US interdicts stateless sanctioned tanker sailing from Iran to China

April 21, 2026 1:14pm EDT / Fox News

The M/T Tifani loaded Iranian crude at Kharg Island and departed from China before being stopped near Sri Lanka

By Robert McGreevy , Liz Friden Fox News

U.S. forces conducted a boarding and interdiction operation overnight on a stateless sanctioned crude oil tanker in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) area of responsibility, the Department of War announced Tuesday.

The operation saw U.S. forces board the M/T Tifani, a stateless crude oil tanker previously sanctioned by the U.S. State Department for facilitating the transfer of Iranian oil between ships.

The military boarded the ship in INDOPACAM’s area, which encompasses the entire Pacific Ocean and parts of the Indian Ocean, “without incident,” according to the Pentagon’s post on X. Open source maritime trackers showed the ship halting progress in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka.

“As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran — anywhere they operate,” the post read.

‘IRREGULAR’ ARMED GUARDS ABOARD RUSSIAN SHADOW TANKERS ALARM NORDIC-BALTIC GOVERNMENTS

A U.S. military helicopter hovers over the sanctioned stateless crude oil tanker M/T Tifani during an interdiction on April 21, 2026.(Department of War)

“International waters are not a refuge for sanctioned vessels. The Department of War will continue to deny illicit actors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain,” the post concluded.

Open source maritime trackers showed the Tifani departing from Dongjiakou, China, in late March. According to commodities tracker Argus News, the vessel loaded up at the terminal on Iran’s Kharg Island, the country’s premier oil export terminal.

Satellite view of Kharg Island, located in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran.(Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2024)

The vessel — which has historically sailed under the flags of Botswana, Cameroon, Tanzania, Palau, and Panama — has loaded Iranian oil in ship-to-ship transfers with U.S.-sanctioned Iranian tankers at least twice in the past, according to the State Department.

The vessel was heading to Riau Archipelago near Singapore before it was eventually expected to reach mainland China.

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M/T Tifani has also conducted “dark activity” near Singapore, according to Ukrainian military intelligence. The craft routinely turns off its Automatic Identification System (AIS), a move commonly referred to as “going dark.” International Maritime Organization (IMO) mandates that all ships carrying over 300 gross tonnes on international voyages operate AIS at all times.

The interdiction was the second such naval confrontation the military made on Iranian-linked ships in as many days. U.S. forces boarded and seized the Touska, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship which the U.S. accused of attempting to bypass an ongoing maritime blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

After issuing warnings to the vessel, the guided-missile destroyer, USS Spruance instructed the Touska crew to vacate the engine room and fired missiles from the ship’s MK 45 Gun, disabling Touska’s propulsion systems, according to CENTCOM.

The Iranian-flagged Touska cargo ship pours smoke out after U.S. forces launched missiles at it’s control room following its violation of the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. 4/20/26.(U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM))

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The Touska, like the Tifani, had previously stopped in China, highlighting a potential supply route between China and Iran for sanctioned oil.

China criticized the U.S. seizure of the Touska, with a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson calling the Strait of Hormuz situation “sensitive and complex.”

Fox News Digital contacted INDOPACOM and the Pentagon for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Trump DEI crackdown ‘misses core ideology’ and must target lingering danger on campuses, watchdog warns

A new bombshell report states intersectionality’s ‘toxic influence must be confronted head-on,’ arguing ‘the future of our education system and the safety of our nation depend upon it’

By Peter Pinedo Fox News

Published April 21, 2026 12:46pm EDT

William Jacobson, a clinical professor of law at Cornell and founder of Legal Insurrection, is urging President Donald Trump to address a “dominant” ideology he says is inspiring domestic terror on college campuses.

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FIRST ON FOX:Experts are calling on President Donald Trump to issue a new executive order to attack a “dominant” socialist-inspired ideology they say is the “foundation” of a growing domestic terrorist movement in the United States.

Fox News Digital exclusively reviewed a report that details how diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices have continued to thrive on hundreds of U.S. campuses through a more deeply rooted ideology, “intersectionality.” The Legal Insurrection Foundation and the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies issued the report.

“Intersectionality’s toxic influence must be confronted head-on,” the report said, emphasizing, “The future of our education system and the safety of our nation depend upon it.”

Despite several executive orders by Trump banning DEI, the report found that progressive school administrators across the country continue to profile students by group identity and to teach students to view America and Western society as global oppressors. The result, the report says, is increasing social discord and even violence spreading across America.

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“Intersectionality’s toxic influence must be confronted head-on,” the report said.(Getty Images)

The report’s authors urge the president to take executive action to address intersectionality specifically by name, arguing that doing so will close a loophole that allows DEI practices to continue under the intersectionality banner. The report also calls on the administration to replace this school of thought with education programs that promote traditional American values.

