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Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed solidarity on Friday with what he called the “brave people of Iran,” as mass demonstrations demanding the downfall of the regime spread across Tehran and beyond, amid rising concern that fatalities have surpassed 200.

Preliminary figures compiled by the Iranian human rights organization HRANA indicate that by Jan. 9, at least 65 people had been killed, including 50 demonstrators and 15 members of the security forces, though activists warn the actual number could be far higher.

One physician told TIME that six hospitals in Tehran alone had documented at least 217 deaths among protesters, with victims dying “most by live ammunition.”

As unrest deepened, Iran’s supreme leader placed the country’s security apparatus on its highest state of readiness.

According to sources cited by The Telegraph, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei instructed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to activate so-called “missile cities,” vast underground stockpiles housing ballistic weapons.

“The IRGC’s underground missile cities – which were deliberately kept intact during the 12-day war – are all on high alert,” the insider said, warning that any U.S. involvement could ignite an “apocalyptic” conflict.

The IRGC, in a public statement issued Friday, declared that maintaining security was a “red line,” while the armed forces pledged to defend public infrastructure.

Iranian authorities characterized those taking part in the unrest as “terrorists,” accusing them of attacking military and police facilities over the past two nights, resulting in deaths among civilians and security personnel and widespread property damage.

Late Friday night, a municipal building in Karaj, west of the capital, was set ablaze.

Demonstrations were also reported in Shiraz, Qom, and Hamedan, signaling the breadth of the uprising.

The military warnings followed comments from President Trump, who voiced support for Iranian protesters and cautioned Tehran against violent suppression.

“You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too,” Trump said. “I just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be safe, because that’s a very dangerous place right now.”

Rubio echoed that message in a post early Friday morning.

“The United States supports the brave people of Iran, he posted to X.

Iran has remained largely cut off from the outside world since Thursday, after authorities imposed a nationwide internet shutdown and severed international phone connections.

France, Britain, and Germany released a joint statement condemning the killings, saying they “strongly” denounce the violence directed at protesters.

“The Iranian authorities have the responsibility to protect their own population and must allow for the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of reprisal,” the trio wrote.

“We urge the Iranian authorities to exercise restraint, to refrain from violence, and to uphold the fundamental rights of Iran’s citizens.”

In a separate message posted on X, opposition figure Reza Pahlavi escalated his rhetoric, urging demonstrators to move beyond street protests.

“Our goal is no longer merely to come into the streets; the goal is to prepare to seize city centres and hold them,” he said.

Pahlavi also appealed to “workers and employees in key sectors of the economy, especially transportation, and oil, and gas and energy,” to launch a nationwide strike.

The wave of unrest began on Dec. 28, initially fueled by economic hardship, but has since evolved into a direct challenge to the ruling system, marking the most serious threat to Iran’s leadership in years.

Authorities have detained more than 2,500 people in connection with the protests over the past two weeks.

{Matzav.com}

As U.S. seizures of Venezuela-linked oil tankers surge, concerns grow in Cuba about whether the island’s government and economy will survive. Experts warn that a sudden halt in Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba could lead to widespread social unrest and mass migration following the stunning U.S. military raid that resulted in the capture of former […]

Why This Raffle? R’ Mendy Rosenberg z”l was a devoted Hatzolah member who saved lives and helped thousands. After being diagnosed with ALS, he endured years of suffering — yet still completed the entire Shas, inspiring Klal Yisrael with his strength and faith. He left behind his wife and five children. Mendy’s Legacy Fund helps […]

A startling eyewitness account circulating on X alleges that U.S. forces deployed a previously unknown weapon during the operation that captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, leaving soldiers collapsing in agony, “bleeding through the nose” and vomiting blood. The account was shared publicly by the White House press secretary.

In an interview described as astonishing, a guard said American troops eliminated hundreds of defenders without suffering a single casualty, relying on technology he said defied anything he had encountered before, either visually or audibly.

“We were on guard, but suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation,” the guard said. “The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions. We didn’t know how to react.”

Shortly afterward, several helicopters arrived — “barely eight,” according to his estimate — inserting what he believed were only about 20 U.S. soldiers into the area.

Despite their small number, he said, the Americans carried capabilities far beyond conventional weapons.

“They were technologically very advanced,” the guard recalled. “They didn’t look like anything we’ve fought against before.”

What followed, in his telling, bore no resemblance to a traditional firefight.

“We were hundreds, but we had no chance,” he said. “They were shooting with such precision and speed; it felt like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute.”

Then came the moment he says he cannot forget.

“At one point, they launched something; I don’t know how to describe it,” he said. “It was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside.”

According to the guard, the physical consequences were swift and devastating.

“We all started bleeding from the nose,” he said. “Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon — or whatever it was.”

The White House has not yet responded to questions about whether Karoline Leavitt’s decision to amplify the account — which she captioned, “Stop what you are doing and read this…” — should be interpreted as official confirmation of the claims.

