of Wisconsin’s Eastern District, a Democrat appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997, offered a sympathetic take when addressing the reasoning behind the light sentence.

“The defendant is 67 years old with no prior record. I don’t think she has any correctional services needs. She has a lifetime of service to others. This is a person who has done a lot of good in our community," Adelman explained, according to WTMJ Wisconsin. "This is a situation where an otherwise good person made a bad decision in the moment.”

BREAKING: Former Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan is avoiding prison time with a $5,000 fine after being convicted of felony obstruction for helping a Mexican migrant evade ICE agents inside a Milwaukee courthouse.

Federal prosecutors argued Dugan violated her judicial oath, but the… pic.twitter.com/h4HHPg11rY

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 8, 2026

Embedded tweet continues: 

Federal prosecutors argued Dugan violated her judicial oath, but the judge ruled prison wasn't necessary, pointing to her decades of public service and otherwise law-abiding life. Dugan says she acted to protect courtroom safety and decorum, and plans to appeal the conviction, @Garrett_FoxNews reports.

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READ MORE: Judge Hannah Dugan, Convicted of Concealing an Illegal Alien From ICE, Just Got Bad News From the Court

Fail: Illegal Alien That Indicted Judge Allegedly Tried to Help Evade ICE Has Been Sent Packing

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Adelman went on to note that Dugan had "faced threats" and been forced to move since the highly-publicized incident.

"This goes beyond," he continued. "Any Judge or other public servant who has seen what happened here would be deterred from obstruction. It’s hard to see how adding any prison time to that will add any meaningful deference.”

On January 3, 2026, following her federal felony obstruction conviction in December 2025, Dugan resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit Court bench rather than face impeachment in the state legislature. She also endured the headache of a trial, not to mention legal fees.

But is the loss of one's career and some minor inconveniences a commensurate punishment for the crime? And critics will maintain that this minor slap on the wrist will in no way deter others from taking the same course of action in trying to help criminals evade ICE.

While law-abiding Americans face real consequences for far less, Dugan — who reportedly directed the illegal immigrant toward a back exit while ICE waited — essentially got a get-out-of-jail-free card for betraying her oath and undermining immigration enforcement.

Dugan was convicted of aiding Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national with a history of violent criminal charges, in escaping ICE in April of 2025. According to then-DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, Flores-Ruiz had a rap sheet including “strangulation and suffocation, battery and domestic abuse."

He was later deported from the United States.

Mamdani Accused of ‘Cultural Erasure’ — Sparks Outrage for Scrubbing Little Italy From NYC Map

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (C) is getting heat from Italian Americans after his administration’s “Immigrant Enclaves” map highlighted dozens of ethnic neighborhoods across the five boroughs while completely ignoring Little Italy—one of the city’s most historic and recognizable immigrant communities.

The Italian American Civil Rights League (IACRL) slammed the omission as blatant “cultural erasure,” arguing that the map finds room for pet progressive causes but has no space for the Italian immigrants who helped build modern New York.

The group dismissed any notion that the move was merely a clerical error and condemned the mayor.

"This is cultural erasure,” said Mike Crispi, President of the Italian American Civil Rights League, in a statement. “Little Italy is sacred ground. It is where Italian immigrants came with nothing, worked like hell, opened shops, raised families, built churches, fed the city, and helped make New York what it is.”

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READ MORE: Mamdani Hammered for Statement on Infant Shot and Killed in His NYC: ‘Should Be Ashamed’

How Outraged Is Mamdani After Judge Orders Illegal NYC Council Employee With Assault Rap Deported?

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Little Palestine. Little Pakistan. Little Yemen. 

No Little Italy.

Indeed, Italian immigrants helped build modern New York through generations of hard work, family businesses, and neighborhood traditions. Somehow, the mayor's office ignored all of that.

"Mamdani’s City Hall can find room for every fashionable progressive constituency, but somehow it cannot find Little Italy,” Crispi added. “Our culture is good enough for their photo ops, our food is good enough for their fundraisers, and our neighborhoods are good enough for tourism dollars — but when it comes time to recognize Italian Americans, they erase us.”

The League urged Mayor Mamdani to fix the map right away, issue a public apology to Italian Americans, and ensure that Little Italy, along with other longstanding Italian-American enclaves, is properly recognized in any official city efforts celebrating immigrant history.

Honestly, that map should go ahead and plant a little flag at Gracie Mansion and label it 'Little Commie.'

 

This, however, fits the pattern for Mamdani. A pattern of progressive disdain for traditional European legal immigrant heritage. And you just know the statue(s) of Christopher Columbus in NYC will be a target somewhere down the line.

Mamdani himself once made his feelings on the monument clear in June 2020, when he posted a photo of himself flipping off the Columbus statue in Astoria and demanded, “Take it down.”