Intersectionality has been advanced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a Columbia Law School professor who developed the intersectional theoretical framework in the late 1980s, as a method of describing overlapping forms of discrimination. She argues that by treating race and gender as “mutually exclusive categories of experience and analysis,” society and the legal system distort and theoretically erase the multidimensional experiences of Black women.

The Legal Insurrection Foundation and the Defense of Freedom Institute’s report, however, cautions that intersectionality is “inherently socialist and collectivist,” as it “judges people based on group identity.” By emphasizing the “intersection” of perceived victimhood categories, the report says women are seen as preferable to men, “people of color” to Whites, homosexual or transgender-identifying people as preferable to heterosexuals, and Muslims as preferable to Jews or Christians.

While the report says the Trump administration’s efforts to address DEI thus far are “laudable,” these actions continue to be flouted so that the U.S. educational system remains “the mechanism for intersectionality to embed in the culture.”

According to the report, the groups have documented the propagation of intersectionality in more than 700 educational institutions, consisting primarily of college campuses but also K-12 schools.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Legal Insurrection founder William Jacobson cautioned that “as much as some of the problems have been recognized, the underlying ideological foundation has not been identified or understood.”

INSIDE ANTIFA-LINKED GROUP’S PLAN TO ‘STRUCTURALLY CHANGE’ THE US AS MAY DAY UNREST APPROACHES

Students at Columbia University participate in an anti-Israel protest.(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

He explained that intersectionality goes even deeper than DEI, saying that it is “in many ways, the mother’s milk of critical race theory, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and increasingly linked to violent domestic terrorism through anarchists and other groups.”

He described the ongoing movement as a “multi-billion-dollar industry” consisting of teachers, professors, administrators, consultants and philanthropies.

“It’s massive,” he explained, adding, “This was 30 years in the making. It’s not going to go away with a handful of executive orders.”

The report draws a line between the intersectional ideology being pushed in schools and recent domestic terror plots, including by the anti-capitalist student group “Turtle Island Liberation Front.” This December, five members of the group were indicted for allegedly plotting to simultaneously bomb multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve. The individuals are also accused of plotting to target U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers as well.

According to the report, “Turtle Island,” a term rooted in Native American lore, is the intersectional name being used for North America. Turtle Island Liberation Front’s call for decolonization and tribal sovereignty echoes intersectionality’s core message, says the report.

Both groups, as well as Jacobson, are calling on the president and Congress to take immediate action through executive orders and congressional hearings.

“We’re calling on the administration to update their executive orders [and] to issue a new executive order which includes intersectionality under the definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” he said.

Jacobson emphasized that while any individual scholar or student can hold or advance intersectional beliefs, he said, “the question is, are federal funds being used to promote unlawful discrimination?”

“We are not calling for a ban on intersectionality as a theory,” he clarified. “What we are calling on the government to do is to make sure that federal funds are not used to promote racially and ethnically and religiously discriminatory activities that take place under the name of intersectionality.”

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Tension comes between students of City College of New York and police as the students camp on the campus and take part in anti-Israel protests in New York, on April 25, 2024.(Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

He put it in simple terms: “People may have a constitutional right to espouse intersectionality, but the government doesn’t have to pay for it.”

Beyond this, he also called on Congress to get involved.

“We’ve seen on many issues, including antisemitism, that congressional hearings have proven extremely informative and extremely effective at addressing the problems,” he said.

The report also calls for the administration to use every facet of the government to root out intersectionality. Other methods suggested include updating federal agency guidance regarding intersectional practices, pursuing litigation where it is being practiced, defunding those institutions, and instead funding research and civics education programs that promote American ideals.

“It’s hard to understand unless you live in that world, which I do, how pervasive and dominant these racial ideologies are on campuses,” he emphasized, adding, “It is the dominant ideology on campuses.”

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“There are very few alternatives for students on most campuses,” he went on. “And that’s why we think the Trump administration, to the extent it is supporting various educational initiatives, should insist that schools, if they want federal money, have to have traditional American civics programming as an alternative to what is there now.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Crenshaw for comment.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Trump predicts U.K.’s Starmer can “recover” from scandal over Epstein-linked ex-ambassador Peter Mandelson

April 21, 2026 / 12:21 PM EDT / CBS News

London— British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is once again mired in a scandal over his decision to appoint a former friend of Jeffrey Epstein as the U.K.’s ambassador in Washington. Despite disparaging Starmer repeatedly in recent weeks over his stance on the Iran war, President Trump weighed in to offer some much needed — if slightly tepid — support on Monday evening.

Some members of Britain’s parliament are demanding that Starmer resign amid new revelations about the government vetting process for Peter Mandelson, who has a long history of close ties with the late American financier and convicted sex offender.

“Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom acknowledged that he ‘exercised wrong judgement’ when he chose his Ambassador to Washington. I agree, he was a really bad pick,” Mr. Trump wrote after Starmer apologized again to Epstein’s victims and the British public on Monday for his decision.

