President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been in contact with Iran and hopes the standoff with the Islamic Republic can be resolved without the use of force, even as the United States continues to bolster its military posture in the region.
The President made the remarks while speaking with reporters as he arrived alongside First Lady Melania Trump for the premiere of a documentary focused on the First Lady. Asked whether he has recently communicated with Iranian officials and whether further discussions are planned, Trump responded, “I have had, and I am planning on it,” before adding, “We have a lot of very big, powerful ships sailing to Iran right now. It would be great if we didn’t have to use them.”
Pressed on what he conveyed to Iranian leaders, Trump said he delivered two clear demands. “I told them two things: number one, no nuclear, and number two, stop killing protesters. They are killing them by the thousands. I stopped 837 hangings two weeks ago. They are going to have to do something.”
.@POTUS on Iran: "We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now — and it would be great if we didn't have to use them." pic.twitter.com/hh9r4kpcrT
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 30, 2026
Trump’s comments came after a Wall Street Journal report that he has been briefed on a range of potential military responses to Iran. According to the report, the options were developed jointly by officials at the White House and the Pentagon.
Among the proposals reviewed was an expansive operation described as “the big plan,” which would involve widespread airstrikes against sites linked to Iran’s ruling clerics and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Other alternatives outlined to the President reportedly include limited attacks on high-profile regime symbols, with the option to intensify the campaign if Tehran continues advancing its nuclear program. The briefings also covered non-kinetic measures such as cyber operations against Iranian financial institutions and the tightening of economic sanctions.
Earlier Thursday, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the armed forces are prepared to act if Trump authorizes military action against Iran.
“We’re having to rebuild how our enemies perceive us. And when President Trump said, we’re not getting a nuclear Iran, you won’t have a nuclear bomb, you meant it,” Hegseth said.
Trump has repeatedly paired his warnings with expressions of hope for a diplomatic resolution. On Tuesday night, he again said he wants Iran to reach an agreement with Washington, while pointing out that American forces have been reinforced across the Middle East.
Addressing supporters at a rally in Iowa, Trump said, “There is another beautiful armada floating beautifully towards Iran right now. So we will see.”
“I hope they make a deal. I hope they make a deal,” he continued.
The President reinforced that message a day later on Truth Social, posting, “A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela.”
He followed with a sharper warning, writing, “Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary. Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!”
Trump concluded by invoking a previous confrontation, stating, “As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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President Donald Trump, along with two of his sons and the Trump Organization, filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department, alleging the agencies failed to prevent the unlawful release of his tax information during his first term in office. The case stems from a breach for which a former IRS contractor admitted guilt in 2023.
The complaint, brought by Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization, asserts that the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department failed in their “duty to safeguard and protect Plaintiffs’ confidential tax returns and related tax return information from such unauthorized inspection and public disclosure.”
According to the lawsuit, those failures led to “reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing.”
The plaintiffs are seeking $10 billion in damages. The case was filed in federal court in Florida.
The suit follows criminal proceedings involving Charles Littlejohn, an IRS contractor who pleaded guilty in 2023 to unlawfully obtaining and leaking confidential tax records tied to Trump and thousands of other high-net-worth individuals to two media outlets in 2019 and 2020.
Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison. During his sentencing hearing in 2024, a federal judge described the disclosures as “an attack on our constitutional democracy.”
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American Airlines announced Thursday that it intends to restore daily service to Venezuela, pending approval from the U.S. government and the completion of security reviews, only weeks after the U.S. military carried out an operation that resulted in the seizure of the country’s leader.
Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump said he had urged the Department of Transportation to remove existing restrictions that prevent U.S. airlines from flying to Venezuela, following a conversation with the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez.
“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there,” Trump said.
The airline halted its Venezuela routes in 2019 after U.S. authorities imposed a ban on flights. Earlier this month, the United States launched a military action in Venezuela and detained the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro.
American Airlines, which first began flying to Venezuela in 1987, said the planned service would support business travel, tourism, and humanitarian efforts. Prior to the suspension, the carrier was the largest U.S. airline operating in the country.
Before flights can resume, the Federal Aviation Administration must complete a series of safety evaluations, a process that is expected to take several months.
On Jan. 16, the FAA advised airlines to take extra precautions when operating over Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America, citing concerns over possible military activity and GPS signal disruptions.
The agency said it had issued Notices to Airmen for airspace over Mexico and Central America, as well as Ecuador, Colombia, and sections of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Relations between the United States and leaders in the region have grown increasingly tense following a significant U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean ordered by the Trump administration.
