After two years of devastating American and Israeli strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites, missile infrastructure, air defenses, terror proxies, and regime leadership, President Donald Trump holds more leverage over the Islamic Republic than any U.S. president since the Islamists took power in 1979. The question is whether he uses it — or trades it away. Talk of a deal is again at fever pitch. Trump is reportedly mulling a memorandum of understanding that would extend the ceasefire by 60 days, lift the U.S. naval blockade of Iran’s ports, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and launch formal nuclear talks. The guns, however, are not yet silent. On Wednesday night, U.S. forces shot down four Iranian drones and struck a ground control station to preempt attacks on American troops and commercial shipping in the Strait. Tehran answered with a ballistic missile aimed at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, intercepted by Kuwaiti air defenses. The infrastructure to resume the war Trump began in February remains in place — and no deal is better than a bad one. The Iranians have mastered the art of negotiating with Washington. They outplayed Obama. They outplayed Biden. Each time, they preserved their nuclear pathway and pocketed billions in sanctions relief. Even now, at the regime’s weakest moment since the revolution, the mullahs retain enriched nuclear material, terror proxies, residual missile capability, and a chokehold on the global oil economy. They are losing the war. But they believe they can still win the peace — meaning regime survival and a runway to rebuild. Three issues will decide whether talks succeed or hand Tehran a lifeline. First, Hormuz. The regime has been running a maritime extortion racket, charging tankers up to $2 million for “safe passage.” Any deal must end the toll, clear every Iranian mine, and forbid attacks on commercial or U.S. Navy vessels. The American blockade should come off only in phases tied to verified compliance, not all at once. If Tehran cheats, Trump must be ready to relaunch Project Freedom — the tanker-escort operation aborted earlier this year when Riyadh withheld overflight rights. The Saudis should be told, plainly, that this time they have no choice but to grant them — or we won’t defend them. Second, the nuclear file. Iranian assurances that they “do not seek a bomb” are worthless. Only actions count. That means surrendering every kilogram of enriched uranium — not just the 970 pounds of 60-percent material entombed in the tunnels of Isfahan and Fordow, but the thousands of additional pounds enriched between two and 20%, much of it three-quarters or more of the way to weapons grade. It means a permanent ban on enrichment and plutonium reprocessing. It means dismantling Pickaxe Mountain, the underground site Iran intends as an enrichment and centrifuge plant impervious even to the massive ordnance penetrators that destroyed the Fordow nuclear facility during Operation Midnight Hammer last June. And it means hard limits on rebuilding the missile force that threatens Israel, the Gulf, and Europe, U.S. forces across the region, and the American homeland if they rebuild their destroyed ICBM program. Third, sanctions relief and access to frozen funds. Trump has said Iran will receive no cash and no sanctions relief up front. Good. But the principle of “no dust, no dollars” must be airtight. The war has cost Tehran between $150 and $300 billion. Will the regime now be permitted to unload the $15 billion in oil sitting in blockaded tankers? Tap the billions frozen in Qatar, Oman, and Iraq? Hand the mullahs any of that money before they verifiably dismantle their nuclear program, and the leverage Trump built with American air power vanishes overnight. Iran still controls enriched uranium sufficient for at least 10 nuclear weapons. It can still convulse oil markets by squeezing Hormuz. And the Iranians read American politics. They see November’s midterms. They know how to drag negotiations into a season when they believe a wounded president would have less appetite for confrontation. Stalling is their best weapon. Here is the bad deal Trump must refuse: a freeze instead of dismantlement, sanctions relief for promises, frozen funds released for goodwill, the nuclear program left dormant rather than eliminated. It is the deal the regime is built to extract — and the deal that hands the Iran problem, yet graver and closer to a bomb, to Trump’s successor, who may not have the spine to finish what Trump started. The six-week military campaign is incomplete. The administration declined Israeli proposals to hit Iran’s energy infrastructure and to decapitate dozens more regime leaders, including Iran’s current supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. If Tehran refuses real terms, the military and economic warfare campaign can be resumed. The leverage is there. The forces are in position — and President Trump can arm, support, and help unleash millions of Iranians to retake their streets and their country. The only question is whether the president who built this position has the will to use it. It is a good bet that he will. *** Mark Dubowitz is chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the presenter of “The Iran Breakdown” podcast.