Venezuela’s Interior Ministry has said roughly 100 members of the country’s security forces were killed in the Jan. 3 operation.

It remains unknown whether any of those deaths were linked to the alleged mystery weapon.

The guard said resistance collapsed completely as the small U.S. team overwhelmed vastly larger numbers.

“Those twenty men, without a single casualty, killed hundreds of us,” he claimed. “We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons. I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

An ex-U.S. intelligence source told The Post that the military has possessed directed-energy weapons — systems that incapacitate targets using concentrated energy such as microwaves or lasers — for many years, though this could mark the first known instance of their use by the United States in combat. China, the source noted, reportedly employed a microwave weapon against Indian troops in Ladakh during a 2020 border standoff.

The source said such weapons can trigger several of the symptoms described by the guard, including “bleeding, inability to move or function, pain and burning.”

“I can’t say all of those symptoms. But yes, some,” the source said. “And we’ve had versions for decades.”

In the aftermath of the raid, the guard said the takeaway for America’s adversaries could not be more direct.

Now, he says, the message is clear: Don’t tread on Uncle Sam.

“I’m sending a warning to anyone who thinks they can fight the United States,” he said. “They have no idea what they’re capable of. After what I saw, I never want to be on the other side of that again. They’re not to be messed with.”

He added that the operation has already reverberated across Latin America, particularly after President Donald Trump recently warned that Mexico is now ‘on the list.’

“Everyone is already talking about this,” he said. “No one wants to go through what we went through. What happened here is going to change a lot of things — not just in Venezuela, but throughout the region.”

{Matzav.com}

Mortgage borrowing costs dropped notably on Friday following an announcement by President Donald Trump that he has instructed housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to step into the market and purchase $200 billion worth of mortgage bonds. The move marks an unusual federal intervention in housing finance and has already begun to shift expectations for interest rates while reviving arguments over Washington’s role in a market that has increasingly shut out prospective buyers.

Trump highlighted the decision in a social media post, tying the decline in rates directly to the directive. “Mortgage Rates are NOW 5.7%! Mortgage costs were HUGE under Biden (around 8%). That’s why almost no young families could afford a home. With my focus on Housing Affordability, and after I authorized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest their cash, and BUY $200 Billion Dollars in Mortgage Bonds, Mortgage Rates moved down to 5.7%. This is GREAT news for American Families, and real cost relief. We are bringing Housing Costs DOWN, and putting Americans FIRST!,” the post read.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have remained under federal conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis, are not lenders themselves. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, their role is to purchase mortgages from banks and other lenders, either keeping them on their books or bundling them into mortgage-backed securities that are then sold to investors.

Data from Mortgage News Daily reflected the immediate impact. Its national average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stood at 6.06% on Jan. 9, a sharp decline from 6.21% a day earlier, while the same index showed a rate of 7.15% one year ago.

Additional reporting based on Mortgage News Daily data pointed to an even steeper intraday move, briefly pulling the 30-year mortgage rate down to 5.99%, a level viewed by many buyers and refinancers as a key psychological threshold.

Large-scale government purchases of mortgage-backed securities are not without precedent. In the opening phase of the COVID-19 crisis, the Federal Reserve bought $580 billion in agency MBS during March and April 2020, according to an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and expanded its agency MBS holdings from $1.4 trillion in March 2020 to $2.3 trillion by June 2021.

At the same time, the Fed slashed its benchmark interest rate in March 2020, setting a target range of 0 to 1/4 percent.

Trump’s directive has also renewed debate over the long-term future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, particularly whether they will continue to function as instruments of federal policy rather than being returned to private ownership.

“Trump praised his decision not to IPO the companies in his first term … This does not sound like a President who is in a rush to IPO the enterprises,” TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg wrote in a note, according to Reuters.

JonesTrading analyst Mike O’Rourke echoed that view, saying: “If the GSEs (Government-Sponsored Enterprises) can serve as a funding arm for Presidential policy, we shouldn’t ever expect them to be re-privatized again.”

Despite the easing in mortgage rates, broader affordability challenges remain, driven by high home prices and limited supply.

The National Association of Realtors reported that the median price of an existing home reached $409,200 in November 2025.

Interest in refinancing had already been climbing even before Trump’s announcement. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its holiday-adjusted Refinance Index was 133% higher than during the same week a year earlier.

At the same time, household balance sheets have strengthened overall. Federal Reserve figures show U.S. household wealth hit a record $181.6 trillion in September 2025, up from $175.6 trillion in July, fueled by stock market gains tied to the AI boom and continued increases in home values.

{Matzav.com}

A Venezuelan security guard has described what he believes was the use of an unidentified weapon during a U.S. military raid earlier this month that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to an account shared publicly by the White House press secretary. The account, posted Saturday on social media and attributed […]

According to a report in The Times of Israel, the IDF has drawn up plans for a possible renewed Gaza operation in March, including a Gaza City offensive to push the Yellow Line westward and expand Israeli control. * An Arab diplomat said the plan would require U.S. approval, as Washington is still trying to […]

A newly released video from the State Department late Friday put foreign governments on notice, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivering a blunt message aimed at countries weighing whether to challenge President Donald Trump.

