All DHS workers to be paid by end of week for past 6 weeks of shutdown

April 7, 2026 / 5:40 PM EDT / CBS News

Chimney Rock, North Carolina— Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, promised Tuesday that DHS employees affected by the ongoing government shutdown can expect to receive paychecks by the end of the week.

Mullin, who was traveling for his first official visit as DHS secretary, in Chimney Rock, North Carolina, said department employees who’ve been working without pay for the past six weeks would see the missing payments covering recent pay periods in their accounts soon.

“We expect most of those checks to be in their banks by Friday,” he told CBS News. “Some of the financial institutions may have to wait till Monday, but the majority of everybody will be paid by then.”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, right, talks with Mayor Peter O’Leary, during a trip to survey damage caused by Hurricane Helene, April 7, 2026 in Chimney Rock, N.C. Rebecca Santana / AP

The secretary said the payments are being made possible through executive action and existing funding flexibility, but he warned that future payroll for DHS employees — outside of law enforcement officials — would depend entirely on Congress.

“Going forward, we got to wait on Congress. This was kind of a rifle shot,” he said, noting the high cost of DHS payroll every two weeks.

Mullin pulled no punches in dressing down Democrats for the delay.

“They’re willing to defund and shut down 22 agencies that are tasked to keep the homeland safe,” he said, likening DHS, the third largest department in the federal government, to the biggest, the Pentagon. Despite the funding lapse, Mullin said DHS operations remain active, crediting employees who have continued to report to work without the certainty of pay. “People are still showing up to work … that’s a tremendous amount of dedication from employees that I get to be over right now,” he said.

When pressed by CBS News on the source of the appropriations, Mullin said the Trump administration is relying on a provision that gives the president limited the ability to move funds in emergencies. He described it as allowing DHS “a little bit of flexibility … with the dollars that were set up to allow us to do stuff just like this,” but he emphasized the move required executive action and is not a long-term solution.

4月6日，美国总统特朗普在白宫举行的新闻发布会上回答提问。 （路透社）

美国总统特朗普在最后期限即将结束前在社交媒体上宣布，他已同意“暂停对伊朗的轰炸和攻击两周”。

特朗普星期二（4月7日）傍晚6时32分在Truth Social贴文说：“基于我与巴基斯坦总理夏巴兹和陆军参谋长穆尼尔的会谈，他们请求我暂缓今晚对伊朗实施的毁灭性打击，并且以伊朗伊斯兰共和国同意完全、立即、安全地开放霍尔木兹海峡为条件，我同意暂停对伊朗的轰炸和袭击，为期两周。这将是一项双向停火！”

特朗普接着写道：“原因在于，我们已经实现并超额完成了所有军事目标，而且在与伊朗达成长期和平协议以及中东和平协议方面取得了重大进展。我们收到了伊朗提出的10点建议，并认为这是一个可行的谈判基础。美国和伊朗几乎就过去存在的各种争议点达成了一致，但停火两周将使这项协议得以最终敲定和生效。”

“作为美国总统，我谨代表美利坚合众国，同时也代表中东各国，为这一长期问题即将得到解决而深感荣幸。感谢各位对此事的关注！唐纳德·特朗普总统。”

特朗普星期二早前限伊朗在美东时间7日晚8时（新加坡时间8日上午8时）之前达成协议或开放运输要道霍尔木兹海峡，否则“一整个文明将在今晚消亡，永远也无法恢复。”巴基斯坦总理夏巴兹稍早时候在社交媒体发文说，他请求特朗普把这个“最后期限”延后14天，同时请求伊朗开放霍尔木兹海峡两周以示善意。

Swalwell campaign denies ‘false, outrageous rumor’ as allegations of misconduct swirl on social media

2026-04-07 7:10 PM ET / CNN

By Eric Bradner

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell attends the SEIU-United Service Workers West’s Gubernatorial Candidate Worker Forum at Meruelo Studios in Los Angeles, California, on January 10, 2026.

Etienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images

The campaign of Rep. Eric Swalwell, the California Democratic candidate for governor, on Tuesday sought to rebut claims made by several people on social media that multiple women plan to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct involving staffers.

“This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race,” Swalwell campaign communications director Micah Beasley said in a statement.

He also said one prominent claim that women have remained silent because of non-disclosure agreements is false.

“In 13 years, no one in Eric Swalwell’s congressional office has ever been asked to sign an NDA. Ever,” Beasley said. “In 13 years, not a single ethics complaint by any staff in his office or any other office has ever been lodged. Ever.”