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** Our homeschool journey with our firstborn has come to an end. This weekend, our guinea pig for this counter-cultural educational choice dons the cap and gown and packs away her spiral notebooks filled with her assignment lists and spelling tests. It’s over, and she made it. So did her father and I. Closing the curtain on this milestone has made us both reflect on how quickly it went by, how much simpler it was than people want to make it out to be, and how different it is from the thousands of negative comments we have received. When our eldest was five, we did the only natural thing and enrolled her in kindergarten. It was a wonderful little school (still is, actually) and the very place both her dad and I spent our elementary years. It was simple, sweet, and about everything you could ask for. No screens, plenty of imaginative play time, and an atmosphere where imagination, reading, and personal responsibility are fostered. We loved it for her. For a short time, we even enrolled her younger sister in the adjoining preschool because, why not? Mom could have a free morning or two, and the kids could be “socialized.” At this time, my husband was a homeschool skeptic. I had dropped hints from time to time, but it was foreign to us — especially in Southern California. You had two kids, and you put them in the best public or private school you could manage. That was the deal. But everything changed when my husband picked up the girls from school one day. It changed so quickly for him that, as soon as he got home, he told me, “Let’s think about homeschooling.” Sean walked through the gates to pick up our sweet preschooler, and before she saw him, he lingered and watched her play. He said he stood there for about five or so minutes as she bounced on rubber mats, walked to the sandbox, and talked to what seemed to be an imaginary friend. Her hair was in pigtails. She quietly roamed around by herself until she saw him and excitedly ran into his arms. Of course, this is nothing out of the ordinary, but for my husband, who was constantly the last child picked up from day care each and every day, it hit him. We are missing thousands of hours of our children growing up if we put them in school. By some estimates, a child will spend 15,000 hours at school from ages five to 18. We knew we would be missing hundreds of conversations. We wouldn’t be witnesses to the beautiful, ordinary moments that made them laugh, or the random spark of creativity that fluttered before their eyes, only to be forgotten when they were due back in their classroom. By taking the prescribed route that we had thought was best, we would forfeit thousands of hours learning about who they were — roughly two years of their lives that would be a mystery to us. We started homeschooling the next fall; our first day of school was about four days before I was due with our third child. As I prepare for our 18-year-old’s graduation party, I reflect on the younger mother who was afraid to buck norms and try something that seems revolutionary to many. Through the years, there were times when I felt unequipped, exhausted, and challenged beyond my capacity. I allowed the comments to get to me: “What if your child is weird?” and “They won’t meet standards!” were just two of many. There were moments when I threatened to throw them on a school bus (never serious, but always effective). There were years when the curriculum didn’t fit and months when tears became a mainstay during math worksheets. There were also moments of extreme gladness: watching my girls each learn to read on our couch, seeing them flourish as artists, musicians, and writers in their own time and in their own way. We spent our days baking, listening to audiobooks (yes, I have every Ramona Quimby story memorized, word for word), and taking walks where they poured out their souls. I watched them help one another with spelling or geography. The past 13 years have been like living inside a laboratory of learning and development. Our house is like a cabinet of curiosities, with books, binders, and random nature bits strewn all over the place. Now, it all feels like a dream. Yes, I still have three more daughters to graduate, but our time all together is coming to a close. Parenting, no matter how you slice it, will be marked by seasons of questioning and difficulty. That’s not unique to homeschool parents; it’s universal. Regardless of whether you send your children off to your local middle school, find a nice Christian school in your neighborhood that you can afford, or decide to take on the charge as “teacher” yourself, it will be hard, and you will question whether you’re doing the right thing at times. But one thing I feel so deeply grateful for that I would never trade, not for a million dollars, is those 15,000 hours with my daughter. I will hold those moments so closely to my heart: the joyful ones, the sad ones, and, yes, the hard ones. What a gift they have been and how quickly the stopwatch moved. It is now over, and I can never go back, no matter how much I wish I could.  I can only sit here and sing the praises of homeschooling to someone who might be considering it. It’s not easy, but one thing you’ll always be able to carry with you is those missing hours. They are yours, and they are a treasure. *** Rachel Reeves is a wife and homeschool mother of four daughters. She works in political commentary at Here Are The Headlines, both on Instagram and Substack.

What noodly appendages you have, tentacled snake. All the better to see you with.

Emperor Carus died during a military campaign in Persia – but was it murder, illness, or lightning?

