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Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg is calling on the United States to dramatically escalate its strategy in Iran, arguing that American ground forces should be deployed to seize key strategic locations and that the current U.S. negotiating team should be replaced with tougher, more experienced wartime negotiators.

Appearing Monday on Fox News’s “America Reports,” Kellogg said the conflict has entered a new phase and requires an entirely different American approach, beginning with the officials handling diplomacy.

“Look, there’s about five things we ought to be doing right now, because the war has changed right now in Iran. One on negotiations, I would change out our negotiations team,” Kellogg said on Fox News’s “America Reports.”

Kellogg argued that negotiations conducted during an active war should be led by seasoned professionals rather than individuals whose backgrounds are outside the national security arena.

“You do not — have — or need real estate guys to be talking about negotiation during the middle of a war, and when you do bring a negotiations team back, it ought to be a real hardcore son …. that is just sitting on the ground and can really do it well,” he added.

He also maintained that air power by itself will not be enough to secure victory, despite recent surveys indicating that the prolonged conflict has lost favor with many Americans.

“You’re going to need ground troops to do something. That doesn’t mean they go all the way to Tehran,” Kellogg added. “Then I’m not advocating that at all. But you could take a couple key strategic targets, that gives the president leverage and controls their economy.”

The war is now nearing the five-month mark, bringing with it growing diplomatic fallout for the United States. The fighting has strained ties with longtime allies, rattled global markets, and fueled rising oil and gasoline prices.

Military operations also intensified over the past week. American forces completed a nine-day series of strikes against Iranian targets on Sunday, marking the latest escalation in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed Monday that two oil tankers it labeled as “deviant” exploded while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. According to Iran’s state-run Fars News Agency, the IRGC said the vessels had attempted to enter and leave the strategic waterway using what it described as an “unsafe route.”

Separately, the Pentagon on Monday identified two U.S. troops killed in last week’s Iranian attack in Jordan. The service members were named as 1st Lt. Tyler Feehan and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales. Officials said Gonzales was killed in action on Friday, while Feehan was killed the following day.

{Matzav.com}

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, the longtime Sinaloa cartel leader who helped found the criminal empire alongside Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was sentenced Monday to life in federal prison after expressing remorse for the violence and destruction tied to his decades at the helm of one of the world’s most notorious drug trafficking organizations.

Before U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan imposed the mandatory sentence in Brooklyn federal court, the 76-year-old cartel boss addressed the courtroom, acknowledging the suffering caused by his criminal career.

“I am here to say I’m sorry for the harm I caused, and the example I set,” the elderly kingpin said before learning his fate in Brooklyn federal court. “I accept my punishment. I am not here to ask for compassion.”

In addition to the life sentence, Judge Cogan ordered Zambada to surrender $15 billion in criminal proceeds, one of the largest forfeiture judgments ever imposed in a narcotics case.

Federal prosecutors, however, acknowledged during the proceedings that none of the cartel leader’s vast fortune has yet been recovered.

Zambada admitted his role in directing the Sinaloa cartel for more than three decades, pleading guilty last August to operating the criminal enterprise from 1989 until his dramatic capture on July 24, 2024. Prosecutors have said he was lured aboard an aircraft by Joaquin Guzmán Lopez, a son of El Chapo, who allegedly deceived him before the plane landed in Texas, where he was arrested.

Authorities said the cartel flooded the United States with enormous quantities of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl over the years. During Zambada’s leadership—first as El Chapo’s chief lieutenant and later as the cartel’s top leader—more than one million Americans died from drug overdoses, according to federal prosecutors.

Investigators also accused Zambada of maintaining his grip on power through corruption and violence, alleging that he bribed public officials throughout Mexico while commanding a heavily armed criminal organization complete with its own security force and teams of assassins responsible for murders, kidnappings, and torture.

Because Zambada pleaded guilty to participating in a continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy, federal law required a life sentence. Judge Cogan said he fully agreed with that outcome regardless of the statutory mandate.

“The law says it’s gotta be life… I have no problem with that,” the judge said as Zambada, with slicked-back white hair, sat solemnly at the defense table in a tan jail outfit and listened to the proceeding through a Spanish interpreter.

When invited to speak, Zambada read a prepared statement in which he reflected on the consequences of his actions and accepted responsibility for the devastation they caused.

“my actions caused harm—real harm—to individuals, families and communities.”

He went on to describe the environment in which he was raised, while insisting that it could not excuse the choices he ultimately made.

