The United States and Israel both rejected any involvement in a series of unexplained explosions across Iran on today that killed six people and injured more than a dozen, amid heightened regional tensions.
U.S. officials told CNN that an explosion in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas had no connection to military activity, despite reports that a large U.S. naval “armada” is expected to enter the Persian Gulf as friction with Tehran intensifies.
Israeli officials likewise dismissed allegations that Israel carried out a targeted drone strike against an Iranian military site, according to the report.
In Bandar Abbas, one child was killed and 14 others were wounded when an explosion tore through a residential building on today. Iranian state media initially attributed the blast to a gas leak, saying authorities were still investigating the cause.
Separately, on the opposite side of the Strait of Hormuz, another explosion struck Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, where five people were killed in what was also described as a gas-related incident, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Additional reports of explosions elsewhere in Iran circulated online, though these claims were not independently confirmed.
Iranian state media today rejected viral social media claims that naval officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been killed in targeted drone attacks.
The incidents occurred as United States Central Command issued a warning to Iran ahead of planned live-fire military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz scheduled for Sunday.
“Any unsafe and unprofessional behavior near US forces, regional partners, or commercial vessels increases risks of collision, escalation, and destabilization,” CENTCOM wrote on X on Friday.
Even as tensions remain elevated, Iranian officials insisted that diplomatic efforts with Washington continue to advance.
“Contrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing,” wrote Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in a post on X today.
{Matzav.com}
An Iranian operative working for Israel’s intelligence service revealed new details about clandestine actions carried out inside Iran during Israel’s 2025 campaign against Tehran’s nuclear program, describing how he joined the agency and participated in preemptive attacks ahead of Israeli airstrikes, Times of Israel reports.
The agent, whose identity was withheld for security reasons, gave the interview to Israel’s Channel 12 investigative program “Uvda,” where he recounted his personal motivations, his recruitment into the Mossad, and the events surrounding June 13, 2025, when Israel launched strikes it said were aimed at neutralizing an immediate existential threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
In the early hours of June 13, as Israeli fighter jets began heading toward targets in Iran, a coordinated series of rocket and drone attacks launched from within Iran knocked out critical air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, and struck senior Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists.
Those internal attacks cleared the way for the Israeli air campaign and delayed Iran’s ability to mount an immediate missile and drone response, though retaliatory strikes followed in subsequent days.
The operative, identified on the program only by the alias “Arash,” appeared in heavy disguise to prevent recognition. The program did not disclose where the interview was filmed, noting only that it was recorded before anti-regime protests erupted inside Iran in late December.
According to the report, Arash is about 40 years old. He said his opposition to the Iranian regime began in childhood, when school lessons were dominated by indoctrination against Israel and the United States. He recalled that when he was 11, his 17-year-old sister was arrested and beaten for failing to wear a hijab. Although his father paid to secure her release, the incident led the family to flee Iran for an unnamed Western country.
Arash said the experience left him determined to act against the regime and to assist friends who remained in Iran. At age 30, he said he searched for the Mossad online and found the agency’s website, sending a message without knowing what would come of it. Within days, he was contacted by an agent, and in 2015 he formally began working with the Mossad, receiving training abroad. While details were not disclosed, the report indicated that Arash visited Israel and has some command of Hebrew.
In the lead-up to the June 2025 operation, Arash was dispatched back into Iran, where he headed one of the teams responsible for internal strikes. He said his unit was instructed to transport a missile and launcher by car to a designated location.
He described driving through Tehran and stopping at a red light when a police vehicle pulled up next to them.
“If I make a mistake, everything is gone,” he recalled, describing the fear of exposure, before the police car drove off without incident.
Once in position, the team assembled the weapon and waited for further instructions. Arash said he remained in direct contact with Mossad handlers in Israel, though he declined to explain how. He said the team did not know the identity of the target, having been given only coordinates.
For two hours, the team waited in darkness for the final order.
“I was scared, scared about everything,” he said.
At around 3 a.m., the command was given and Arash launched the missile. He said the weapon was equipped with a camera, allowing him to see the target moments before impact.
That target, he later learned, was a ballistic missile prepared for launch toward Israel.
He told his handlers, “I did the job,” and said they immediately replied, “Yes, you did.”
The team withdrew at once to a safe apartment. Arash said that the following day he observed people in Tehran expressing happiness that the regime had suffered a setback. The operatives were eventually extracted from Iran, and Arash said he was taken to Israel, where he shared a celebratory toast with his handlers.