The statement comes less than two months before California’s June 2 primary, in which Swalwell and several other prominent Democrats are battling for what’s likely to be just one spot in the November general election. Voters can begin mailing in ballots in less than four weeks.

All parties’ candidates compete in California’s primary, with only the top two finishers regardless of party advancing to the general election — a unique “top-two” system that complicates the state’s crowded field.

Just two major Republicans are competing: Steve Hilton, a British transplant and former Fox News host, and Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff. Republicans are a minority in California, but because the field of Democratic candidates is much larger and more fractured, Democrats have long feared a doomsday scenario in which none of the party’s candidates finish in the top two in the primary to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.

President Donald Trump this week endorsed Hilton, cementing the likelihood that he will advance, but also helping Democrats avoid the nightmare of being shut out of the general election.

Along with Swalwell, the roster of well-known Democrats in the race includes US Rep. Katie Porter; billionaire activist Tom Steyer; Xavier Becerra, the former state attorney general and Biden administration Health and Human Services secretary; San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; and former State Controller Betty Yee. None have emerged as a clear favorite.

Allegations of wrongdoing against Swalwell emerged on social media through accounts of progressive influencers. The Daily Caller, a conservative news outlet, on Monday published a report highlighting claims leveled by Cheyenne Hunt, a lawyer and former congressional candidate who is now the executive director of Gen-Z for Change.

Hunt said in an X post Monday that she is “working with a number of women who are in the process of coming forward and sharing their stories of sexual harassment and even alleged abuse at the hands of Eric Swalwell.”

Hunt did not name any of the women she said are alleging misconduct, and did not share the specifics of their claims. She said those women are working with a lawyer, and that some felt they had to remain silent because of non-disclosure agreements.

Porter, one of Swalwell’s Democratic rivals in the governor’s race, highlighted what she said were “very troubling allegations” Tuesday on CNN.

“With regard to Rep. Swalwell, I have seen allegations coming from women staffers. They are very, very troubling allegations. It’s those women’s stories to tell when they are ready, and I hope they feel safe and supported if they choose to do so,” Porter said.

Porter said she has not spoken to any of the women who social media influencers say plan to come forward with allegations against Swalwell.

“This is about building a politics that works for people, that is focused on living our values, and I believe women. I think that has to be the starting place here,” she said.

Trump and other Republicans have long mocked Swalwell over his association with the woman at the center of a suspected political intelligence operation run by China’s main civilian spy agency between 2011 and 2015, Fang Fang or Christine Fang.

The House Ethics Committee in 2023 closed its investigation into Swalwell without taking action, and he was never accused of wrongdoing. However, The Washington Post reported in March that FBI Director Kash Patel was pushing to release case files from the investigation.

Trump agrees to 2-week ceasefire with Iran, delaying threat of large-scale bombing campaign

Updated on: April 7, 2026 / 7:59 PM EDT / CBS News

By Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh is a senior editor for digital politics at CBS News. Joe previously covered breaking news for Forbes and local news in Boston.

President Trump said Tuesday he has agreed to a “double sided CEASEFIRE” with Iran, less than two hours before his deadline for Iran to either cut a deal with the U.S. or face massive strikes on its power plants.

“I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

He said the ceasefire, which he agreed to at Pakistan’s request, was “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi confirmed that Iran had agreed to halt “defensive operations,” likely referring to its drone and missile stikes on U.S. allies in the region, if the U.S. stops attacking Iran. Araghchi also said Iran’s armed forces will coordinate to allow for “safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Oil futures plummeted on the news of a ceasefire, with the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate falling more than 13% to below $92 a barrel in the hour after Mr. Trump’s announcement. The price of oil has rocketed since the war began to highs not seen in years, as shipments are largely cut off through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint that normally carries one-fifth of the world’s oil. Prices still remained above pre-war levels on Tuesday.

The ceasefire followed a frenzied diplomatic effort by the U.S., Iran and third-party mediators like Pakistan to avoid a major escalation in the nearly six-week-long war. Over the weekend, Mr. Trump demanded that Iran strike an “acceptable” deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. If Iran did not comply, the president vowed to destroy the country’s power plants and bridges.

His threats have grown more sharp-edged in recent days. Earlier Tuesday, he wrote on Truth Social: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

The U.S. and Iran have not appeared to strike a formal long-term deal. But Mr. Trump wrote in his message announcing the ceasefire that the U.S. is “very far along” in striking a “definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran.”

