The United States is “going to end up with a great deal” with Iran, President Donald Trump said in an interview Tuesday morning. “I think they have no choice,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We’ve taken out their Navy, we’ve taken out their Air Force, we’ve taken out their leaders.“ Trump said he doesn’t plan to extend the current ceasefire’s Wednesday deadline, which would give Iran until Wednesday night to agree to a peace deal. “We’ve taken out their leaders, frankly, which does complicate things in one way, but these leaders are much more rational,” Trump said. “It is regime change, no matter what you want to call it, which is not something I said I was going to do, but I’ve done it indirectly.” Trump said the U.S. would resume bombing if Iran does not agree to a deal by the deadline. “I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with,” he said. “But we’re ready to go. I mean, the military is raring to go. They are absolutely incredible.” Vice President JD Vance and other negotiators are expected to fly to Islamabad, Pakistan, for a second round of negotiations Tuesday after the first set of talks was unsuccessful. Oil prices surged Monday, with Brent and WTI benchmarks rising by 5.6% and 6.9%, respectively after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz again and the U.S. seized an Iranian cargo ship as part of its ports blockade. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor for about a fifth of the world’s oil supply, remained limited on Monday. The conflict is creating the worst energy crisis ever faced by the world, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. Reuters contributed to this report. The post Trump Says ‘Great Deal’ on Horizon with Iran appeared first on The Daily Signal.

WASHINGTON/CAIRO/ISLAMABAD, April 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Tuesday it had seized a tanker linked to Iran in international waters, its latest apparent action to enforce a blockade, with time running out on a ceasefire and the prospect of last-ditch further peace talks still up in the air. Washington has expressed confidence that talks with Iran will go ahead in Pakistan, and a senior Iranian official said Tehran was considering joining. But with the final hours of a two-week truce ticking by, there was little time left for the talks. The U.S. military said it had boarded the tanker Tifani “without incident”. The ship, capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude, last reported its position on Tuesday morning as near Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, according to MarineTraffic tracking data. It was close to fully loaded and had signaled Singapore as its destination. “As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran — anywhere they operate,” U.S. Central Command said. In a short statement on social media, Trump said Iran had carried out numerous violations of the ceasefire, without giving further details. There was no immediate comment from Iran on the boarding, but the move could complicate efforts to arrange peace talks: Iran has said the blockade of its ports amounts to a U.S. violation of the truce, and that it will not negotiate while the blockade is being enforced. IRAN-U.S. TALKS UP IN THE AIR Iranian sources told Reuters Tehran still had not made a firm decision on whether to attend another round of peace talks in Islamabad, aimed at ending the war that the U.S. and Israel unleashed on Iran on February 28. Pakistani officials said that if the delegations do attend, they will not arrive until Wednesday, leaving just hours to reach a deal before the two-week truce expires. Trump has threatened to restart the war and attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure unless it accepts his terms. A first session of talks 10 days ago produced no agreement and Tehran had been ruling out a second round this week after the U.S. refused to end its blockade and seized an Iranian cargo ship. Still, a Pakistani source involved in the discussions told Reuters there was momentum for talks to resume on Wednesday and U.S. Vice President JD Vance was expected in Islamabad. An Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Tehran was “positively reviewing” its participation but stressed that it was waiting to see if its conditions would be met, including recognition of its right to enrich uranium. Oil prices eased around $0.20 and stocks bounced back in Asia on expectations that peace talks will resume this week, although European stocks were flat. Oil had jumped around 6% on Monday on doubts about the talks.  A senior Iranian military commander said Iran was ready to deliver an “immediate and decisive response” to any renewed hostility, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said. Top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf late on Monday accused Trump of increasing pressure through the blockade, saying Trump was deluded in seeking to “turn the negotiating table into a table of submission” or justify renewed warmongering. Iran’s army said an Iranian tanker had entered its territorial waters from the Arabian Sea on Monday with help from the Iranian Navy, despite what it described as repeated warnings and threats from the U.S. naval task force. Iran has largely blocked off the Strait of Hormuz that controls access to the Gulf to all ships but its own. It had announced last week that it would reopen the strait, but reversed that decision on Saturday after Trump refused to lift his blockade of Iranian ports. That has left the strait closed and the world deprived of the 20 million barrels of oil that typically crossed it each day. IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAMME A CRUCIAL ISSUE Trump wants an agreement that would prevent further oil price rises and stock market shocks, but has insisted Iran cannot have the means to develop a nuclear weapon. He wants Iran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which can, if further enriched, be used for a nuclear warhead. Tehran hopes to exploit its control of the strait to strike a deal that averts a restart of the war and lifts sanctions, while retaining more of its nuclear programme, which it says is for peaceful purposes. Trump initially announced the ceasefire would last two weeks from the evening of April 7 in Washington, though he has lately suggested it runs until the evening of Wednesday, April 22, effectively an extra 24 hours. A Pakistani source involved in the talks also said it would expire at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, which is 3:30 a.m. Thursday in Iran.  Thousands of people have been killed by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and a parallel Israeli bombing campaign and invasion of Lebanon. The war has caused a historic shock to global energy supplies, and fears that the global economy could be pushed to the brink of recession. Trump said on Monday that Iran was “going to negotiate, and hopefully they’ll make a fair deal”. Pakistan has been preparing to host the talks despite the uncertainty. Nearly 20,000 security personnel have been deployed across Islamabad, officials said. The post US Seizes Tanker in International Waters as Iran Truce Deadline Nears appeared first on The Daily Signal.