Earlier this month, Trump said drug cartels had effectively taken control of Mexico and suggested that U.S. forces could strike targets on land as part of efforts to combat them, one of several statements signaling a willingness to use military force against the cartels.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has repeatedly cautioned that any unilateral U.S. military action on Mexican soil would amount to a serious breach of national sovereignty. At the same time, she has agreed to enhanced bilateral security cooperation with Washington in an effort to keep Mexico out of Trump’s direct focus.
Concerns over regional air safety intensified last month when a JetBlue flight headed to New York was forced to take evasive action to avoid a near-collision with a U.S. Air Force tanker aircraft near Venezuela that was not transmitting a transponder signal.
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New York City officials under Mayor Zohran Mamdani directed police officers and sanitation crews to stop dismantling homeless encampments just weeks before a brutal Arctic cold snap, after which 10 people were found dead outdoors, according to a report by The New York Post.
The directive was issued shortly after the democratic socialist mayor took office and effectively shifted responsibility for the encampments to the Department of Homeless Services, an agency that sources say was unprepared for the role and received little instruction from City Hall.
The policy change followed Mamdani’s December pledge to end homeless sweeps and took effect ahead of a severe winter storm and plunging temperatures that battered New York City over the past week.
During the previous administration, Mayor Eric Adams expanded the use of encampment clearings as the problem intensified during the COVID-era shutdowns, though the practice had been used by multiple mayors before him, including Mamdani ally Bill de Blasio.
According to insiders, NYPD officers have been instructed to limit their role to responding to calls and logging the locations of encampments, without disturbing anything that could be considered personal property.
Under the new rules, police may only intervene directly if someone inside a tent experiences a medical emergency.
Even in situations involving potential safety hazards, officers have been told they must elevate concerns to supervisors rather than act on their own, sources said.
Sanitation Department workers were also ordered not to interfere with encampments.
Instead, city employees were told to alert Department of Homeless Services staff.
However, City Hall has not yet provided DHS with clear guidance on how to address the makeshift shelters.
“The lack of guidance from City Hall is costing people their lives,” said Council member Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park), whose office said it was unable to get an abandoned encampment removed.
“We have below-zero temperatures at night, but the administration is taking a smiley, milquetoast approach to Code Blue enforcement,” Ariola said. “It may sound nice to his idealist progressive supporters when he says he won’t enforce homeless sweeps, but the reality is that these sweeps get people indoors and out of the elements. Some people need that kind of tough love for their own good.”
Steven Fulop, the CEO of the Partnership for NYC, which represents more than 800,000 city workers in the business sector, also criticized the mayor’s approach.
“We are hearing broad and growing disagreement with the mayor’s position,” he said. “There is nothing humane about allowing people to live indefinitely in street encampments.
“It fails the homeless individuals who need real services and stability, and it fails the surrounding communities who are left without safe, workable public spaces. We are hopeful the mayor revisits his position here.”
A spokesperson for Mamdani did not respond directly to questions about the absence of guidance for DHS, instead offering a general statement on the situation.
“Our focus has been and continues to be bringing homeless individuals inside and off the streets during these extreme and dangerous temperatures,” said press secretary Dora Pekec.
Mamdani faced criticism even before taking office after announcing plans in December to end encampment clearings, with experts and former officials labeling the proposal “naive.”
During his single term, the Adams administration carried out roughly 8,000 encampment “clean out” operations, with monthly totals peaking at around 500 in late 2023.
Adams had made the issue central to his administration as he sought to restore order to city streets following the disruptions caused by the coronavirus shutdown.
De Blasio, a progressive Democrat who advised Mamdani during the transition, oversaw more than 10,000 sweeps across his two terms, a record that drew backlash from allies on the left.
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Dan Sohail, 36, is suspected of driving a car five times into the doors to a synagogue at Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., on Wednesday evening, Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives at the New York City Police Department, said at a press conference.
The suspect, of Carteret, N.J., “had recently connected with the Lubavitch community,” and removed blockades from the same site the prior day, Kenney said.
“This incident is being investigated as a hate crime, and the NYPD’s hate crime task force took the lead on this case,” Kenny said. “We are collaborating with our state and federal partners.”
He added that Sohail has been charged with “attempted assault one and two as a hate crime, reckless endangerment two as a hate crime, criminal mischief two and three as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.”
The suspect claimed he lost control of the car because he was wearing clunky boots, the chief of detectives said. “It’s a hate crime based on his attack on the synagogue,” Kenny said, noting that the suspect knew it was a synagogue.
Ofir Akunis, Israeli consul general in New York, stated that “this is the new reality in New York for Jews.”
“We are seeing one antisemitic attack followed by the next on houses of worship, targeting Jews simply because they are Jewish,” he stated. “The attacks are only intensifying in New York, and the response requires more than a statement. We warned that changing the definition of antisemitism and lifting the ban on boycott initiatives against Israel could lead to an increase in attacks, and regrettably, that is what is happening.”
