TV News LIES

In an exclusive interview with Drop Site News, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Esmail Baghaei rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that he launched the war because Iran was “going to attack first,” calling it a “big lie.”

“There was no intention on the part of Iran to attack the United States,” he said. “They claim that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States,” Baghaei added. “Did we come to the Gulf of Mexico to target Los Angeles and other U.S. cities? Or did they come 6,500 miles away to Iranian shores?”

On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the U.S. decided to preemptively attack Iran because the White House knew Israel was going to begin bombing Iran and that Iran would strike back. “We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”

On Tuesday, Trump sought to recast the U.S. rationale and said that he believed Iran was going to launch an attack first. “They were going to attack if we didn’t do it. They were going to attack first—I felt strongly about that,” Trump said, charging that the Iranians “were getting ready to attack Israel. They were gonna attack others.”

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US investigators probing an attack on a school in Iran that killed 165 people believe it is most likely that the United States military was responsible for the strike.

Two US officials told Reuters they were still looking into Saturday's attack in the city of Minab, which Middle East Eye revealed was a "double-tap" strike that killed scores of young girls and boys, and not reached a final conclusion.

While they said further evidence could potentially emerge exonerating the US, their initial findings chime with a number of other reports on the incident.

Some social media accounts had misleadingly suggested the school was bombed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), but this has been debunked.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Reuters that "while the Department of War is currently investigating this matter, the Iranian regime targets civilians and children, not the United States of America". Israel also said it is investigating the incident.

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Five hundred Ukrainian defenders were recently returned from Russian captivity as a result of a large exchange under the 500 for 500 formula carried out by Ukraine and Russia. This is the largest exchange in the past six months. The last similar one on such a scale took place in the summer of 2025, when 1,000 Russians were exchanged for 1,000 Ukrainian defenders.

Throughout the last week, everyone had been anxiously awaiting news about their loved ones, since negotiations on exchanges usually take place in the Middle East and with the mediation of the United Arab Emirates. With the outbreak of war in Iran, many felt uncertain about further negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.

However, the exchange did take place, and in two stages.

“This is one of the largest exchanges since the 1,000 for 1,000 exchange,” says representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Petro Yatsenko.

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Last month, Justin and Amy Miller packed their vehicles with three kids, two dogs, a pet bearded dragon, and whatever belongings they could fit, then drove 2,000 miles from Wisconsin to British Columbia to leave President Trump's America.

The Millers resettled on Vancouver Island, their scenic refuge accessible only by ferry or plane. Justin went to work in the emergency room at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, where he became one of at least 20 U.S.-trained nurses hired since April.

Trump, some of the nurses said, was why they left.

"There are so many like-minded people out there," said Justin, who now works elbow to elbow with Americans in Canada. "You aren't trapped. You don't have to stay. Health care workers are welcomed with open arms around the world."

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Israel's military said it launched a "broad wave" of strikes on Iran's capital of Tehran targeting regime infrastructure, with additional strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs. Iran responded early Friday with retaliatory strikes on Israel.

Since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, more than 1,300 people there have been killed according to the humanitarian organization Iranian Red Crescent, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and more than 160 people in a strike on a girls school. The United Nations refugee agency says about 100,000 people fled Tehran in the first two days of the attacks that began Feb. 28.

In retaliation, Iran has attacked Israel and launched missiles and drones in countries that host U.S. military bases, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

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The executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, a mainstay at the Kennedy Center, is leaving to head the Los Angeles-based Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

It’s the latest departure from the Kennedy Center since Donald Trump began asserting control over the storied performing arts venue in Washington.

The Food and Drug Administration’s embattled vaccine chief, Dr. Vinay Prasad, is once again leaving the agency — the second time in less than a year that he’s departed after controversial decisions involving the review of vaccinations and specialty drugs for rare diseases.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced the news to FDA staff in an email late Friday, saying Prasad would depart at the end of April. Makary said Prasad would return to his academic job at the University of California, San Francisco.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced the news to FDA staff in an email late Friday, saying Prasad would depart at the end of April. Makary said Prasad would return to his academic job at the University of California, San Francisco.

In July, Prasad was briefly forced from his job after running afoul of biotech executives, patient groups and conservative allies of President Donald Trump. He was reinstated less than two weeks later with the backing of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Makary.

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The U.S. torpedoing of an Iranian frigate off Sri Lanka this week may have violated the Geneva Conventions by failing to help rescue sailors from the stricken warship, an act that could potentially endanger American service members in this and future wars.

The 312-foot Dena and its 130-member crew, many of them musicians in the Iranian navy band, had just finished participating in an Indian government naval exercise and cultural exchange that the U.S. Navy had also participated in and were on the way home on Wednesday. After clearing Sri Lanka, it was struck by a torpedo fired from a U.S. Navy submarine about 20 miles from the island’s southern tip. The weapon appears to have ruptured the hull from beneath, and the warship quickly sank. The submarine did not attempt to rescue Iranian sailors in the water.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt bragged about how the attack featured the first American use of a torpedo to sink a ship since World War II. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, narrating a video clip of the attack, used the same gloating tone. “An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death,” he intoned.

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