“Plenty of time to recover, however!” added Mr. Trump.

President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are seen with Peter Mandelson, then-British Ambassador to the United States, in the Oval Office at the White House, May 8, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Anna Moneymaker/Getty

What did Keir Starmer know and when?

The latest manifestation of the Mandelson scandal — which drew calls for Starmer to resign based on previous revelations in February — centers on what the prime minister knew, or should have known, about a government security vetting that apparently deemed the Epstein associate a poor choice for the ambassadorship.

Starmer fired Mandelson— a mainstay of Starmer’s own Labour Party since the 1990s — from his job as the British ambassador to the U.S. in September, soon after details of the depth of his friendship with Epstein emerged in the infamous files released in Washington.

In February, London’s Metropolitan police arrested Mandelson after emails among the Epstein files appeared to show he had shared confidential, market-sensitive information with the American — who had by that point pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor.

Mandelson remains under investigation, but his bail conditions have been lifted. He has previously denied any knowledge of or complicity in Epstein’s sexual crimes.

Starmer has always insisted he was unaware of Mandelson’s close ties to Epstein when he tapped him for the ambassadorship.

On Monday, facing a barrage of questions in parliament, the prime minister blamed Britain’s Foreign Office for not flagging to him or his cabinet concerns raised about Mandelson during a formal security vetting carried out in January 2025, several months after Starmer announced his appointment for the diplomatic role.

Peter Mandelson (left) is seen with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as he blows out the candles on a cake, in an undated photograph released by the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2025, as part of a trove of documents from its investigations into Epstein. U.S. Department of Justice

While apologizing for an error of judgment, Starmer called it “frankly staggering” that Foreign Office officials didn’t inform him of Mandelson’s history, and he said he would have rescinded the appointment had he been aware of the concerns.

Last week, Starmer fired Sir Olly Robbins, who was the Foreign Office’s most senior civil servant at the time of Mandelson’s appointment and vetting.

But during Monday’s rowdy parliamentary session, Starmer was hounded by lawmakers from every party but his own, left and right, claiming he was either lying about what he knew, or guilty of ineptitude for not obtaining the information.

Two members of parliament (MPs) were kicked out of the chamber for flatly accusing him of lying, which is against the rules of the House of Commons.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, is seen with Peter Mandelson, February 2025, in Washington. Carl Court/Pool/AP

“That man couldn’t lie straight in bed,” quipped the far-right Reform party’s Lee Anderson.

Zarah Sultana, who was a Labour MP until she left the party in 2024 to join a new, far-left party, accused Starmer of “gaslighting the nation,” telling the chamber: “Let’s call this out for what it is; the Prime Minister is a bare-faced liar, and if he had any decency left, he would resign.”

Fired civil servant claims an “atmosphere of pressure”

Robbins, the recently-fired civil servant, wasn’t going down without a fight.

Facing questions from MPs over his role in the Mandelson appointment, he told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday there was an “atmosphere of pressure” from Starmer’s office.

There was “a very, very strong expectation” that Mandelson “needed to be in post and in America as quickly as possible,” and Starmer and his cabinet had “a generally dismissive attitude” to the security vetting, Robbins said.

He added that after the vetting, the agency he ran had been “leaning toward recommending against” giving Mandelson security clearance, which is required for an ambassadorship, but said the concerns about him did not relate to his relationship with Epstein. He declined to say what the concerns were about.

Starmer managed to stave off the previous calls for his resignation earlier this year, including some from within his own party.

But Labour is not doing well in opinion polls ahead of local elections in May, so opposition parties’ demands for Starmer to be held accountable for the Mandelson appointment — and for his party to pay the price in votes — are only likely to mount.

Florida Democrat resigns from Congress minutes before House ethics panel was set to weigh her expulsion

2026-04-21T18:02:01.311Z / CNN

By Annie Grayer, Sarah Ferris

Updated 12 min ago

Updated Apr 21, 2026, 3:19 PM ET

PUBLISHED Apr 21, 2026, 2:02 PM ET

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick appears for a hearing of the House Ethics Committee on Capitol Hill, on March 26, 2026.

Nathan Howard/Reuters/File

Embattled Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from the US House of Representatives Tuesday, a move that staved off a high-stakes vote on whether she should be forced out Congress.

The Florida Democrat’s decision to step down came just moments before the chamber’s bipartisan Ethics Committee was set to consider her punishment after previously finding her guilty of a slew of ethics violations, including accusations that she stole millions in pandemic relief funds and used it to bolster her 2021 campaign.

If Cherfilus-McCormick had not resigned, she would have almost certainly faced an expulsion vote later this week on the House floor. The ethics panel, which oversees members’ conduct, had six types of sanctions at its disposal Tuesday, including expulsion from the House – a punishment only recommended four times before.

In a statement posted to social media, the Florida Democrat maintained her innocence and denounced what she described as a “witch hunt” against her.

“I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished. Rather than play these political games, I choose to step away,” she wrote.