A City Hall spokesperson defended the map to the New York Post, saying it was created as a guide to help tourists experience some of the city’s vibrant cultures—not as an exhaustive catalog of every community.

“The immigrant enclave series began during the [Eric] Adams administration, and we are planning to add more neighborhoods in the upcoming months," they told the outlet.

I'd suggest just one map with one American flag instead, but we know a good portion of the population in NYC is illegal and has no interest in assimilating—and that’s exactly the kind of “diversity” this administration seems eager to celebrate.

 

The One Danger That Exists for Susan Collins Now That Graham Platner Is Kaput

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) really is Teflon. She avoided what could have been the hardest fight of her political career in 2020 against Sara Gideon, 

 

who was expected to win by seven points. Collins ended up winning by eight. Platner might have posed an equally tough challenge, except for the rape allegation, stories of domestic abuse, the Nazi tattoo, the graphic social media posts, and the weird rape fantasies he had. 

Platner 

 

suspended his campaign yesterday, noting that losing all meaningful support would mean losing access to the tools that made it impossible to run a campaign in the state. Now that Herr Platner is kaput, there is a new risk for Collins: it could make her re-election bid more challenging (via Politico):

According to a person familiar with the campaign’s thinking, granted anonymity to discuss it, Collins’ team had long viewed Platner as a uniquely vulnerable opponent whose personal controversies could help offset one of the biggest challenges she faces in 2026: running as a blue-state Republican in the Trump era.

“She can certainly win, but they didn’t want to change candidates,” the person familiar with the campaign’s thinking said. “The stuff we already knew about Platner was going to propel Collins to overcome the Trump anchor. Now it’s going to be a Democrat with a cleaner record, presumably.”

Collins’ campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and it has not weighed in publicly since Platner announced the suspension of his campaign.

From the Collins campaign’s perspective, Platner offered an unusually favorable contrast.

They believed his baggage would have given Collins an opportunity to shift voters’ attention away from national politics and toward questions about his character.

Instead, Maine Democrats now have the opportunity to nominate a candidate with a cleaner profile, raising the prospect of a more conventional general election in which Collins will have to confront the same challenges facing other Republican incumbents.

Sure, but that’s on paper. For now, the Democrats are a circus up there, scrambling to find someone who isn’t equally damaged goods in time for the July 13 deadline. Also, no one voted for this person, whoever the Democrats pick. 

 

Here Are the Dems Running to Replace Graham Platner. It's a Total Circus

Graham Platner is no longer in the race, but his camp is hesitant to make it official, and the group eager to replace him is a disaster. It’s a circus, though that’s not surprising: the Democrats have until July 13 to replace Platner, who suspended his Maine Senate campaign yesterday. Platner was a candidate surrounded by controversy: he had a Nazi tattoo, used an app known to be a haven for pedophiles, expressed rape fantasies, faced allegations of domestic abuse, and was also accused of rape by Jenny Racicot. This was one bad dude, but Democrats continued to support him.

Now, we have this motley crew coming out of the woodwork, and one, Troy Jackson, might’ve have abused some women:

Progressive Victory says they’ve received troubling information about Troy Jackson related to his behavior towards women

(Troy Jackson is the person rumoured to replace Graham Platner) pic.twitter.com/PuzxRPlVEr

— OSZ (@OpenSourceZone) July 7, 2026

"Maybe we can get Troy Jackson to run in Graham Platner's place. Everyone LOVES Troy Jackson..."

*five minutes later*

"We regret to inform you that Troy Jackson hit a woman" https://t.co/rVhh5ItrW7

— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) July 7, 2026

Democrat Troy Jackson officially launches his U.S. Senate campaign in Maine. pic.twitter.com/hzSdX0wZQY

— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) July 9, 2026

What a mess. 

 

Rubio: Trump intends to remove Syria's State Sponsor of Terrorism designation

 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that President Donald Trump has moved to rescind Syria’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.

During the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in Turkey, Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday, where he told reporters he was considering removing the designation.

“I think I will, yeah,” Trump said, speaking on the matter. “Why wouldn’t I, he’s done a great job.”

Trump also noted that Syria has since stabilized under Sharaa’s presidency. Rubio posted to social media on Wednesday to confirm the president’s affirmations.

 “Today POTUS informed Congress of his intent to rescind Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. This historic step opens new possibilities for economic opportunity and recovery, giving the Syrian people a chance at greatness,” the secretary of state said.

Today @POTUS informed Congress of his intent to rescind Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. This historic step opens new possibilities for economic opportunity and recovery, giving the Syrian people a chance at greatness.

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 8, 2026

Syria has been designated as a State Sponsor of Terror since 1979, according to the State Department.

 

Since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, the United States and Syria have reportedly worked on strengthening diplomacy.