The president said Iran sent the U.S. a 10-point peace plan that is a “workable basis on which to negotiate.” A day earlier, Iran rejected a 15-point proposal offered by American negotiators.

“Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated,” Mr. Trump wrote.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said negotiations between the two sides will begin in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Friday and last two weeks, with “complete distrust toward the American side.” Iran said that if a deal isn’t struck, “we will continue to fight side by side on the battlefield until all the demands of the Iranian people are achieved.”

Major gaps between the two sides appear to linger. In its statement, Iran said the 10-point plan calls for the U.S. to withdraw forces from all bases in the region, fully compensate Iran, lift all sanctions and grant Iran’s armed forces control over the Strait of Hormuz. It also calls for an end to hostilities against the “Axis of Resistance,” Iran’s term for regional proxy groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, many of which the U.S. regards as terrorist organizations.

It’s not clear whether Mr. Trump would accept many of those demands, which would mark a significant change to the U.S.’s strategy in the Middle East. The president appeared to reject the idea of allowing Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz and collect tolls from ships that sail through on Monday, telling reporters that, if anything, the U.S. should take in tolls.

Blanche invokes Trump ‘love’ when asked about staying on after Bondi

April 7, 2026 4:36pm EDT / Fox News

Blanche said he would be open to replacing Bondi if the president were to nominate him

By Ashley Oliver Fox News

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche lavished praise on Donald Trump during a press conference, saying when asked if he wanted to replace Pam Bondi permanently that the decision was up to the president.

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche showered President Donald Trump with praise during a Justice Department anti-fraud press conference and said any decision on permanently replacing Pam Bondi was up to the president.

“As to whether or not I want this job, I did not ask for this job. I love working for President Trump,” Blanche said in his first public remarks since Bondi’s firing. “It’s the greatest honor of a lifetime, and if President Trump chooses to keep me as acting, that’s an honor. If he chooses to nominate me, that’s an honor.”

Blanche added: “If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, ‘Thank you very much. I love you, sir.’”

PAM BONDI IS OUT AS AG — HERE ARE THE CONTENDERS WHO COULD REPLACE HER

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche addresses the Justice Department’s fraud efforts during a news conference on April 7, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Blanche’s remarks came after Trump announced last week that Bondi would be leaving her role and that Blanche, his formal personal attorney and the DOJ’s deputy attorney general, would fill in indefinitely as acting attorney general.

Officials can serve in an acting capacity for up to 210 days. Trump has not signaled a nominee to take the role permanently, but he could nominate Blanche. Fox News Digital previously reported that the president has also had discussions with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin about taking the job.

Blanche noted that Bondi’s transition out of the department remained ongoing. Bondi announced last week that she would take the next 30 days to shift responsibilities to Blanche.

When asked why she was pushed out of her job, Blanche said “nobody has any idea… except for the president.” Trump had fired Bondi after she failed to secure successful indictments against some of Trump’s top political rivals and amid long-simmering frustrations with her handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking case files.

Todd Blanche served as deputy attorney general with Pam Bondi before she was fired by President Trump.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“As far as Pam Bondi’s last day on the job, I am the acting attorney general,” Blanche said, adding, “We’ve been regularly communicating over the past several days for an appropriate transition. She is very much a big supporter of this department.”

Most of Blanche’s remarks focused on the DOJ’s crackdown on fraud, as he pointed to several recent cases totaling more than half a billion dollars in healthcare and COVID-19-related schemes.

Blanche cited a string of examples, including prosecutors securing a guilty plea in a $160 million healthcare enrollment fraud operation and a sentencing in a $100 million COVID-19 fraud case. He contended that such cases represented a fraction of the fraud occurring nationwide and formally rolled out the DOJ’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division, led by newly confirmed Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, who stood by Blanche during his remarks.

The division, Blanche said, would involve specialized prosecutors and expanded staffing in U.S. attorney’s offices across the country, and it would use more advanced technology to more effectively investigate fraud.

JD VANCE ANNOUNCES MULTI-STATE FRAUD TASK FORCE IN WAKE OF MINNESOTA SCANDAL

Colin McDonald, assistant attorney general for national fraud enforcement, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing Feb. 25, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)

“We have a storied history of combating fraud and bringing criminal actors to justice, but the department has never adopted a comprehensive and coordinated approach to investigating and prosecuting fraud against taxpayer dollars and taxpayer-funded programs,” Blanche said.