Within moments of the ethics panel gaveling in to formally determine its recommended punishment, the House clerk read Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation into the record.

“After careful reflection and prayer, I’ve concluded that it is in the best interest of my constituents and the institution that I step aside at this time,” she wrote in her resignation letter.

House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest noted that given the congresswoman had stepped down, the committee had lost its jurisdiction and would no longer consider sanctions against her.

Last month, the committee found the congresswoman guilty on multiple counts of failing to comply with Federal Election Commission regulations and uphold the Code of Ethics for Government Service. It delivered the guilty verdict a day after Cherfilus-McCormick appeared for a rare public hearing to face the allegations she stole $5 million in federal disaster funds and used it to bolster her campaign for the House.

Over the course of its investigation, the panel said it sent 30 requests for information, issued 59 subpoenas, conducted 28 witness interviews and reviewed over 33,000 pages of documents.

Cherfilus-McCormick’s attorney decried the congressional investigation, arguing that the panel had put the congresswoman – who faces separate federal criminal charges – in an unfair position.

“I think it’s, it’s very sad. She was put in an absolutely terrible position by the Ethics Committee. This was not a fair process. She has a pending criminal case down in the Southern District of Florida. She wasn’t able to defend herself,” attorney William Barzee said.

“I wasn’t given any time in order to prepare a defense, and she was left with no choice. She could go along and allow them to just trample her constitutional rights and her due process rights. And instead of allowing that to happen, she decided to step away, and I support that decision 100%,” he continued.

In November 2025, Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted on charges of stealing federal disaster funds. The congresswoman has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

The Democrat’s departure marks the third resignation from the House in the last seven days.

Then-Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, resigned last week amid a torrent of explosive allegations against them and the threat of expulsion votes.

Those departures in particular have left lawmakers grappling with how to better police their own and prompted a bipartisan willingness to expel members from Congress – a rare occurrence.

GOP Rep. Greg Steube of Florida previously told CNN he planned to introduce an expulsion resolution against Cherfilus-McCormick shortly after the panel concluded its work.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had not said whether he would have voted to expel his own member. But multiple Democrats told CNN in recent days that they expected Jeffries and party leadership to vote in favor of expulsion, as the party campaigns to take back the House this November on an anti-corruption message.

Despite the Democrat’s resignation, House Speaker Mike Johnson still faces an extremely tight margin and can afford just two GOP defections on party-line votes and still pass legislation.

The ethics panel is still conducting an investigation into GOP Rep. Cory Mills for allegations that include sexual misconduct and campaign finance infractions. Mills has denied wrongdoing.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Ellis Kim contributed to this report.

Senate GOP unveils $70B immigration plan to circumvent Democrats in bid to end DHS shutdown

2026-04-21 12:52 PM ET / CNN

By Sarah Ferris

Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks following a weekly Republican policy luncheon at the US Capitol on April 14.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File

Senate GOP leaders formally declared Tuesday that they will attempt to circumvent Democrats in the months-long stalemate over Department of Homeland Security funding and deliver as much as $70 billion for immigration enforcement on their own.

After months of failing to resolve the DHS shutdown, Republicans are now planning to reopen the government without the contentious Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol funding that Democrats have refused to back. The new proposed funding would ensure the agencies are funded through the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term — eliminating the need to negotiate with Democrats, who could take back control of at least one chamber after November’s elections

GOP leaders in the House and Senate will use a complex budgetary maneuver to pass the controversial immigration funding without Democratic votes.

They unveiled the first step of that process — the text of a Senate budget resolution — Tuesday morning. That tees up a Senate vote on the measure later this week. If successful, the House plans to take it up quickly after.

But it’s not a guaranteed win. Passing legislation in this manner, known as reconciliation, is an arduous process, requiring the cooperation of nearly every Republican in both chambers to proceed.

And Republicans are under pressure to move quickly: House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled Tuesday that he would not pass any partial DHS funding package until it is clear that ICE and border patrol will not be left unfunded. (It’s a stark difference from the approach of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who advanced a partial funding bill several weeks ago, causing an uproar among the GOP.)

“The sequencing is important. We’ve got to make sure that we don’t isolate and as I say, ‘orphan’ key agencies of the department,” Johnson said, referring to ICE and border patrol. “And there’s some concern on our side that if you do the bulk of the department first before that and they could be left out.”

When the Senate officially puts its budget resolution on the floor, it will tee up a likely all-night session for senators, known as a “vote-a-rama.” That could happen later this week.

Missing scientists probe was sparked after ‘UFO General’ disappeared, Republican lawmaker reveals

April 21, 2026 1:26pm EDT / Fox News

Rep Eric Burlison calls the pattern of aerospace scientists disappearing ‘certainly suspicious’

By Adam Pack, Fox News

Former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker discusses the White House’s investigation into missing scientists on ‘The Story.’