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, axed all of his predecessors’ recent executive orders, including those designed to protect Jews in the city, within hours of taking over control of City Hall. Mamdani, who has said he would have the Israeli prime minister arrested in New York, has also said that he is interested in divesting the city with the largest Jewish population outside of the Jewish state from Israel Bonds.
“This attack is part of a growing wave of antisemitic incidents driven by an organized, long-running campaign to dehumanize Jews and delegitimize the existence of the Jewish state,” Akunis stated. “Toxic and violent rhetoric is a central component of this propaganda. Antisemitism must be confronted decisively.”
‘A living, breathing thing’
Video footage that has emerged appears to show the suspect removing barricades and telling bystanders to move before he began ramming his vehicle into the entrance doors to Chabad’s global headquarters in Brooklyn.
The suspect was at the location weeks prior, reportedly claiming that he was Jewish, and young students were said to have offered him religious services.
The NYPD said that no one was injured in the attack and that the driver was arrested without incident. The department told JNS that it responded at about 8:45 p.m. to 770 Eastern Parkway, where officers saw a gray Honda sedan, which “collided into entrance doors at the bottom of a sloped driveway in front of 770 Eastern Parkway.”
Wednesday, the 10th of Shevat, is one of the most important days of the calendar for Chabad, with tens of thousands from around the world converging on the site to mark the 75th anniversary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe assuming the leadership role in 1951.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mamdani were among those who issued comments on Wednesday night. The governor said that “for the second day in a row, Jewish New Yorkers were the targets of antisemitic violence” and that “an attack against the Jewish community is an attack against all New Yorkers.”
The mayor, who has released several statements decrying antisemitism that has not related to anti-Zionism, said that the ramming at Chabad “is deeply alarming, especially given the deep meaning and history of the institution to so many in New York and around the world.”
“Any threat to a Jewish institution or place of worship must be taken seriously,” added the mayor, who is reportedly considering two people, who are said to be anti-Chassidic, to run the city office to combat Jew-hatred. “Antisemitism has no place in our city, and violence or intimidation against Jewish New Yorkers is unacceptable.”
Dan Mannarino, of PIX11 News, asked Mamdani about the incident on Thursday.
“I was there on the scene last night at 770 Chabad world headquarters, and it was a horrifying incident where a man repeatedly and intentionally crashed his car into the building,” the mayor said. “I am so thankful that no one was hurt, and we know that this is a building that has immense meaning to so many Jewish New Yorkers and those across the world.”
The mayor said that the attack “took place on the yahrzeit of Rabbi Schneerson and the leadership of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and this is just a day after the day when we remember the victims of the Holocaust.”
“We know that antisemitism is not simply something of the past to be learned about. It is a living, breathing thing that we have to combat every day,” he told PIX11.
‘A deeply disturbing act of violence’
Asked, in light of the New York City Council’s scheduled announcement of a task force to fight Jew-hatred, when he would name a leader to the mayoral office to combat antisemitism, Mamdani said that “we are actually in our final interviews for that position.”
“That is going to be a key position that delivers on our commitment to root out antisemitism across the five boroughs and make this a city where Jewish New Yorkers are not just safe but frankly celebrated and cherished,” the mayor said.
“Sometime next week?” Mannarino asked.
“We’re working on the timeline, but it is in the final stages,” Mamdani said.
The Orthodox Union stated that it stands “with the Chabad community and is thankful to the Almighty that there were no injuries in the disturbing car-ramming incident outside 770 Eastern Parkway, a place that holds deep meaning for many Jews around the world.”
“This incident is the latest reminder of the sacred responsibility of those in positions of authority to prioritize the safety and security of the Jewish community, especially during this time of unprecedented threats,” the OU said.
Yaacov Behrman, a Chabad spokesman, stated that the driver had trespassed previously at a Chabad house in New Jersey. CBS News reported that Sohail told people at the Chabad that he was homeless and wanted to convert to Judaism. Counselors called to the scene reportedly recommended that he seek mental health counseling.
Additional media reports suggested that Sohail was denied access to a yeshiva in the Garden State.
Motti Seligson, a spokesman for the Chabad movement, stated that the site where the ramming took place is “perhaps the most replicated building in the world because of the light, joy, Torah and a confident Judaism that emanates from it to all corners of the world.”
Both New York senators weighed in.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that “770 is not simply a religious institution. It’s an important spiritual home for the Chabad Jewish community, and this antisemitic attack against it is deeply disturbing.”
“This blatant act of antisemitism is not only an attack on this one building but an attack on Jewish people across New York and the world,” stated Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). “Chabad headquarters is a faith home for so many, and this is a deeply disturbing act of violence.”
Harmeet Dhillon, U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights, said that she initiated a civil-rights investigation of the incident. JNS
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