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Former U.S. Attorney John Fishwick of Virginia told Fox News Digital he thought Blanche appeared to be vying for the attorney general role.

“Todd Blanche seems to be trying out for the top job today in his opening press conference and surely trying to catch Trump’s attention with his criticism of many of the questions by the press,” Fishwick said in a statement, observing how Blanche derided some reporters for their questions.

Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business, covering the Justice Department and legal affairs. Email story tips to ashley.oliver@fox.com.

伊官媒：伊朗民众组人链“肉盾”保护发电厂

2026年4月8日 07:32 / 联合早报

4月7日，美国白宫外出现抗议美国对伊朗采取军事行动的示威活动。 （路透社）

伊朗国家媒体发布的照片显示，伊朗民众星期二（4月7日）在发电厂设施组成人链，充当“肉盾”保护发电厂。伊朗高级官员也说，他们已做好牺牲生命的准备。

法新社报道，伊朗政府通过网络和短信发起一项全国范围的人链招募活动，官方称已有超过1400万人加入。目前尚无法核实这一数字或实际参与人数，但伊朗媒体初步发布的照片显示每个地点都有数十人参与。

伊朗官方通讯社伊通社（IRNA）播放的画面显示，在伊朗南部城市布什尔（Bushehr），人们组成人链“声援发电厂”。布什尔是伊朗核电站的所在地。

另据伊朗国家电视台和梅尔通讯社（Mehr）拍摄的画面，在伊朗北部城市大不里士（Tabriz）的主要核电站外和东北部城市马什哈德（Mashhad）的一座核电站外，各有数十人聚集。

梅尔通讯社报道，由于美国和以色列联军空袭以伊朗的桥梁为目标，在伊朗西部城市阿瓦士（Ahvaz）一条河流的主桥上有民众聚集。

美国总统特朗普7日早前限伊朗在美东时间7日晚8时（新加坡时间8日上午8时）之前达成协议或开放运输要道霍尔木兹海峡，否则“一整个文明将在今晚消亡，永远也无法恢复。”

特朗普于7日傍晚6时32分在Truth Social贴文说，他与巴基斯坦总理夏巴兹和陆军参谋长穆尼尔会谈后，同意“暂停对伊朗的轰炸和攻击两周”，他说，这将是“一项双向停火！”

特朗普还称收到了伊朗提出的10点建议，他认为这是一个可行的谈判基础，停火两周将使这项协议得以最终敲定和生效。

Few Republicans condemn Trump’s Iran threat as Democrats call for his removal

April 7, 2026 / 7:35 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— In the hours between President Trump threatening to eradicate a “whole civilization” unless Iran agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz and the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, Republicans in Congress remained mostly silent about Mr. Trump’s threat.

The president had given Iran a deadline of 8 p.m. Tuesday to reopen the strait, a critical channel for global oil trade, or face attacks on its civilian infrastructure. Twelve hours before the deadline, and about 11 hours before he announced a ceasefire, Mr. Trump posted an ominous message on Truth Social.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he said.

Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas appeared to be the first Republican in Congress to express unease, saying Tuesday afternoon that he does “not support the destruction of a ‘whole civilization.’”

“That is not who we are, and it is not consistent with the principles that have long guided America,” he wrote, adding that “how we protect the lives of the innocent is just as important as how we engage the enemy.”

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said Mr. Trump’s threat “cannot be excused away as an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations with Iran.”

“Everyone involved—especially the President and Iran’s leaders—must de-escalate their unprecedented saber-rattling before it is too late,” she said in a social media post.

Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, who recently switched his party affiliation from Republican to independent, also weighed in, urging Mr. Trump against the escalation.

“The United States does not destroy civilizations. Nor do we threaten to do so as some sort of negotiating tactic,” he wrote.

The lack of condemnation from most congressional Republicans stood in stark contrast to the dozens of Democrats who called for Mr. Trump to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment or impeached over the rhetoric. By Tuesday afternoon, more than 70 Democrats in both chambers had called for his removal, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“Donald Trump’s instability is more clear and dangerous than ever,” the California Democrat said in a statement. “If the Cabinet is not willing to invoke the 25th Amendment and restore sanity, Republicans must reconvene Congress to end this war.”

Rep. John Larson, a Connecticut Democrat, announced Tuesday afternoon that he had introduced articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump, although that effort has no chance of succeeding with Republicans in the majority.