The brief conflict that followed lasted 12 days, during which Israel carried out extensive strikes on Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile facilities. Iran responded with missile attacks on Israeli military targets and population centers.
One major site, however, remained beyond Israel’s reach: the Fordo uranium enrichment facility, buried deep beneath a mountain and protected from conventional Israeli airstrikes.
That challenge, officials said, had led the Mossad years earlier to devise an elaborate plan to smuggle a large quantity of explosives into Fordo and destroy it from within.
Several former intelligence and defense officials discussed the plan with “Uvda,” including former Mossad directors Yossi Cohen and Tamir Pardo, who led the agency from 2016 to 2021 and from 2011 to 2016, respectively.
They said Israel first uncovered the full scope of activities at Fordo in 2010, after which the Mossad began designing what Cohen described as an operation that, if executed, “would have been the greatest operation in the history of the country.”
According to the officials, the plan encountered serious reservations because of the massive resources required, its extreme complexity, the need for precisely synchronized actions, the large number of operatives involved, and the challenge of extracting them from Iran afterward. The Mossad favored relying on its own trained operatives rather than locally recruited agents, further complicating the mission, which Cohen indicated would have required dozens of participants.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was said to have strongly supported the plan and pushed for preparations to continue.
However, when Cohen became Mossad chief in 2016, the Obama administration had signed a nuclear agreement with Iran. Cohen said that by that point he had lost confidence that the operation could be carried out successfully, and the plan was shelved in favor of having the Israel Defense Forces prepare a direct strike.
In 2018, after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, Israel once again had room to plan for an attack. Officials said that after current Mossad director David Barnea took office, work on the internal sabotage plan was revived.
That effort was delayed again after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war. Officials said the IDF assets required for the Mossad operation were diverted to fighting in Gaza, leading Barnea to postpone the plan once more.
When Israel ultimately launched its strikes in 2025, officials said there was still no viable Israeli-only solution for Fordo. The expectation was that the United States, which possesses the necessary capabilities to strike deeply buried targets, would join the operation. Although Washington initially hesitated over concerns about Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces in the region, the U.S. ordered strikes on several Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordo, on June 22. A ceasefire brokered by the United States later brought the conflict to an end.
In response to the television report, Netanyahu’s office, which oversees the Mossad, said that “in contrast to what has been claimed, the prime minister led the preparation of a variety of plans for striking all elements of the program.” Regarding Fordo, the Prime Minister’s Office said that “attack plans were developed, some of which were not possible because of October 7,” while highlighting the close cooperation between Israel and the United States during the war.
{Matzav.com}
At least 32 Palestinians were reported killed overnight and into this morning in a series of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, marking one of the deadliest episodes since the October ceasefire. The Israeli military said the attacks were carried out after what it described as a “violation of the ceasefire agreement,” and said the targets included senior terror operatives and weapons sites.
The Israel Defense Forces said the operation focused on four commanders from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, along with a weapons storage facility, an arms production location, and two rocket launch positions.
“The terror organizations in the Strip systematically violate international law, while brutally exploiting civilian institutions and operating in the presence of the local population,” the military said in a statement.
Hamas’s civil defense agency reported that it recovered the bodies of 32 people killed at seven separate sites since this morning. According to Hamas officials, roughly a quarter of those killed were children, about one-third were women, one was an elderly man, and five were members of the Hamas-run police force.
The Hamas-controlled health ministry said an additional 30 people were injured in the strikes, with some listed in critical condition.
Those figures could not be independently confirmed, and Israel did not publish its own casualty numbers.
One of the reported attacks struck the Sheikh Radwan police station in Gaza City, which Hamas’s interior ministry said was hit this morning. Palestinian media outlets said 16 people were killed at the site, including police officers and detainees.
Hamas’s interior ministry said several civilians were among the dead at the police station, along with at least five police officers — one holding a rank equivalent to colonel, two equivalent to major, and two equivalent to lieutenant. The ministry added that at least 15 other officers were wounded.
In another incident, Palestinian media reported that three people were killed in an Israeli strike near a UNRWA school in the Nasser neighborhood of western Gaza City.
Hamas accused Israel of committing a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement,” claiming that 12 of those killed overnight were children. Hamas also said seven of the dead belonged to a single family sheltering in a displaced persons camp in Khan Younis.
