The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday to crack down on illegal immigrants participating in welfare fraud despite fierce objections from most Democrats. Lawmakers voted 231-186 to approve the Deporting Fraudsters Act, with 186 Democrats opposing the measure. The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Taylor, R-Ohio, would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to […] The post Democrats Oppose Welfare Fraud Becoming a Deportable Offense appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

In a move that has ignited international outrage and drawn comparisons to the regime’s darkest periods of repression, Iranian authorities on Thursday executed 19-year-old national wrestling champion, Saleh Mohammadi. Mohammadi was hanged at dawn at Qom Central Prison alongside two other young men, Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi. All three had been detained following their alleged involvement in nationwide protests that swept Iran in late 2025 and early 2026. The executions were carried out despite high-level international pleas for clemency, including a formal statement from the United States accusing the Islamic Republic of “massacring youth.” ایالات متحده از گزارش‌هایی درباره صالح محمدی، قهرمان ۱۹ ساله کشتی، که با اعدام قریب‌الوقوع روبه‌رو است، عمیقاً نگران است. رژیم جمهوری اسلامی ایران، جوانان را قتل‌عام و آینده ایران را ویران می‌کند. ما از رژیم ایران می‌خواهیم اجرای حکم اعدام صالح محمدی و تمامی افرادی را که برای… pic.twitter.com/lL324xWQWZ — USAbehFarsi (@USABehFarsi) January 29, 2026 The three men were convicted of moharebeh — or “waging war against God” — and the alleged killing of two Law Enforcement Command (Faraja) officers during a protest in Qom on January 8, 2026. Human rights organizations, including the HENGAW Organization for Human Rights and Iran Human Rights, have denounced the proceedings as “sham trials.” According to reports, Mohammadi’s conviction relied almost entirely on confessions allegedly obtained through severe physical and psychological torture. Although the young athlete retracted these statements in court, testifying that they were coerced, the judiciary rejected his claims. Moniters said the court disregarded potentially exculpatory evidence, including witness testimony from family members and CCTV footage that they say failed to place Mohammadi at the scene. “The regime has done the exact opposite of what it signaled to the world,” said famed dissident Masih Alinejad, referring to earlier indications that executions of protest-related detainees might be halted. “This is not just about sports; this is about human dignity.” Today, in Iran, in the middle of a war, the regime executed a 19-year-old national wrestling champion for the crime of joining January protests.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that U.S. forces have effectively dismantled Iran’s naval capabilities, claiming the country’s surface fleet is “no longer a factor” after weeks of sustained strikes.  “To borrow a page from Admiral Ernest King in World War II, we’ve decided to share the ocean with Iran,” Hegseth said during a Pentagon briefing on Operation Epic Fury. “We’ve given them the bottom half.” According to Hegseth, U.S. forces have damaged or sunk more than 120 Iranian naval vessels, with additional damage assessments still underway. He also said that all 11 of Iran’s submarines had been destroyed.   The briefing comes as the Pentagon prepares for what Hegseth described as the “largest strike package yet,” expected to hit targets across Iran on Thursday.  “To date, we’ve struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure. That is not incremental,” Hegseth said. “That is overwhelming force applied with precision, and again, today will be the largest strike package yet, just like yesterday was.” Hegseth added that Iranian ballistic missile attacks against U.S. forces had dropped by 90% since the operation began on February 28.  He also pointed to recent strikes targeting senior Iranian officials, including intelligence chief Esmaeil Khatib and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary unit under Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. “The last job anyone in the world wants right now?” Hegseth said. “Senior leader for the IRGC or Basij — temporary.” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine said U.S. operations are continuing “to attack deeper into Iranian territory” and farther East into Iranian airspace.  “As reported by U.S. Central Command yesterday, the U.S. military dropped 5,000 pound penetrator weapons into underground storage facilities, storing coastal defense, cruise missiles, and other support equipment,” Caine said.  When asked how long the operation would continue, Hegseth declined to provide a timeline.  “We wouldn’t want to set a definitive time frame on that, but as we’ve said, we’re on plan. So we’re looking at those metrics very closely, relaying that to the president and the national security team,” Hegseth said.  The briefing came after President Donald Trump issued a warning to Iran after it attacked a natural gas facility in Qatar. In a Truth Social post, Trump said Israel would halt further strikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field unless Iran attacks Qatari energy infrastructure. He added that if Iran does escalate, the United States would respond with overwhelming force.  “NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar — In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before,” Trump said.

In deeply moving remarks today at a press briefing, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recounted how families of soldiers fallen in the war against Iran urged him to “finish the job.” “Yesterday at Dover Air Force Base, President Trump, the chairman [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine] and I stood in solemn silence as heroes came home,” Hegseth began. “Flag-draped caskets. We honored them. We grieved with their families. And we listened.” “What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength, and through unbreakable resolve, was the same from family after family,” he continued. “They said, ‘Finish this. Honor their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop. Until the job is done.’” “My response, along with that of the president, was simple,” he said. “‘Of course, we will finish this. We will honor their sacrifice.’ Their sacrifice only steels our commitment.” Hegseth then recalled a personal hero to him: “I wear this bracelet: Staff Sergeant Jorge Oliveira. He was one of my specialists in Guantanamo Bay. He deployed later to Afghanistan, where he was killed on 19 October 2011. Killed 10 years after 9-11, 15 years ago. One of the 1%. The best of America, not just a Guardsman, but a law enforcement officer back home and a family man. I remember him every day, just like so many other men and women of our generation and previous generations who wear bracelets like this. Just as we will always remember those lost in this conflict. Their names are now etched into our mission and into the soul of a grateful nation.” “Yesterday’s ceremony reminded us why we fight,” he declared. “Not for nation building or democracy promotion, but to crush direct threats to America, Americans, and our interests. We fight to win. And we are winning, on our terms, following our objectives.” He turned even more personal: “My 13-year-old son popped into my office last night while I was editing these remarks. He asked about the war and the families I met at Dover. And I looked at him and I said, ‘They died for you, son. So that your generation doesn’t have to deal with a nuclear Iran.’ It’s the truth. And they did.” In a stirring peroration, he concluded, “So to the families who said ‘Finish this,’ we will. And I say the same to every American who wants peace through strength. May Almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight. And again, to the American people, please pray for them, every day on bended knee with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ. To the troops: Keep going. And Godspeed.”

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