Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is considering five candidates to replace Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who President Trump tapped to become the next Secretary of Homeland Security. BREAKING: President Trump Names DHS Secretary Replacement Stitt must appoint a replacement within 30 days after Mullin formally vacates his seat. News9 shared the list of candidates: Nathan Dahm — Served as chair of the Oklahoma Republican Party from 2023 to 2025. Previously served as an Oklahoma state senator from 2012 to 2024. David Ostrowe — Currently serves as chief operating officer in the governor’s office. John O’Connor — Served as Oklahoma attorney general from 2021 to 2023. Dustin Hilliary — Currently serves as a senior advisor to Stitt. Hilliary is co-CEO of Hilliary Communications. Harold Hamm — An oil and gas executive and billionaire best known as the founder of Continental Resources and a noteworthy figure in the U.S. shale oil boom. A second source familiar with the situation tells News 9 that Hilliary was contacted by the governor’s office regarding the Senate appointment.

President Trump said he would offer the Iranian women’s soccer team asylum if they are not given the same legal protection in Australia. “Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed. Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t,” Trump said on Truth Social. "Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed. Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t…" – @POTUS pic.twitter.com/OTIsmVavJR — The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 9, 2026 Members of the soccer team participated in a silent protest of their country’s regime and reportedly were condemned as “wartime traitors” on Iranian state TV following their silence during the national anthem in their first group game against South Korea. DEFIANT SILENCE: In a powerful scene, the Iranian women’s national soccer team remained silent during their national anthem at the Asian Cup on Monday. Iran is the only team from the Middle East to qualify for this year’s tournament. The moment came days after the United States… pic.twitter.com/3rrT77R0zU — Fox News (@FoxNews) March 3, 2026 The Australian-hosted Asian Cup tournament started when the U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran. The Iranian women’s team was eliminated on Sunday after losing 2-0 to the Philippines. Newsweek shared further: It comes as the office of Iran’s exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi said that five members of the Iranian women’s national football team—Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi—had left their training camp and successfully sought refuge in Australia. “These five courageous athletes, currently in a safe location, have announced they they have joined Iran’s national Lion and Sun Revolution,” the office said on X. On March 3, members of Iran women’s national football team declined to sing the national anthem before their Asian Cup match against South Korea in Australia. Three days later, the team sang the anthem before their defeat to Australia, raising concerns that they had been ordered to do so. On Sunday, Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong refused to comment on whether the country had been in contact with the players. “I don’t want to get into commentary about the Iranian women’s team. Obviously this is a regime that we know has brutally cracked down on its people,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way,” Trump said in an update post. “Some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return. In any event, the Prime Minister is doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation. God bless Australia!” he added. The Hill noted: Concerns over the safety of the Iranian national women’s soccer team come just weeks before the men’s team is slated to play in the United States for World Cup matches this summer. FIFA has not commented publicly on if the Iranian men’s team will be able to travel safely to North America, while Trump has said he “does not care” if the Iran team competes, casting the country as “very badly defeated,” and “running on fumes.” What’s your assessment?

Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after “confirming” the Department of War designated it as a “supply chain risk to America’s national security.” “The language used by the Department of War in the letter (even supposing it was legally sound) matches our statement on Friday that the vast majority of our customers are unaffected by a supply chain risk designation,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a statement. “With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts,” he continued. Anthropic sues Trump admin over supply-chain risk label https://t.co/JTMFuOh7Zu — POLITICO (@politico) March 9, 2026 CNBC explained further: The company said in a complaint that these actions are “unprecedented and unlawful,” and that they are “harming Anthropic irreparably.” The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. “Anthropic’s contracts with the federal government are already being canceled. Current and future contracts with private parties are also in doubt, jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars in the near-term,” the filing says. “On top of those immediate economic harms, Anthropic’s reputation and core First Amendment freedoms are under attack. Absent judicial relief, those harms will only compound in the weeks and months ahead.” The lawsuit is the latest episode in a dramatic two-week saga between Anthropic and the Trump administration over how the company’s AI models can be used on the battlefield and elsewhere. Before the spat between the two sides escalated into the public’s view late last month, Anthropic served as an early partner across many U.S. agencies as the government sought to rapidly upgrade its systems and capabilities with cutting-edge AI technology. On Thursday, Anthropic confirmed that it had officially been designated a supply chain risk, an extraordinary move that has historically been reserved for foreign adversaries. It will require defense vendors and contractors to certify that they don’t use Anthropic’s models in their work with the Pentagon. “The Department’s letter has a narrow scope, and this is because the relevant statute (10 USC 3252) is narrow, too. It exists to protect the government rather than to punish a supplier; in fact, the law requires the Secretary of War to use the least restrictive means necessary to accomplish the goal of protecting the supply chain,” Amodei said. “Even for Department of War contractors, the supply chain risk designation doesn’t (and can’t) limit uses of Claude or business relationships with Anthropic if those are unrelated to their specific Department of War contracts,” he continued. Axios has more: Procurement laws passed by Congress do not give the Pentagon or President Trump the power to blacklist a company, Anthropic says. Companies including Microsoft and Google have said they’ll be able to continue non-defense related work with Anthropic. A second, shorter lawsuit was filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals because another statute the government invoked can only be challenged there and similar arguments are being made there, Anthropic says. The company is seeking relief in both jurisdictions. The Pentagon argues the dispute is about operational control, not speech. Department officials say this has always been about the military’s ability to use technology legally, without a vendor inserting itself into the chain of command and putting warfighters at risk.