According to the Israeli military, the airstrikes followed an incident on Friday in which eight gunmen emerged from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah area. The IDF said three of the gunmen were killed in subsequent strikes and that a fourth, described as a senior Hamas commander, was captured.
The army said the Rafah incident constituted a breach of the ceasefire.
After the escalation, Egypt’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning Israel’s “repeated violations” of the truce and called on all sides to “exercise the utmost restraint,” ahead of the anticipated reopening of the Rafah Crossing.
The surge in violence came one day before Israel was set to reopen the Rafah Crossing — the only pedestrian passage between Gaza and Egypt — early next week, in line with the ceasefire agreement.
Qatar also denounced the Israeli strikes, saying: “The State of Qatar expresses its strong condemnation of the repeated Israeli violations of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip… in a dangerous escalation that will inflame the situation and undermine regional and international efforts aimed at consolidating the truce.”
{Matzav.com}
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview aired today that President Donald Trump will not abandon Iranians who have risked their lives opposing the regime, stressing that the president’s words should be taken seriously.
“This is a president who has made many promises; you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that he hasn’t kept,” Huckabee said in the interview with Channel 12 News. “He doesn’t make empty threats.”
“What I would say to [the people of Iran] is, note carefully what the president says, take him at his word. He will keep his promise,” he added.
Huckabee also indicated that Washington has not yet reached a final decision on whether to launch a military strike against Tehran, saying Trump consistently prefers a diplomatic resolution in which Iran ends its threats toward Israel and the United States and abandons its nuclear ambitions.
“I would say that the decision still needs to be made,” the ambassador said. “President Trump is always hopeful for the best outcome. He is, in fact, let’s never forget, ‘the art of the deal.’ And if he can get that, then that’s ideal.”
“But if he can’t, he’s not afraid to do what he proved he would do last summer when he instigated Midnight Hammer,” Huckabee added, referring to U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025.
While declining to predict whether the United States will strike Iran — a move that could prompt Iranian retaliation against Israel — Huckabee said the U.S. Embassy was taken aback when airlines began canceling flights to Israel amid rising tensions.
“Last weekend, airlines from around the world started canceling their flights, and honestly, our reaction at the embassy was, ‘what’s that about?’” he said.
“It completely caught us off guard,” Huckabee added. “We are not seeing any reason. We are not telling our embassy employees to restrict themselves to your homes, don’t go anywhere.”
Huckabee said he has no insight into the timing of any potential U.S. military action, nor whether “Iran will decide to initiate something” against Israel. He emphasized that Trump has not been speaking in terms of deadlines or ultimatums and said Israelis should continue their daily routines, “and if the sirens go off, respond.”
Iran has warned that if it comes under U.S. attack it will retaliate against Israel and has also threatened American military bases and aircraft carriers stationed in the region.
Trump has repeatedly warned that the United States could intervene if Iran continued killing protesters during its crackdown on nationwide demonstrations over economic hardship and political repression, though those protests have since subsided. Even so, the U.S. has deployed additional warships to the region in recent days.
Washington has said that any agreement with Iran would need to prohibit uranium enrichment, require the removal of already enriched material from the country, limit Iran’s long-range missile stockpiles, and curtail its support for regional proxy forces — conditions Tehran has rejected.
In the same interview, Huckabee said Turkey will not be permitted to purchase U.S. F-35 fighter jets, despite Trump suggesting otherwise last month, citing Ankara’s strained relations with Israel.
“Anyone to think that there’s an equality here, that it’s friend A, friend B, it’s not like that at all,” he said.
“[Turkey] is not going to get them,” he continued. “It has to go to the Senate, and it’s not likely to happen. And also, Turkey, by law, would not be able to get them unless they made major changes in the hardware that they have from Russia.”
Huckabee also said Turkey and Qatar, whose involvement on the Gaza Executive Board has raised Israeli concerns, will not govern Gaza but could play a role in pressuring Hamas to disarm. He voiced confidence that the terror group will ultimately give up its weapons as Trump’s Gaza plan advances to its next phase.
“The president said they’re going to disarm; they’re not going to have any role in Gaza,” he said. “How that happens, when it happens, and who’s going to do it? There are some question marks as to the answers to those. I’m convinced that all of those things will happen.”