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A congressional probe launched this week into the string of missing scientists was sparked by the disappearance of a former high-ranking official who oversaw some of the military’s most classified research programs, one House Republican revealed.

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital in an interview that he was particularly taken aback by the disappearance of retired Air Force Gen. William Neil McCasland, who vanished in February from his Albuquerque, New Mexico home. His phone and prescription glasses were left behind.

The Missouri Republican said his staff was already working to contact McCasland, who he described as the “UFO general” due to his deep expertise, about a separate congressional investigation prior to his disappearance.

A split image showing missing retired Air Force Major Gen. Neil McCasland in the green, button-up shirt he was last seen wearing and in his military uniform.(Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, Neil McCasland/Facebook, Kirtland Air Force Base)

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“He was on our list to talk to, and he disappeared, so that kind of piqued our interest,” Burlison detailed.

McCasland is one of the 11 individuals working in nuclear or rocket technology who have died or vanished under mysterious circumstances since 2022. Some, including McCasland, have ties to UFO research.

The astronautical engineer’s hiking boots, wallet and a .38‑caliber revolver were reported as missing, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office in New Mexico.

Though federal officials have not identified a connection between the missing scientists, their shared field and potential access to sensitive research have sparked growing concern.

Asked by Fox News Digital about whether he suspects foul play is involved in McCasland’s disappearance, Burlison said, “I’m not going to jump to that conclusion, but it’s certainly suspicious.”

“How many people walk out their front door without their phone, their wallet, their keys, or anything?” Burlison added. “I don’t go anywhere without my phone. I don’t even mow the lawn without my phone.”

Rep. Eric Burlison participated in a Republican Study Committee news conference unveiling its fiscal year 2025 budget proposal at the U.S. Capitol on March 21, 2024, in Washington, D.C.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

REP BURLISON DEMANDS FBI PROBE AFTER TOP US SCIENTISTS VANISH OR TURN UP DEAD

“So it’s just really, really strange that in about a five-month period of time, four or five people walked out their front door and never returned, and were all doing advanced aerospace research,” Burlison said.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Burlison, who helms the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs, opened an investigation into the missing scientists on Monday.

“I want them to determine if there’s any kind of foul play,” Burlison said, referring to the Trump administration.

The duo sent letters to the FBI, the Department of War, NASA and the Department of Energy requesting more information about Americans who have allegedly vanished. They have also asked for a staff-level briefing by April 27 — giving them only a week to prepare.

A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee said the panel will be releasing updates as the investigation proceeds.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, told “Fox & Friends Weekend” that he had sent letters to the leaders of several government agencies seeking information related to the mysterious deaths and disappearances of scientists in recent years.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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NASA said Monday that it would convene an interagency effort to probe the missing scientists, but cautioned that it had yet to identify any threats.

“At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat,” NASA spokeswoman Bethany Stevens wrote on X. “The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as it becomes available.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has also said that Trump is “actively working with all relevant agencies and the FBI” to review the cases and identify any potential connections.

Will gas dip below $3 a gallon this year? Here’s what experts predict.

April 21, 2026 3:33 PM EDT / CBS News

Drivers around the U.S. have seen some modest relief at the pump lately as gasoline prices retreat toward $4 a gallon. But motorists shouldn’t bank on fuel costs returning to where they were just before the Iran war anytime soon, according to experts.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, doesn’t expect gas prices to drop below $3 this year absent a major economic shock, such as a recession.

“Under the most optimistic scenarios, I would expect gas prices to settle closer to $3.50 by year’s end,” he told CBS News in an email.

When the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, the national average price of gas was $2.98 a gallon. But the conflict has crippled oil shipments passing through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, pushing gas prices to a recent high of $4.17 a gallon on April 9.

Expect higher fuel prices for months

Fuel costs are closely tied to oil prices, which have been elevated since the Iran war started. And unfortunately for motorists, gas prices typically rise much faster after crude spikes than they recede when oil drops — a pattern known by economists as the “rockets and feathers” principle,

Zandi estimates it will take months, if not years, for the global oil supply to rebound due to the damage inflicted by the war on oil infrastructure across the Middle East. It’s also unclear when the Strait of Hormuz will fully reopen.

As a result, diminished global oil supply is likely to keep U.S. fuel prices elevated for months to come, Zandi said. Oil prices are unlikely to return to pre-war levels even when the conflict ends, given the heightened risk of transporting oil through the strait, he predicted.

As of Tuesday, the average U.S. gas price was $4.02, according to AAA, up more than a dollar since the conflict started.

“If the strait were to reopen by tomorrow — maybe late October, November, December — the national average could make a run at falling below $3 a gallon,” Patrick De Haan, a petroleum expert at GasBuddy, told CBS News on Monday. “But that is certainly not a guarantee.”

Asked when he thinks gas will retreat below $3 a gallon during a CNN interview on Sunday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, “That could happen later this year. That might not happen ’til next year.”