U.S. Central Command on Sunday announced the seventh service member to pass away in Operation Epic Fury. “Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East. The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1,” U.S. Central Command stated. “This is the seventh service member killed in action during Operation Epic Fury. Major combat operations continue. The identity of the fallen warrior will be withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification,” it added. CENTCOM Update TAMPA, Fla. – Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East. The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia… — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 8, 2026 NewsNation shared further: Six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers were also killed by an Iranian drone strike on a makeshift operations center in Kuwait last Sunday: Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens and Sgt. Declan Coady. The bodies of those six were brought home to the U.S. in a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday. U.S. military officials also stated a National Guard soldier died in a health-related incident in Kuwait on March 6 during a medical emergency. “The Iranian regime is growing increasingly desperate, deliberately positioning missile and drone launchers in densely populated civilian neighborhoods, near distribution centers, and inside residential areas. This is a blatant and intentional tactic: using innocent Iranian civilians as human shields. We’ve seen this cowardly strategy before—it’s no accident,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman & Senior Advisor to the Secretary of War Sean Parnell said. “At the same time, the regime is launching indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets across the Gulf: striking neighborhoods, hotels, international airports, and critical infrastructure, endangering thousands of innocents. Unlike Iran, the United States never targets civilians, and we will continue to act with precision, targeting only those who threaten us and our allies, and we will not relent,” he continued. The Iranian regime is growing increasingly desperate, deliberately positioning missile and drone launchers in densely populated civilian neighborhoods, near distribution centers, and inside residential areas. This is a blatant and intentional tactic: using innocent Iranian… — Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) March 8, 2026 On Monday, the U.S. military identified the deceased service member as Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky. The Defense Department has identified the seventh service member killed in Iranian attacks as Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky. Pennington was wounded in a March 1 attack on his base in Saudi Arabia and died from his injuries on Sunday. He was stationed… pic.twitter.com/7jvLkrD836 — Clash Report (@clashreport) March 9, 2026 CNN has more: That strike, which came without warning, occurred on a makeshift operations center at the civilian port of Shuaiba in Kuwait on March 1. All six soldiers were assigned with the 103rd Sustainment Command, an Army Reserve unit out of Iowa. The president told ABC on Sunday that meeting with the families of the six troops did not give him pause about the war. “The parents would be upset if I did that,” he said. “The parents said to me, every one of them, ‘Please sir, win this for my boy,’ and in one case a young woman, as you know. ‘Please, win this for my child.’” The president has previously said there will likely be more US casualties in the Iran war. Asked Saturday whether he thought he would have to attend more dignified transfers, Trump said, “I’m sure. I hate to … but it’s a part of war.”

Is the fate of Iran’s new leader already sealed? On Sunday, Iranian clerics gathered to select their new Supreme Leader. In the meeting, the Iranian clerics selected the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as their new Supreme Leader. Fox News broke the story: Iran’s Assembly of Experts has elected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader, according to reports. Iran International cited sources who claimed the decision was made “under pressure” from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is the second-eldest son of Ali Khamenei and was born in Mashhad in 1969. His early childhood coincided with his father’s rise as a revolutionary figurehead opposing the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Here’s a photo of Mojtaba Khamenei: BREAKING: Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has been named the country’s next supreme leader, according to Iran’s Fars news agency. pic.twitter.com/bgF4rTl0UJ — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 8, 2026 The Times of Israel reported that President Trump is not a fan of Mojtaba Khamenei: US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he needs to be “involved” in selecting Iran’s next leader, days after Israeli strikes killed the country’s longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The statement was a clear indication that the US intends to have a hand in the shaping of the country’s future leadership, amid shifting signals over whether the US-Israeli campaign is seeking regime change. Trump likened his planned involvement to US influence over Venezuela’s government after Trump ordered the seizure of its president, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this year. At the same time, Trump brushed off reports in recent days that Mojtaba Khamenei, the late supreme leader’s son, has been tapped as a frontrunner. “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” Trump told Axios in a phone interview, adding later, “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.” Trump said, “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela,” who is currently leading that country. In a separate interview with Politico, Trump said of the elder and younger Khamenei: “The reason the father wouldn’t give it to the son is they say he’s incompetent.” He also told Politico, “I’m going to have a big impact [over Iran’s future leadership], or they’re not going to have any settlement, because we’re not going to have to go do this again.” Take a look at Trump’s comments: BREAKING: The Islamic regime of Iran just named Ali Khamenei's SON as the NEW SUPREME LEADER — Mojtaba Khamenei President Trump has already said he is an "UNACCEPTABLE" successor to Ali Khamenei "Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up DEAD!" How long will… pic.twitter.com/2MiCYtXrxT — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 8, 2026 The way Israel and the United States have been coordinating airstrikes on Iranian leadership, Khamenei’s reign may be just hours or days.