“You have every Arab country in the world to sign the agreement, saying this is going to happen. Hamas signed the agreement,” he added. “I don’t trust Hamas to do anything, but I trust the rest of the world to say to Hamas, you signed it. You’re on the line for it. If you don’t fulfill it, the whole world is going to rise up and take you down.”
According to Huckabee, responsibility for Hamas’s disarmament will be shared broadly and not placed solely on Israel.
“It’ll be up to everybody,” he said.
Turning to regional diplomacy, Huckabee said he anticipates further expansion of the Abraham Accords, with additional countries joining the normalization framework.
The Saudis “have made some conflicting statements, but it’s their decision,” he said.
He added that even Lebanon joining the accords “is possible,” citing a recent meeting with the U.S. envoy to Beirut in which they discussed “how do we as Americans help our host countries move toward better understanding, deescalating and hopefully moving toward the president’s agenda of joining the Abraham Accords.”
Asked about his controversial appearance at Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial last year, Huckabee said the United States does not seek to interfere with Israeli courts but does hold a view on the proceedings.
“Americans are as blunt as Israelis when it comes to expressing ourselves,” he said. “Yeah, I think we were taking a position, but it was not a position in challenging the integrity of the Supreme Court, but it was recognizing that what was happening sure mirrored a whole lot of what we saw in the United States going against President Trump.”
Huckabee, a close ally of Trump, was referring to the criminal cases brought against the U.S. president, who is the first American leader to be convicted of a felony.
He denied that Netanyahu had asked him to attend the trial and declined to explain how he obtained a Bugs Bunny doll that he held up outside the courthouse, referencing one of the allegations against the prime minister. “I’ll just say it appeared,” he said.
The ambassador also said the embassy has not discussed with Isaac Herzog whether he should consider a pardon for Netanyahu, adding that Trump respects Israel’s sovereignty and its judicial system.
Trump sent an open letter to Herzog in November urging him to exercise his pardon authority on Netanyahu’s behalf. Trump later claimed Herzog told him a pardon was “on its way,” which Herzog denied.
Asked whether Trump would publicly back Netanyahu in Israel’s next election, expected by October 2026 at the latest, Huckabee dismissed the idea.
“I don’t think the president is going to get involved in the elections,” he said.
{Matzav.com}A photograph from 2016 that has recently reemerged shows Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, dressed in a Hamas uniform and standing alongside senior figures in the terror organization.
Abu Safiya holds the rank of colonel in Hamas’s Military Medical Services, according to statements from the MMS and reports in Palestinian media. The MMS operates separately from Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, but its personnel were directly involved in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror assault on southern Israel.
Israeli forces detained Abu Safiya in December 2024 during a raid on the hospital, along with nearly 240 other individuals. Israeli officials alleged at the time that Hamas had been using the medical complex as a command-and-control center.
Abu Safiya remains in Israeli custody. His legal representatives have alleged that he endured “severe physical abuse,” including beatings and electric shocks, while being held.
Despite his detention, Abu Safiya previously authored two opinion essays published by The New York Times criticizing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The newspaper did not disclose any Hamas affiliation in connection with those articles.
The image was circulated by NGO Monitor, which said it was originally posted to the MMS Facebook page roughly ten years ago. According to a report cited by the group and published in The New York Post, the photo depicts senior Hamas officers from the organization’s National Security Forces and the MMS marking the completion of the hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces has previously described Abu Safiya as a senior Hamas operative, though it has not accused him of direct involvement in specific terror attacks.
Another former director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Ahmed Kahlot, was captured earlier in the war and later told interrogators that the MMS-linked hospital had been converted into a Hamas-controlled military site. He also said that at one stage the facility was used to hold a kidnapped Israeli soldier.
Kahlot, who said he has served as a lieutenant colonel in Hamas since 2010, further stated that approximately 16 hospital employees — including doctors, nurses, and paramedics — were also Hamas operatives affiliated with the al-Qassam Brigades.
{Matzav.com}
A 22-year-old man from Hanover, Maryland, admitted in federal court on Tuesday to charges arising from his efforts to align himself with ISIS and prepare for acts of violence, including attacks inside the United States.
Michael Sam Teekaye, Jr. entered a guilty plea to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically ISIS.
The plea was announced by Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, together with Jimmy Paul, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Baltimore Field Office.
Court filings show that between March and April 2023, Teekaye held repeated discussions with an undercover law enforcement officer. During those conversations, he said he intended to travel to Africa to join ISIS as a “mujahid,” or fighter. He also told the undercover officer that his “plan B” involved carrying out an attack in the United States targeting Jews and people who support Israel, explaining that he had examined nearby buildings associated with Israel and considered how to “gun down key members or anyone involved.”