President Trump, however, appeared to contradict Wright, telling The Hill on Monday his energy secretary was “wrong” on that timeline. For his part, Mr. Trump said that gas prices will drop, “as soon as this ends,” referring to the Iran war.

Why gas prices could rise

De Haan said there’s also a risk that gas prices could go back up, given the continuing volatility of oil prices.

Oil prices fell by around 10% on Friday after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open,” but quickly rose after tensions with the U.S. flared up over the weekend.

Wright told CNN that gas prices have already peaked and will continue to drop.

De Haan said gas prices could jump if Mr. Trump moves forward with threats to attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure. The president on Sunday said the U.S. would “knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge” if Iran does not agree to a peace deal.

“I don’t think the saga between the U.S. and Iran is going to end anytime soon,” De Haan said. “So to say that prices have peaked, I mean, I’d like to agree, but I think that might still be wishful thinking.”

De Haan also expects gas prices to fluctuate during hurricane season, which stretches from June through November.

Gregory Brew, an energy analyst with political risk consulting firm Eurasia Group, also believes we haven’t seen the last of price hikes. Gas prices will “likely rise as demand rises moving into the summer,” he said in a research note on Monday.

Who gets hit hardest

Research from Goldman Sachs shows that higher gas prices disproportionately weigh on the bottom 20% of U.S. income earners. Compared with the top 20%, poorer households spend roughly four times as much of their after-tax income on gas, analysts from the investment bank found.

Other research shows that higher gas prices could also largely wipe out the fatter tax refunds Americans are receiving this year as a result of the “one big, beautiful bill,” the Republican tax cut and spending law passed last year.

Economists from the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research estimate that the average U.S. household will spend an additional $740 on gas this year due to higher oil prices from the Iran war.

By comparison, the average tax refund this year is $3,397, up 11%, or around $350, from 2025, according to IRS data.

Edited by Aimee Picchi

65% of Americans blame Trump for high gas prices, poll finds
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/65-percent-americans-blame-trump-gas-prices-poll/

The bottom could be falling out in Trump’s polls

2026-04-21T16:51:11.133Z / CNN

Analysis by

Aaron Blake

PUBLISHED Apr 21, 2026, 12:51 PM ET

President George W. Bush speaks at the White House in April 2006.

Win McNamee/Getty Images/File

It was almost exactly this time 20 years ago that the bottom began to fall out on George W. Bush’s approval ratings. And as Bush’s numbers in most polls fell into the 30s for the first time in late winter and early spring, the culprit was clear: the Iraq war.

History could be repeating itself with President Donald Trump in 2026. Just swap Iraq with Iran.

Two new polls released Tuesday morning showed Trump’s approval rating in the mid-30s: 36% in a Reuters-Ipsos poll and 35% in a Strength in Numbers-Verasight poll. They follow an NBC News poll over the weekend that showed Trump hitting a new low of 37%.

Over the past month now, eight of nine quality polls tracked by CNN have shown Trump in the 30s.

The only exception was a Fox News poll pegging Trump at 41%, but even that showed Trump with his worst numbers in its polls since 2017.

Let’s put those numbers in context.

Trump’s disapproval is hitting new highs

Not every poll shows Trump plumbing new depths with his approval rating.

Some pollsters showed him slightly lower in his first year in office in 2017, or after the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

But Trump’s 62% average disapproval rating in the CNN Poll of Polls — which averages the quality surveys mentioned above — is higher than just about any pollster indicated in either of those past instances.

Trump’s highest disapproval ratings in individual polls in 2017 were as follows: 63% in a Pew Research Center poll, 61% in a Quinnipiac University poll and 60% in Reuters-Ipsos polls. After January 6, he hit 62% in a CNN poll, 61% in a Quinnipiac poll and 60% in a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Trump is now averaging those kinds of numbers across all polls, suggesting more Americans than ever are opposed to Trump.

The trendline is consistent

President Donald Trump talks to members of the media aboard Air Force One, on April 17.

Evan Vucci/Reuters

And perhaps more troubling for Trump, the trendline in his second term has been remarkably consistent — consistently down.

While there may have been a general perception that Trump was pretty unpopular in his first term as president, he recovered from the lows of 2017 to spend most of his presidency with an approval rating in the low 40s, which is somewhat normal for a president these days. That included ahead of the 2018 midterm elections and in his 2020 reelection race.

Trump’s approval rating in his first term was, for the most part, pretty flat.

But in his second term, those numbers have trended slowly but steadily downward.

That trend predated the Iran war. But the war also appears to be solidifying some of Trump’s major liabilities, costing him the support of the kinds of people who hadn’t ditched him before.

New lows on the economy

A big reason for that appears to be views of his handling of the economy, which the Iran war — and the rising gas prices that have accompanied it — has sent to new lows.