Some conservatives outside of Congress, who were once fervent Trump supporters, also condemned the president’s threats. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones were among those calling for Mr. Trump’s removal.

Less than two hours before the 8 p.m. deadline, Mr. Trump announced the ceasefire, provided Iran agreed to the “COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz,” delaying the threatened large-scale attack.

Is that legal? Trump threatens bridges, power plants and a ‘whole civilization’

2026-04-07T21:55:40.060Z / CNN

Analysis by

Zachary B. Wolf

Updated 1 hr 4 min ago

Updated Apr 7, 2026, 6:56 PM ET

PUBLISHED Apr 7, 2026, 5:55 PM ET

President Donald Trump leaves following a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 6, 2026.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

There’s nothing in the military’s 1,200-page Law of War Manual about whether it’s legal to end a civilization, perhaps because nobody could have imagined an American president would make such an apocalyptic threat.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning, referencing his 8 p.m. deadline for Iran to cry “Uncle” to the US and open the Strait of Hormuz. Trump later Tuesday announced he’d agreed to a two-week ceasefire on the condition that Iran agree to reopen the critical waterway.

Ever the reality TV showman, Trump timed his deadline for Iran to prime-time TV hours in the US — and announced the two-week pause with less than two hours to go before his deadline.

The underlying threat remains, however. Never one to let international law get in the way, Trump is still flirting with ordering the US military to commit war crimes by undertaking civilizational erasure.

Maybe those words are bombast or a “madman theory” negotiating tactic – nobody knows exactly what he’ll do. Maybe they are the obvious result of a president being told by the Supreme Court he has immunity from all law for his official acts as president.

Trump is largely immune from US laws. What about the military?

The same immunity may not exist for everyone under his command. Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, told CNN’s Kasie Hunt that members of the military have an obligation not to follow illegal orders.

“If you’re asked to target civilians, if you’re asked to kill women and children, you’re asked to kill noncombatants, you’re asked to bomb a school, you’re asked to bomb a civilian power plant, that would be a war crime,” Crow said. Service members, he said, have independent obligations to follow the law of armed conflict.

There is bipartisan concern. Right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson, for instance, said officials in the administration should say no if Trump orders the killing of civilians.

Wasn’t this war launched to guard against mass destruction?

The US launched the war, along with Israel, for the stated reason of making sure Iran never obtained nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Now Trump sounds prepared to unleash mass destruction, although he has not talked publicly about using nuclear weapons.

What he has talked about is plunging Iran’s 90 million citizens into darkness by destroying their power plants and restricting their movement by destroying their bridges.

“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he said in the social media post, which offers Iran a binary choice of negotiating with the US or facing some kind of extinction.

As of this writing, Iran has answered by reportedly encouraging civilians to shield power plants and bridges with their bodies.

Trump, somewhat ironically given his stated disdain for international law, told NBC News that civilian shields would violate the laws of war.

“Totally illegal,” Trump told NBC Tuesday. “They’re not allowed to do that.”

International outrage and ‘war crimes’ warnings

Trump’s threats to go after power plants have already drawn international condemnation and warnings.

“I urgently call on parties to spare civilians and civilian objects in all military operations,” said International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric in a published statement. “It is their obligation under international humanitarian law.”

“Canada expects all parties in this conflict, in any conflict, to respect international laws,” Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Tuesday.

More than 100 US legal experts signed onto a statement saying that the entire war, launched preemptively, violated the UN’s charter, and that targeting energy infrastructure “could entail war crimes.”

Another international law expert, Ryan Goodman of New York University’s School of Law, was much more pointed.

“This isn’t legal analysis. It’s idiocy,” Goodman wrote on X, sharing a Wall Street Journal report with the headline: “Top Aides Advise Trump Blasting Iran’s Infrastructure Is Fair Game.”

Goodman, who is also a top editor at the website Just Security, took issue with the idea cited in the story that power plants are legitimate targets because they could foment unrest that could topple Iran’s regime.

Power plants have been targeted before

Others argue there is plenty of room for the targeting of power plants and bridges and that the US has done so before.

Eugene Kontorovich, a professor at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University, pointed out on X that the US has targeted power plants before.

“The notion that international law prohibits attacking bridges or power stations in war is ludicrous, and the U.S. and its allies did so extensively in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and even the 1999 air campaign against Yugoslavia, which left most of Serbia without electricity,” Kontorovich wrote.