Federal prosecutors said that in May and June 2024, Teekaye went on three occasions to a shooting range in Severn, Maryland, where he bought ammunition and paid for range time. He later described these activities to the undercover officer as part of his “training.” In July 2024, Teekaye attempted to buy a Kalashnikov K-9 9mm assault rifle, but the transaction was rejected because he was on probation in an unrelated state case.
“Teekaye aspired to become an ISIS fighter to unleash attacks on the homeland. He took real-world steps to carry out a terrorist attack in Maryland, including attempting to purchase an assault rifle and researching locations where he could kill Jews and supporters of Israel,” Hayes said. “Thanks to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, we stopped Teekaye before he could harm anyone. There is no margin for error when it comes to terrorism.”
Paul echoed those remarks, saying, “Michael Teekaye spent years maliciously plotting to join ISIS and murder Americans. His evil plans failed thanks to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Their swift action and coordination stopped Teekaye from carrying out his deadly plans against Americans,” adding, “The FBI remains steadfastly committed to protecting our nation.”
Authorities said that from August through October 2024, Teekaye continued communicating with the undercover officer and described contact with a Somali ISIS fighter about plans to travel to Somalia. He outlined a route that involved flying first to Turkey, then to Ethiopia, and crossing into Somalia. Teekaye sent screenshots of an Ethiopian e-Visa that he said he obtained through the ISIS contact, and on October 4, 2024, he told the undercover officer that airline tickets had been provided. He also shared images of a travel itinerary showing plans to leave from Baltimore/Washington International Airport on October 14, traveling to Istanbul with a layover in London.
On October 10, Teekaye sent the undercover officer a photograph of himself wearing a black mask and holding a large machete, along with the message, “Victory or shahada [i.e., martyrdom] … either you do it here or over there or both.” The following day, when asked whether he was “sure” about joining ISIS, Teekaye replied that he was “sure” because he had conducted “a lot of research” and believed “they are the only group that has the most true and sincere intentions.”
FBI agents arrested Teekaye on October 14 at BWI after he checked in for his flight and passed through security screening. Prosecutors said that after his arrest, Teekaye made several unsolicited statements, including, “I’m just gonna get out in 20 years and I’m just gonna do it here. Okay? Okay? It will never stop. Jihad will never stop. I’ll just do it here then, when I get out. . . . You think 20 years is something? I’ll be like 40 when I get out, then I’ll just do it. I don’t care. It will never stop. Jihad will never stop. I’ll come and I’ll kill your soldiers. I’ll kill you, and I’ll kill . . . .” Authorities said that while making these remarks, Teekaye kicked and spat at one of the arresting agents.
Teekaye now faces up to 20 years in federal prison, along with lifetime supervised release, for attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Sentencing has been scheduled for Wednesday, July 8, at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson.
Hayes credited the FBI Baltimore Field Office for its investigative work and thanked the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, as well as the FBI offices in Newark and Richmond and the New York Police Department, for their assistance. She also acknowledged Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Hoffman and Trial Attorney Elisa Poteat of the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section for their roles in prosecuting the case.
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States cannot disclose military planning to its Gulf partners while discussions with Iran are underway, even as Washington deploys a sizable naval force to the region.
In an interview with Fox News Channel senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, Trump addressed reports suggesting that Gulf allies have not been informed about possible U.S. action involving Iran.
“Well, we can’t tell them the plan. If I told them the plan, it would be almost as bad as telling you the plan – it could be worse, actually,” Trump said. “But look, the plan is that [Iran is] talking to us, and we’ll see if we can do something, otherwise we’ll see what happens… We have a big fleet heading out there, bigger than we had – and still have, actually – in Venezuela.”
According to Fox News, a senior Gulf official said Saudi Arabia would not permit the U.S. to use its airspace or bases in the event of an attack. Another high-ranking official from a Gulf Cooperation Council country told the network that the “US hasn’t shared objectives or plans” related to Iran, despite recent high-level Saudi meetings in Washington intended to gain insight into U.S. intentions.
Officials in the Gulf have noted that Iran often turns to negotiations, but they remain doubtful that talks will result in a meaningful agreement.
“Well, that’s true, but they are negotiating, so we’ll see what happens,” Trump said in response to that skepticism.