On April 11, Turning Point USA reporter Savanah Hernandez was allegedly physically assaulted by a family of three while filming an anti-ICE protest in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.Protesters Christopher Ostroushko, Deyanna Ostroushko, and their daughter Paige Ostroushko allegedly surrounded her, shoved her to the ground, and attacked her after identifying her as a conservative journalist.The three were federally indicted on April 29, facing charges including assault on a journalist and interfering with a federally protected activity; they pleaded not guilty.Now there’s another development in the story: The Ostroushkos have filed for numerous restraining orders against Savanah.On this episode of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” Savanah shares the details with BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales. “These radical leftists are always the same. They attack first and then play the victim immediately after,” sighs Sara.“And unfortunately, that's exactly what's playing out again. The family who attacked my friend Savanah Hernandez on camera … now claiming they're actually the real victims, and they are actually weaponizing the legal system against her.”Chris, Deyanna, and Paige Ostroushko each filed for and were granted ex parte restraining orders against Savanah in Minnesota state court.“This is [Chris'] page of complaints against me ... a full page of complaints against me and his rationale as to why he needed a restraining order against me because I am so scary and he's in fear of his life,” Savanah laughs, noting that in his list of complaints, Chris documented that she is “almost six feet tall,” when she in reality she is only 5’4’’.“Apparently, per the entire family, I'm a well-known agitator for Turning Point USA … and I was just swinging on this whole family for no reason in front of the Whipple ICE facility and I'm a huge monster,” she adds.Paige’s restraining order, Savanah explains, claims that Savanah was the attacker, even though multiple video angles show the Ostroushko family allegedly swarming her, blowing whistles in her ear, shoving her into a fence, and slamming her to the ground — actions that led to their federal indictment for assaulting a journalist on federal property.“Paige and Chris are trying to get me completely banned from the entire Whipple ICE facility, and in Paige's restraining order, she put that she wants me banned from the public sidewalk ‘where the protesters are standing,”’ Savanah tells Sara.“Chris is even trying to get me banned — not only me, by the way, my entire family — banned from the entire county in Minnesota where he lives,” she adds.The family have also claimed that Savanah “waged a doxxing and harassment campaign” against them.“I've never shared their personal information,” Savanah counters, “and what they experienced was the consequences of their own actions, and I'm sorry that America didn't like watching a 300-pound man slam me to the ground.”Since the Ostroushkos were granted ex parte (temporary) restraining orders without Savanah present, Minnesota law requires her to now appear in court to contest them. She must present evidence showing that their claims are false or unsubstantiated.But Savanah expressed strong confidence that she will prove all accusations against her false. Not only does she have multiple videos capturing the Ostroushkos allegedly attacking her, but there’s also no evidence, she insists, of any attempt on her part to doxx them.“Apparently they have some evidence that I don't know about. To be quite honest, Sara, I would not be surprised if they brought up an AI video. … This is the level we're at,” she says.To hear more, watch the episode above.Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Warning: Graphic contentThe friend of a man who was allegedly caught on video sexually abusing corpses said he was spiraling after getting addicted to methamphetamine.Phoenix police said that 31-year-old Fenris Lu broke into the medical examiner's office in Maricopa County at about 2 a.m. on Wednesday and abused nearly a dozen corpses.'When you are deceased, you are helpless. It's sort of the ultimate control freak type of fun to have.'Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan said that Lu broke open the body bags of the corpses. Multiple law enforcement sources told KSAZ-TV that the man sexually abused the bodies of four men and it had been recorded on video.Sheridan added that no medicolegal death investigations were compromised, despite contamination concerns from the alleged abuse. The sheriff said none of the bodies had been a part of any criminal investigation.Dr. Rebecca Hsu, a forensic pathologist at Hsu Enterprises, told KSAZ that Lu was likely suffering from mental illness."With a lot of mental disorders, there may be some sort of control issue," she said. "Because frankly, when you are deceased, you are helpless. It's sort of the ultimate control freak type of fun to have because the people that you are touching have no way to engage you or to fight back."The man who said he was a longtime friend of Lu told KTVK-TV that Lu was originally from China and had been in a PhD program at the University of Washington and even taught students there.He said Lu moved to Phoenix to pursue a relationship that had become toxic. He claimed that Lu's mental state began to decline after he got addicted to methamphetamine."I feel really sorry for all the families that have their loved ones in that facility and they've been assaulted like this, but it also — this could've been prevented if he had better help for people who struggle with addiction and illness," the man added.He also refused to believe Lu had sexual motivations for the alleged abuse."I don't believe his motives were just to, like, go satisfy himself sexually and get away with it. I strongly believe that he was in some kind of psychosis or mental illness state," the man said. RELATED: Registered sex offender lived with girlfriend's corpse for 2 months and was afraid she'd come back to life, Las Vegas police say The friend had positive recollections about Lu, however."His intellect was really beautiful. ... We talked about life and anything and as much of a genius he is, he's also not right in the head for what happened to him. I'm really sorry that this happened to him," he said.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

THE ESSEX FILES: Taya Kyle Blasts Maine Democrat for Posthumous Smear of Her American Hero Husband

Longtime Democrat mouthpieces Katie Couric and Jim Acosta are fretting that two legacy media outlets are going to start pumping out propaganda. You can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of two former…

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