To wit:

• A CNN poll late last month showed Trump’s economic approval rating hitting a new all-time low of 31%.
• A CBS News poll this month showed Trump hitting new lows on the economy and inflation.
• The Strength in Numbers and NBC News polls showed the same thing.
• Trump’s disapproval on inflation is now routinely around 70%.

Inflation has long been Trump’s worst issue, with voters often saying he has neglected concerns about rising costs. But increasingly, polls show it has some competition for that mantle from the Iran war.

The NBC poll showed two-thirds of Americans disapproved of Trump on the Iran war — just a tick less than the 68% who disliked how he’s handled inflation.

And the earlier CNN poll showed 67% disapproved of Trump’s handling of Iran, compared to 69% for the economy and 72% for inflation.

He’s getting into Bush territory

It’s certainly possible that the trend line could change and that a resolution to the Iran war could help Trump.

But if the president’s approval rating solidifies in the mid-30s, he would be in some pretty rare company. It would be territory mostly inhabited in recent decades by just one man: George W. Bush.

When Bush dropped into the 30s two decades ago, he was the first president to spend a sustained period there since Jimmy Carter, according to Gallup data. Joe Biden, like Bush, spent some significant time in the 30s, but generally in the high 30s.

It’s not unusual for presidents to be unpopular these days; in fact, it’s kind of the norm.

But Trump is teetering into some pretty unusual and dangerous political territory.

Indicted Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to resign from Congress amid expulsion threat

2026-04-21 2:03pm EDT / Fox News

The Florida Democrat faces a 15-count federal criminal indictment carrying a maximum sentence of 53 years in prison

By Adam Pack Fox News

Published April 21, 2026 2:03pm EDT | Updated April 21, 2026 3:09pm EDT

Democrat faces expulsion vote over alleged $5 million FEMA fraud

Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna joins Kayleigh McEnany to discuss the House’s push to expel Democratic Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick for allegedly misusing $5 million in FEMA funds for a lavish lifestyle. Luna also reacts to former President Donald Trump’s support for attaching a voter ID bill to FISA and his hints at releasing ‘interesting’ UFO documents soon.

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Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., announced Tuesday she is resigning from the House of Representatives after Republicans vowed to force a vote to expel her from the chamber.

“Rather than play these political games, I choose to step away so I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida’s 20th District,” she wrote on social media Tuesday afternoon. “I hereby resign from the 119th Congress, effective immediately.”

“This fight is far from over,” Cherfilus-McCormick, who was indicted by a grand jury last year for allegedly stealing COVID-19 emergency funds, added in her statement.

She is facing 53 years in prison as part of a separate criminal indictment.

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., resigned from the House of Representatives on April 21, 2026 to avoid a looming expulsion vote.(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

INDICTED DEMOCRAT SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK REFUSES TO RESIGN AS EXPULSION VOTE LOOMS

Cherfilus-McCormick’s abrupt announcement came after Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., pledged to file a motion to expel her, teeing up a vote later this week. It takes two-thirds of the House to remove a lawmaker, but a growing number of Democrats have voiced support for the expulsion effort.

It also came just minutes prior to a House Ethics Committee hearing that was slated to recommend sanctions against her for committing a bevy of violations involving financial misconduct.

House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., announced the panel lost jurisdiction with Cherfilus-Mccormick’s eleventh-hour decision to quit Congress.

The committee panel found “clear and convincing evidence” in March that the Florida Democrat misused federal disaster relief money that was improperly paid to her family’s healthcare company, among other misconduct.

Cherfilus-McCormick has denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly rebuffed speculation she would resign if confronted with an expulsion vote.

She slammed the ethics panel’s investigation as a “witch hunt” on social media and claimed a violation of her due process rights, despite the committee granting a request to delay proceedings when she temporarily lost legal representation earlier this year.

Guest vigorously pushed back on that assertion Tuesday, noting that she had repeatedly declined the committee’s request to provide exculpatory evidence.

“The committee has worked diligently to investigate this matter,” he said. “This was not a rush to judgment, as some would claim … this was a very deliberate process to gather information into allegations that were extremely serious, and extremely complicated.”

Guest also thanked committee staff Tuesday who had worked for more than two years and reviewed tens of thousands of documents to probe Cherfilus-McCormick’s alleged misconduct.

She is the third lawmaker to resign from Congress in the past week. Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, stepped down last week to avoid their own expulsion threats related to sexual misconduct allegations.

At least five women have come forward with allegations against Swalwell of sexual assault and rape. Gonzales admitted to sexual misconduct in March with a former aide who later died by suicide.

Former Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, and Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., and Cory Mills, R-Fla., have all been hit with allegations of misconduct during their time in office.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images ; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images ; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

JIMMY KIMMEL IGNORES ERIC SWALWELL RESIGNATION AFTER SAYING IT’D BE ‘SHAMEFUL’ TO AVOID POLITICAL TOPICS

The embattled lawmaker is facing a separate 15-count federal criminal indictment that carries a maximum sentence of 53 years in prison, if convicted. The federal trial is not scheduled to begin until early 2027.