“You know, the last time they negotiated, we had to take out their nuclear, didn’t work, you know. Then we took it out a different way, and we’ll see what happens,” he added.
Trump also spoke to reporters at the White House on Friday and suggested that he had delivered a firm message to Tehran about reaching an agreement with the United States.
When asked whether Iran had been given a deadline to make a deal before facing possible military action, Trump said, “Only they know for sure.”
Pressed on whether that message had been conveyed directly, the President responded, “Yeah, I have.”
Trump further remarked on the broader situation, saying, “We’ll see how it all works out, it’s a rough situation… a lot of people are being killed. I can say this, Iran wants to make a deal.”
He again emphasized the scale of the American military deployment in the area, stating, “We have a tremendously powerful fleet there. We have the most powerful ships in the world.”
Earlier that same day, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is willing to return to nuclear negotiations with the United States, but cautioned that talks cannot move forward while Washington continues to issue military threats.
Araghchi also made clear that Iran’s ballistic missile program is not up for discussion and said the country is prepared for any outcome. “Iran is ready for both scenarios – war or diplomacy,” he said.
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing the imposition of tariffs on goods from any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba, a step that could intensify the severe energy shortages already gripping the island.
The measure is expected to place particular strain on Mexico, which has emerged as a key source of oil for Cuba and has repeatedly expressed solidarity with the Cuban government, even as President Claudia Sheinbaum has worked to cultivate a close working relationship with Trump.
In recent days, speculation has mounted that Mexico might significantly reduce its oil exports to Cuba as pressure from Trump grows for Mexico to distance itself from Havana.
Cuba, mired in a worsening economic and energy crisis—exacerbated in part by long-standing U.S. sanctions—has increasingly depended on foreign assistance and oil shipments from allies such as Mexico, Russia, and Venezuela, prior to a U.S. military operation that ousted former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Following that operation, Trump declared that Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba would cease and asserted that the Cuban government was on the verge of collapse.
According to its latest report, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Pemex, delivered nearly 20,000 barrels of oil per day to Cuba between January and Sept. 30, 2025.
That same month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Mexico City.
After the visit, Jorge Pinon, an energy expert at the University of Texas Energy Institute who monitors shipments through satellite tracking, said deliveries had dropped to roughly 7,000 barrels per day.
Sheinbaum has offered limited clarity on Mexico’s position regarding the shipments.
Over the past week, she has provided indirect and noncommittal responses to questions about oil exports to Cuba, repeatedly sidestepping the issue during her morning press briefings.
On Tuesday, Sheinbaum acknowledged that Pemex had at least temporarily halted some oil shipments to Cuba, but she characterized the pause as part of routine fluctuations in supply and emphasized that it was a “sovereign decision” unrelated to pressure from the United States.
Sheinbaum has maintained that Mexico would continue to demonstrate solidarity with Havana, though she has not specified the nature or scope of that support.
On Wednesday, she said she never suggested that shipments had been fully “suspended” and stated that “humanitarian aid” to Cuba would continue.
She added that shipment decisions are governed by contractual obligations within Pemex.
“So the contract determines when shipments are sent and when they are not sent,” Sheinbaum said.
It remains uncertain how Trump’s order signed Thursday will ultimately affect Cuba, which has endured years of economic hardship under a U.S. embargo and recurring crises.
Tensions were already visible on the island this week, as long lines formed at gas stations and drivers waited anxiously for fuel, unsure of what developments might come next.
{Matzav.com}
A powerful moment of personal example and chizuk took place this week when Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein hosted rabbanim from the Chofetz Chaim B’Iyun kollel network in his home. The Chofetz Chaim B’Iyun kollel network is an organization dedicated to the study of the Chofetz Chaim and the strengthening of shemiras halashon.
During the gathering, as seen in the photo above, Rav Zilberstein surprised those present by physically showing them his teeth, explaining that they are all still intact. He then shared a well-known tradition about the Chofetz Chaim, who toward the end of his life displayed his own complete set of teeth and said that not a single one had fallen out, because he had never spoken lashon hara in his lifetime.
Those close to Rav Zilberstein added that his son-in-law, the mekubal Rav Dov Kook, has testified that his father-in-law likewise merited this brocha. According to Rav Kook, Rav Zilberstein retained all of his teeth for the same reason — “because he never spoke negatively about another Jew.”
{Matzav.com}