On April 26, the Virginia Supreme Court will take up the appeal of two rulings made in Tazewell district court that found procedural laws were broken — or were going to force registrars to break laws — on how elections in Virginia are administered, and how the state constitution can be suspended in order to secure a partisan victory. The justices ruled that the right of the people to vote on issues outweighed determining if the vote was called in violation of Virginia law. Citing 100-year-old precedent in their order to allow Tuesday’s redistricting referendum election to proceed, the justices said, “The Courts cannot interfere to stop any of the proceedings while this permanent law is in process of being made.” Here are the issues the justices must decide after the April 21 election. First, in advancing their redistricting hopes, the Democratic state lawmakers made use of a special session that had been called specifically for budget reconciliations — which, conveniently, the Democratic majorities in both houses had not been able to do by the end of October. The Speaker of the House simply announced they would take up new matters while convened. Second, the General Assembly passed the referendum which, in Virginia law, must wait until an “intervening election” takes place before it must pass the Assembly a second time. This is designed to give voters the ability to oust a member who supports a referendum that they do not. Supporters of the move claimed that the election on Nov. 4, just days after the special session, would be counted as the “intervening election,” even though Virginians had been voting for a month and a half prior. Their argument was that all those early voting days are nothing more than a procedural window of opportunity, and that elections only happen when the votes are tallied on Election Day. Finally, the Assembly forced registrars to execute a referendum without the requisite 90-day period in which the referendum could be put on display for voters to view. So, the question is, should the Supreme Court take into consideration the outcome of Tuesday’s vote? The court itself said it was going to wait until after the votes were cast, and the justices did state that if “vote No” wins, they will consider the matter moot. So, it appears that they will not pretend that they are unaware of the outcome. What if it’s close? The UVA Center for Politics said at the end of last week that they expected “Yes” to prevail — by a very slim margin, 51% to 49%. What about the spending disparity? Do the justices consider the fact that it took three times as much money pouring into the state from outside to fund the campaigns? Virginia Public Access Project reported last week that only 3% of the money behind “vote Yes” has come from actual Virginians. Moreover, if turnout is low on top of that, especially below 50%, how could justices claim that something as essential as a constitutional amendment be suspended for six years given all those circumstances? What would you do if you were a justice on the Virginia Supreme Court? We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post What if You Were a Justice on Virginia’s Supreme Court? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer has resigned as labor secretary, White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung announced on X. “She will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” Cheung said on Monday. “She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives.” DeRemer said in a statement that she is “proud that we made significant progress in advancing President Trump’s mission to bridge the gap between business and labor and always put the American worker first.” “We created new pathways to mortgage-paying jobs, prepared workers to excel in the age of AI, took steps to lower prescription drug costs, promoted retirement security, and so much more,” she said. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this historic Administration and work for the greatest President of my lifetime.At the Department of Labor, I am proud that we made significant progress in advancing President Trump’s mission to bridge the gap between business…— Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer (@SecretaryLCD) April 20, 2026 “While my time serving in the Administration comes to a conclusion, it doesn’t mean I will stop fighting for American workers,” she continued. “I am looking forward to what the future has in store as I depart for the private sector.” Cheung said that Keith Sonderling, the current deputy secretary, will take on the role of acting secretary. Chavez-DeRemer’s resignation comes amid a probe into her tenure at the Department of Labor. In January, the New York Post reported that a complaint was filed against Chavez-DeRemer saying she was pursuing an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, drank in the office during work hours, and committed “travel fraud.” A spokesperson for the agency told the Post the allegations were “categorically false.” Chavez-DeRemer is the third member to depart President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in the past two months, following former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. DeRemer previously represented Oregon’s fifth district Washington in Congress. This story is developing and may be updated. The post BREAKING: Labor Secretary Out, Replacement Named appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, introduced legislation Monday aimed at barring the admission, naturalization, and continued residence of individuals affiliated with certain extremist or totalitarian ideologies. The Measures Against Marxism’s Dangerous Adherents and Noxious Islamists (MAMDANI) Act would amend federal immigration law to prohibit admission or naturalization into the country of any alien who is, or has been, a member or advocate of various extreme groups, Breitbart first reported. This includes “any alien who is a member of a socialist party, a communist party, the Chinese Communist Party, or Islamic fundamentalist party, or advocates for socialism, communism, Marxism, or Islamic fundamentalism,” according to a news release posted on Roy’s legislative website. The bill’s name is a reference to socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “Across the world, openly socialist governments have given mass amnesty to millions of invading Muslims, resulting in horrific crimes targeting Christians, and terrorist attacks in the name of jihad,” Roy told The Daily Signal. “While the Muslim Brotherhood has long sought to export its barbarism to the U.S., by implementing the MAMDANI Act we can forcefully fight back against the Marxist and Islamist invasion of our country.” Among other action items, the legislation would establish new grounds for deportation. Under the measure, an alien could be removed from the United States for advocating for Marxist and Islamist ideologies, or for promoting them through written or electronic material. In addition, the bill states that determinations made under the act would be final, preventing individuals who are denaturalized or deported from challenging the decision. Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, said the legislation represents an initial step toward fixing our “broken immigration system.” “For decades, America has imported people who hate our country, reject our culture, and seek to replace Western values with Marxism, socialism, and Islamism,” Self told The Daily Signal. “It’s time to pass the MAMDANI Act, secure our borders, and send a clear message: those who want to destroy our civilization are not welcome here.” Roy and other supporters point to recent violent crimes by individuals previously convicted of terrorism-related offenses as evidence of systemic failures in immigration enforcement. In March, Mohamed Jalloh killed a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at Old Dominion University. Jalloh had been indicted and sentenced to federal prison in 2017 but was released in 2021 after his attorney argued that he had renounced prior ties to ISIS. The post MAMDANI Act Aims to Denaturalize and Deport Marxists, Islamists appeared first on The Daily Signal.