She filed to run for re-election, despite raising just $11,000 in the year’s first fundraising quarter, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings. It is unclear whether she plans to suspend her campaign.

Cherfilus-Mccormick was not present as her resignation announcement was read on the House floor.

A Cherfilus-McCormick aide told reporters that she was with her family in Washington, D.C. as the news broke.

“She’s with her family digesting this development and digesting this decision,” the staffer said. “As you can imagine, this wasn’t what she wanted.”

House Democratic leadership did not publicly weigh in before Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation announcement, despite the extensive misconduct determined by the House ethics panel.

But the congresswoman appeared to cave to the pressure after a wave of Democrats said they would vote to expel her if a rare removal vote hit the floor.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi notably urged the quick expulsion of the Cherfilus-McCormick during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, stating, “Let’s just get this over with.”

Pelosi also advocated for the swift removal of embattled Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for an alleged domestic violence incident, among other misconduct.

“These cases just being out there … they make us look terrible,” Pelosi said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. did not call on Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to step down before her resignation announcement.(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has argued that the Ethics Committee’s investigation into Mills should run its course before lawmakers consider punitive measures.

“I’m confident that they are moving along as quickly as they are able,” Johnson told Fox News. “And when members cooperate, which my understanding is Representative Mills is cooperating, unlike Cherfilus-McCormick, I would expect that the outcome would be much sooner.”

“He’s very upset about some of the allegations that have been made,” Johnson said of Mills. “He says that he wants to prove his innocence, and he has the opportunity to do that.”

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

US at risk of running out of missiles if another war breaks out after depleting stockpile in Iran operations

2026-04-21T17:00:55.135Z / CNN

By Zachary Cohen, Natasha Bertrand

Updated 3 hr ago

Updated Apr 21, 2026, 1:02 PM ET

PUBLISHED Apr 21, 2026, 1:00 PM ET

[image_3]

This image from video provided by US Central Command shows a missile being launched from a US Navy ship in support of Operation Epic Fury on February 28, 2026.

US Central Command/AP

The US military has significantly depleted its stockpile of key missiles during the war with Iran and created a “near-term risk” of running out of ammunition in a future conflict should one arise in the next few years, according to experts and three people familiar with recent internal Defense Department stockpile assessments.

Over the last seven weeks of war, the US military has expended at least 45% of its stockpile of Precision Strike Missiles; at least half of its inventory of THAAD missiles, which are designed to intercept ballistic missiles; and nearly 50% of its stockpile of Patriot air defense interceptor missiles, according to a new analysis conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Those numbers closely align with classified Pentagon data about US stockpiles, according to the sources familiar with the assessment.

Earlier this year the Pentagon signed a series of contracts that would help expand missile production, but the delivery timeline to replace these systems is three to five years even with the increased capacity, the CSIS experts and the sources said.

In the short term, the US likely maintains enough bombs and missiles to continue combat operations against Iran, in any scenario, should the shaky ceasefire fail to hold. But the number of critical munitions remaining in US stockpiles is no longer sufficient to confront a near-peer adversary, like China, and it will likely take years before the inventory of those weapons returns to pre-war levels, the CSIS analysis concludes.

“The high munitions expenditures have created a window of increased vulnerability in the western Pacific,” Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps Colonel and one of the authors of the CSIS report, told CNN. “It will take one to four years to replenish these inventories and several years after that to expand them to where they need to be.”

In a statement to CNN, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that the military “has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing.”

“Since President Trump took office, we have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests,” he said.

The US military has also expended approximately 30% of its Tomahawk missile stockpile; more than 20% of its stockpile of long-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles; and approximately 20% of its SM-3 and SM-6 missiles, according to the analysis and the sources. It would take around four to five years to replace those systems.

The missile math tracking the depleted stockpile stands in stark contrast to President Donald Trump’s recent claim that that the US is not running short of any weaponry – even as he requested additional funding for missiles due to the Iran war’s impact on existing stockpiles.

“We’re asking for a lot of reasons, beyond even what we’re talking about in Iran,” Trump said last month, referring to the request for additional Pentagon funding. “Munitions in particular, at the high end we have a lot, but we’re preserving it.”

“It’s a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top,” he added.

The Trump administration’s recent agreements with private companies should boost production, but near-term deliveries of these key munitions are relatively low because of small orders in the past, the CSIS report notes.

Before the war began, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and other military leaders warned Trump that a protracted military campaign could impact US weapons stockpiles – particularly those that support Israel and Ukraine, CNN previously reported.

And since the start of the conflict, Democrats on Capitol Hill have voiced unease about the amount of munitions used and what it could mean for US defense in the Middle East and beyond.

“The Iranians do have the ability to make a lot of Shahed drones, ballistic missiles, medium range, short range and they’ve got a huge stockpile,” Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said last month. “So at some point … this becomes a math problem and how can we resupply air defense munitions. Where are they going to come from?”