“I grew up in an environment where violence and crime seemed normal, but now I know that’s no excuse,” the septuagenarian drug baron added. “If there’s one thing I can say that has value today, it’s this: the violence must end. In Mexico and elsewhere affected by this type of crime, too many lives are lost, too many families are destroyed, and too many young people are trapped in a cycle that leads only to prison or death. No one wins in a war like this.”

Prosecutors noted that Zambada’s decision to plead guilty spared him from facing a capital trial. The Justice Department had previously warned that it would seek the death penalty if the case proceeded before a jury.

Following the sentencing, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said the punishment brought an end to one of the most notorious criminal careers in modern history.

“Ismael Zambada Garcia spent nearly four decades poisoning American communities to make billions of dollars in profit and ordering the murders of anyone who stood in his way. Today, that chapter closes for good,” said Joseph Nocella, Jr, the head of the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office, in a statement.

Zambada’s longtime partner, El Chapo, is also serving a life sentence in federal prison after his 2019 conviction for leading the Sinaloa cartel and overseeing a massive drug trafficking network that shipped billions of dollars’ worth of narcotics into the United States.

The Trump administration announced Monday that it will levy a 50% tariff on selected Canadian imports, saying the move is necessary to counter what it described as discriminatory trade policies that disadvantage American businesses and workers.

The new duties will apply to certain products imported from Canada and are scheduled to take effect on Aug. 19 under the authority of the Tariff Act of 1930.

Administration officials contend that Canada’s existing tax structure unfairly penalizes U.S. automakers, resulting in a sharp drop in American vehicle exports while providing an edge to competing foreign manufacturers.

“I find that it is necessary and appropriate and in the public interest to impose an additional ad valorem duty of 50 percent on certain products of Canada,” the order said.

“The United States, U.S. businesses and workers, and U.S. commerce suffer from Canada’s discriminatory, unequal, and unreasonable tariff scheme.”

Large-scale demonstrations broke out Monday evening in Yerushalayim and Beit Shemesh as hundreds of protesters rallied against the arrest of yeshivah bochurim accused of draft evasion. Protesters blocked major roads, set fires on the Yerushalayim light rail tracks, and disrupted traffic throughout several key areas, prompting a large police response.

The protests, led by members of extremist chareidi factions, centered on Bar-Ilan Street and Chaim Bar-Lev Boulevard in Yerushalayim, as well as Yehuda HaNasi Boulevard in Beit Shemesh. The road closures caused significant traffic congestion, forcing many motorists to seek alternate routes.

According to Israel Police, demonstrators threw objects at security forces, blocked roadways, and refused repeated orders to disperse. After a police commander issued formal warnings instructing the crowds to leave and the protesters failed to comply, officers began using crowd-control measures to disperse the demonstrations.

Police officers from the Yerushalayim District, together with Border Police personnel, continued operating at multiple locations throughout the evening in an effort to clear the protesters, reopen the blocked roads, and restore public order.

Authorities urged the public to avoid the affected areas until the demonstrations conclude and advised drivers to use alternate routes due to the ongoing road closures and traffic disruptions.

The Israeli government has decided not to appear independently before the High Court of Justice to defend the recently enacted law freezing the arrests of chareidi draft evaders, a move that leaves the state’s position to be represented solely by the attorney general, who is expected to oppose the legislation.

According to the report, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri decided that the government would not seek separate legal representation during the High Court proceedings challenging the law. As a result, the government’s own position will not be presented independently before the justices.

The attorney general is widely expected to align with the petitioners challenging the law and argue against the legislation, meaning the law’s supporters will not have a separate government advocate presenting their case before the court.

A similar decision was reportedly made by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi regarding petitions challenging the Communications Reform Law. Although Karhi declined to request independent legal representation, the deputy attorney general reportedly offered, on his own initiative, to allow the government separate representation. Karhi ultimately rejected the proposal.

The government is taking a different approach, however, in the legal battle over legislation significantly limiting the authority of the attorney general. In that case, the government is expected to request separate legal representation and actively defend the law before the High Court. The details were first reported by i24NEWS correspondent Avishai Grinzaig.

The developments come after the High Court issued a temporary injunction blocking implementation of the law freezing the arrests of chareidi draft evaders. As a result, the legislation has not yet taken effect, and arrests of draft evaders are continuing under the existing legal framework.

The court also issued an order to show cause, requiring those defending the legislation to explain why the law should not be struck down.

In separate proceedings, the High Court likewise issued a temporary injunction suspending provisions of the Communications Reform Law that had been scheduled to take effect immediately.

By contrast, Supreme Court Justice Ofer Grosskopf declined to freeze the law concerning the attorney general’s status, noting that the legislation is not scheduled to take effect until January 2027.

{Matzav.com}