In the video posted to X, Rubio cautions adversaries against miscalculating Washington’s stance. “Don’t play games,” he says. “Don’t play games while this president’s in office because it’s not going to turn out well.”

Rubio goes on to emphasize Trump’s seriousness about following through on his pledges. “The 47th president of the United States is not a game player,” he said. “When he tells you that he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it.”

The release of the video coincides with the White House drawing attention to a recent U.S. military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of strongman Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

The footage itself weaves together scenes connected to the Venezuela mission alongside clips of Rubio, Trump, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaking publicly about the developments.

At one point in the video, Rubio underscores the administration’s posture. “This is a president of action,” he says. “Like I don’t understand yet how they haven’t figured this out. And now, if you don’t know, now you know.”

As that message circulated, the White House also sharpened its tone toward Iran, where protests continue and senior officials have threatened severe reprisals against demonstrators.

Speaking Friday to cabinet members and oil executives, Trump warned Iran’s leadership against using lethal force on protesters, saying the U.S. is closely monitoring events and prepared to react if civilians are targeted.

“You better not start shooting,” Trump said during the meeting. “Because we’ll start shooting, too,” he added, according to Reuters.

Trump also told the group that he had seen reports claiming demonstrators had even named a street after him.

“God bless them,” he said, while voicing concern about their well-being and describing Iran as “a very dangerous place right now.”

He reiterated his warning on Sunday, saying the United States would “hit very hard” if Iranian authorities kill protesters as unrest stretches into a second week.

On Truth Social, Trump further stated that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue,” adding that the country is “locked and loaded.”

Demonstrations across Iran approached the two-week mark today, with the government acknowledging the unrest even as it intensifies its crackdown and remains largely isolated from the outside world.

With internet access shut down and phone service disrupted, tracking events from abroad has become increasingly challenging. Still, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that at least 65 people have been killed and more than 2,300 detained during the protests.

Despite warnings from Washington, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has indicated that tougher measures are on the way.

Today, Tehran raised the stakes further when Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, declared that anyone participating in the protests would be deemed an “enemy of God,” a charge that carries the death penalty.

{Matzav.com}

TRUMP: Venezuela has started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners. Thank you! I hope those prisoners will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done. I HOPE THEY NEVER FORGET! If they do, it will not be good for them. Thank […]

A newly released video from Minneapolis shows Renee Good’s SUV blocking the street as ICE agents approach her vehicle, with the encounter escalating shortly before she was fatally shot.

A high-profile New Jersey bill that would have formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism is not expected to pass before the current legislative session expires, dealing a blow to Jewish advocacy groups and exposing sharp political fractures inside the state’s Democratic leadership. Four sources familiar with the situation told Jewish […]

In suburban Philadelphia, Main Line Hatzolah’s inaugural event began at 7:30pm with a 30-minute “social hour” where people from the community had an opportunity to enjoy heavy hour devours meet Hatzolah members and other local first responders, including the chiefs of Police, Fire, and local EMS. At around 8pm people gathered to hear divrei bracha and […]

Trump faces headwinds on Venezuela, health care as some Republicans break rank * President Donald Trump’s military action in Venezuela, as well as threats to Greenland, have spurred some pushback even among congressional Republicans. * Seventeen House Republicans voted with Democrats on Thursday on a bill to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years. […]

Amazon plans first big-box retail store in Chicago suburb * Amazon has proposed building a big-box retail store in a Chicago suburb that would be larger than a Walmart Supercenter. * It marks Amazon’s latest physical retail experiment, after it launched bookstores, a chain of fashion stores, convenience marts and supermarkets, scrapping some concepts along […]

CONGRESS REACTS TO MINNESOTA ICE SHOOTING * The killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minnesota is driving a major political backlash on Capitol Hill. * Lawmakers are demanding a full investigation, changes to immigration enforcement tactics, and accountability for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, with some calling for defunding ICE or her […]

Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale overnight attack, officials said Friday, killing at least four people in the capital. For only the second time in the nearly 4-year-old war, it used a powerful, new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO […]

Fox’s Lucas Tomlinson reports officials say today’s U.S. strikes on ISIS in Syria “are retaliation for the killing of two Iowa National Guard soldiers and their American interpreter last month in Syria.”

A 6-year-old Jewish boy is in critical condition after being struck by a Hatzolah ambulance Shabbos morning in Boro Park. The incident occurred at approximately 10:30 a.m. on 52nd Street between 15th and 16th avenues. The circumstances leading up to the collision remain under investigation. Hatzolah paramedics transported the child to Maimonides Medical Center, where […]

US citizens are being asked to leave Venezuela “immediately” due to security concerns. The advisory comes one week after the U.S. conducted strikes in Caracas and captured Nicolas Maduro. Americans are also being warned by the U.S. Department of State not to travel to Venezuela.