Highland Park's Gun Scorecard Is Quietly Blacklisting Companies

 

The Highland Park Peace Project has quietly turned a grief‑driven nonprofit into a public pressure machine. What started as a community response to a mass shooting has morphed into a searchable “Gun Accountability Scorecard” that labels companies as either “heroes” or “enablers” based on whether they do business with makers of modern semiautomatic firearms. That is the new development worth watching — and it should make anyone who cares about free markets and due process sit up straight.

 

What the Highland Park Peace Project is doing

The group says it has graded more than 180 companies and recently added roughly 60 previously hidden suppliers to its database. Co‑founder Daniel Perlman has been out in the press framing the effort as a “commercial” strategy: create transparency, then pressure corporations and consumers to “ask for accountability.” In plain language, that means naming law firms, banks, payment platforms, logistics firms and retailers that have any tie to makers of so‑called “assault weapons,” and publicly shaming them until they cut those ties.

How the scorecard works — and why it isn’t just a list

HP3 says it uses public records — financing statements, filings and contracts — to map supply chains. Once a company is labeled an “enabler,” the expectation is clear: face consumer pressure, activist campaigns, or worse. Some companies have quietly asked to be removed. Others have declined to comment. The scorecard is designed to be more than information; it’s a tool to change market behavior without a lawmaker, judge or jury ever being involved.

Why this matters now: supply‑chain pressure and the politics of “debanking”

This tactic arrives at a tense moment in the debate over “debanking” and corporate pressure. Regulators and lawmakers have been wrestling with whether banks can cut off businesses for reputational reasons. Republican senators have grilled regulators about it, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency moved to limit regulators’ use of “reputational risk” as a reason to pressure institutions. The National Shooting Sports Foundation is pushing for laws to stop discriminatory banking practices altogether. Activists, however, are essentially saying: if the law won’t deliver the result we want, we’ll build a market force that will.

What conservatives should do about it

This is not merely a local advocacy project. It is a template for economic coercion: build a database, slap moral labels on companies, and watch reputations, contracts and livelihoods wobble. Conservatives who believe in due process, private property and neutral markets should call this out. Companies wrongly accused deserve a quick rebuttal. Policymakers should make clear that advocacy that crosses into intimidation of lawful businesses will have consequences. If we allow private scorecards to dictate who gets paid or who gets a bank account, we will have traded the rule of law for the rule of the loudest activist.

Colleges Cashing In on AI Panic While Grads Face Jobless Reality

They’re selling panic in the name of protection. Colleges and bootcamps have stamped “AI” on brochures and brochures on “future-proofing,” and the result is terrified young Americans piling into expensive programs that promise security but too often deliver paper and debt. Hardworking families deserve better than a diploma factory that profits from fear.

The hard numbers expose the scam: the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds recent college graduates facing an unusually weak market, with unemployment for new grads near 5.7 percent and roughly four in ten working in jobs that don’t require a degree. Those aren’t abstract trends — they’re the reality for tens of thousands of young men and women who traded years of their lives and often serious money for a credential that didn’t get them the break they were promised.

At the same time, universities have rushed to plant flags in the AI gold rush, expanding master’s and bachelor’s offerings so fast the market now counts hundreds of new AI-labeled programs across the country. That proliferation should make parents and students suspicious, not complacent; when every school is selling the same “AI” credential, the credential itself loses value and the price tag stays the same. The question practical Americans should ask is whether that degree teaches work employers actually need or simply recycles buzzwords into tuition bills.

Employers are already responding to the mismatch by changing how they hire: a large, recent survey of hiring practices shows firms increasingly using skills-based assessments and dropping degree requirements in favor of demonstrable ability. What matters in the hiring line is what you can do, not the logo on the transcript — and the market is rewarding those who show real work, portfolios, and measurable results over those who just stacked another credential.

Hiring managers echo this in practice: smart employers are preferring proof of work and validated skills to pedigree because real projects predict on-the-job performance far better than classroom hours. If you show you’ve shipped product, solved real problems, or generated measurable outcomes, you win interviews; if you have only a shopping bag of letters after your name, you’ll face the same screening and ghosting as everyone else. The era of credentials guaranteeing career entry is over — and that reality should be terrifying to higher education’s middlemen.

Some analysts caution that AI isn’t the single culprit and that a broader cooling of entry-level hiring plays a role, but that nuance doesn’t excuse the credential racket or the universities that cash checks while students get boxed into underemployment. The debate over causation matters to academics; for parents and workers it’s cold comfort when a promised return on investment fails to appear. Conservatively-minded Americans should demand accountability: stop treating education as a marketing funnel and start treating it as an investment that must demonstrate returns.

So here’s the plain conservative answer: don’t run toward fear; run toward value. Insist on apprenticeships, internships, paid work, and projects that produce real revenue or outcomes before you hand over big money for another fancy degree. The free market is still the best arbiter — employers will pay for results, not credentials — and hardworking Americans should double down on building proof of work, entrepreneurship, and trades that actually create value rather than fueling a credential arms race.

 

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