That Yugoslavia example was actually a NATO operation, according to CNN’s report at the time. The air campaign included the US military, which struck a Serbian coal plant as it sought to drive the Serbian army out of Kosovo. The United Nations did not authorize the air campaign, but it did authorize a subsequent ground peacekeeping force. Trump and Israel launched their war without input from either NATO or the UN.

The Trump administration disdains international law

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who goes by his Trump-bestowed secondary title secretary of war, has said the war with Iran would be conducted without “stupid rules of engagement”.

The military’s manual on the law of war does talk about targeting bridges and power plants, and it makes clear that both can be targeted at certain times.

A view of the damaged B1 bridge a day after it was destroyed by an air strike, on April 3, 2026, in Karaj, Iran.

Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

When is it OK to target power plants and bridges?

There is a two-part test for determining whether a country’s infrastructure is a legitimate military target.

First, according to the US war manual, the target must make an effective contribution to the enemy’s military; second, destroying it must offer a distinct military advantage.

But there is another issue, as the international law experts worried about the US committing war crimes point out — that of “proportionality.”

“The proportionality principle prohibits attacks expected to cause incidental civilian harm that would be excessive in relation to the military advantage,” they wrote.

This is Trump’s message to the world

Certainly, destroying a large portion of the power plants in a country twice the size of Texas would cause civilian harm. Control of power, on the other hand, has become a tool of the US government; an embargo on Cuba has largely turned off the power on that island after the US decapitated Venezuela’s government and put new restrictions on its oil exports to Cuba earlier this year. The administration hopes the harm will force Cuba into submission.

“The kind of mass force that the president is threatening (on Iran) … every bridge, every railway station, don’t seem to qualify as legitimate military targets,” Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said on CNN News Central on Tuesday.

But the threats convey something else important, he said.

“What it says to the world is something that the world has already understood, which is the United States has strayed from many of the norms and principles by which we like to believe that we live,” Cook said.

For Americans who heretofore viewed the US as the country that upheld international law, their conception of American civilization is also up for review.

This article has been updated with new reporting.

ICE says it shot man who tried to ram officers with car

2026-04-07 20:43:28 UTC / Reuters

April 7 (Reuters) – ICE officers shot and wounded a man in California on Tuesday after the suspect ​tried to ram one of them with ‌his vehicle, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

The man was taken to a hospital ​and the FBI was on the ​scene, ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a ⁠statement.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

“As officers approached the car, the wanted ​gang member weaponized his vehicle in an attempt ​to run an officer over. Following their training, our officers fired defensive shots to protect themselves, their fellow ​agents, and the public,” Lyons said.

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The suspected gang ​member from El Salvador was in the U.S. illegally and ‌had ⁠been wanted for questioning in connection with a homicide, ICE said.

Reuters could not independently verify the ICE statement regarding the incident in Patterson, ​a farm ​town of ⁠25,000 people in the San Joaquin Valley, about 90 miles (145 km) southeast ​of San Francisco.

The Department of Homeland ​Security ⁠said in January that ICE officers experienced 66 vehicular attacks against them in the first year ⁠of President ​Donald Trump’s second term, ​up from two such incidents in the previous year.

Reporting by Daniel ​Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Rod Nickel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

伊媒：伊美谈判10日在伊斯兰堡开始

2026年4月8日 07:41 / 联合早报

伊媒：伊美谈判10日在伊斯兰堡开始

4月7日，伊朗民众聚集街头，以此纪念南部城市米纳布一所学校遭美以致命袭击。 （法新社）

伊朗迈赫尔通讯社星期三（4月8日）凌晨引述伊朗最高国家安全委员会秘书处的声明报道，与美国的谈判将于4月10日在巴基斯坦首都伊斯兰堡开始，为期两周。

美国总统特朗普星期二在最后期限即将结束前在社交媒体上宣布，他已同意“暂停对伊朗的轰炸和攻击两周”。

特朗普7日傍晚6时32分（新加坡时间8日早上6时32分）在Truth Social贴文说：“基于我与巴基斯坦总理夏巴兹和陆军参谋长穆尼尔的会谈，他们请求我暂缓今晚对伊朗实施的毁灭性打击，并且以伊朗伊斯兰共和国同意完全、立即、安全地开放霍尔木兹海峡为条件，我同意暂停对伊朗的轰炸和袭击，为期两周。这将是一项双向停火！”

特朗普还称收到伊朗提出的10点建议，他认为这是一个可行的谈判基础，停火两周将使这项协议得以最终敲定和生效。