For weeks, President Donald Trump has promised the Iranian people that “help is on the way” while positioning a massive U.S. naval armada within striking distance of Iran’s coast. But as the White House pivots toward a diplomatic summit in Istanbul Friday, analysts warn the president may face a growing credibility test if threats are not followed by action.

By threatening “speed and fury” against a regime accused of killing thousands of protesters, Trump has drawn a red line — one that analysts say echoes President Barack Obama’s 2013 warning over Syria’s use of chemical weapons. Obama ultimately chose diplomacy over military strikes, a decision critics said weakened U.S. credibility and emboldened adversaries, while supporters argued it avoided a broader war and succeeded in removing large portions of Syria’s chemical arsenal. Trump now faces a similar debate as he weighs whether to enforce his own warnings against Iran.

Trump’s envoys have been set to meet Friday in Istanbul with Iranian officials to press for an end to Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, curbs on ballistic missiles and a halt to support for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah — terms Tehran, Iran, has shown little public sign of accepting. Trump has also demanded an end to the regime’s violent crackdown on protesters.

But signs of strain are already emerging around the talks. 

Iran is now seeking a change in venue to Friday’s meeting — wanting it to be held in Oman, according to a source familiar with the request — raising questions about whether the summit will proceed as scheduled or produce substantive progress.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is pictured sitting next to senior military official in Iran. (Getty Images)

TRUMP CREDITS HALTED IRAN EXECUTIONS FOR HOLDING OFF MILITARY STRIKES

Tensions on the ground have continued to rise even as diplomacy is pursued. This week, U.S. Central Command said American forces shot down an Iranian drone after it aggressively approached the USS Abraham Lincoln while the aircraft carrier was operating in international waters in the Arabian Sea. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the drone ignored de-escalatory measures before an F-35C fighter jet downed it in self-defense. 

No U.S. personnel were injured.

Hours later, Iranian naval forces harassed a U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed commercial tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to CENTCOM. Iranian gunboats and a surveillance drone repeatedly threatened to board the vessel before the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul intervened and escorted the tanker to safety. 

CENTCOM warned that continued Iranian harassment in international waters increases the risk of miscalculation and regional destabilization.

Despite weeks of delay, foreign policy analysts say the pause does not mean military action has been taken off the table.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN ALREADY HAS US TERMS AS MILITARY STRIKE CLOCK TICKS

“If you just look at force movements and the president’s past statements of policy, you would have to bet on the likelihood that military action remains something that is coming,” Rich Goldberg, a former Trump National Security Council official now at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

“I don’t think the window is closed,” said Michael Makovsky, president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. “If the president doesn’t do something militarily, it would damage his credibility.”

Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026.   (MAHSA / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

The standoff is reviving comparisons to President Barack Obama’s 2013 decision not to carry out military strikes in Syria after warning that the use of chemical weapons would cross a U.S. “red line” — a moment that became a touchstone in debates over American deterrence. Critics of Obama argued the move signaled weakness and emboldened adversaries, while supporters said diplomacy avoided a broader war and succeeded in removing large portions of Syria’s chemical arsenal.

The Syria episode remains a touchstone in Washington’s red-line debates. Critics argued Obama’s decision not to strike emboldened adversaries, while supporters said diplomacy prevented war — a divide resurfacing as Trump weighs his next move.

“They have challenged the president now to try to turn him into Obama in 2013 in Syria, rather than Donald Trump in 2025 in Iran,” Goldberg said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Obama’s office for comment.

Trump has publicly encouraged Iranian protesters to continue their demonstrations, telling them in early January to “KEEP PROTESTING” and promising that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

U.S. officials, however, have previously said the pause reflects caution rather than retreat, pointing to concerns about retaliation against American forces and uncertainty over who would lead Iran if the regime were significantly weakened. Trump himself raised those questions in January, publicly casting doubt on whether any opposition figure could realistically govern after decades in exile.

“As for the president, he remains committed to always pursuing diplomacy first,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “But in order for diplomacy to work of course it takes two to tango, you need a willing partner to engage.”

“The president has always a range of options on the table, and that includes the use of military force,” she added. 

The standoff is reviving comparisons to President Obama’s 2013 decision not to carry out military strikes in Syria after warning that the use of chemical weapons would cross a U.S. “red line” — a moment that became a touchstone in debates over American deterrence. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

TRUMP SAYS GULF ALLIES KEPT IN DARK AS US NEGOTIATES WITH IRAN: ‘CANT’ TELL THEM THE PLAN’

Some analysts reject the premise that the administration has meaningfully slowed its military posture.

“I don’t think they’ve paused action,” said Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum. “The more assets that the president deploys to the theater gives the U.S. more maneuvering room, rather than less.”

Roman pointed to continued U.S. force movements into the region, arguing the buildup signals preparation rather than restraint.

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“That’s not the behavior of a country backing away from military options,” he said.

Fox News’ Aishah Hashnie contributed to this report. 

At least 170 people have been killed by a mob of gunmen in Nigeria, local officials claim.

The attack on the remote village of Woro on Tuesday is among the deadliest of the year so far in a country currently rocked by sectarian violence.

The jihadist raiders had demanded villagers embrace Sharia law, survivors told Reuters.

When they pushed back the militants opened fire.

Residents were rounded up, with their hands bound behind their backs before being executed, local lawmaker Saidu Baba Ahmed claimed.

He added that authorities are still combing through the bushland to find survivors.

He told Reuters: “As I’m speaking to you ​now, I’m in the village along with military personnel, sorting dead bodies and combing the surrounding areas for more.”

The attackers also torched homes and shops before fleeing.

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Woro sits in the central region of Kwara – an area increasingly targeted by gunmen who raid ​villages, kidnap residents and loot livestock.

Kwara police spokesperson Adetoun Ejire-Adeyem said the police and ‌military have been mobilised to the area for a search-and-rescue ‍operation.

He declined to provide exact casualty details.

Just last month around 150 churchgoers were kidnapped by a group of bandits in Nigeria.

Nigeria has become a focal point for the United States in recent months, after President Donald Trump accused it last year of failing to protect Christians.

It led to American forces striking what they described as terrorist targets on Christmas Day.

The Delhi High Court has taken a tough stance on a very serious and shocking lapse in the criminal justice system. A murder convict, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, remained absconding for 13 years after coming out on parole. But the administration was not even aware of it. Expressing deep displeasure on this matter, the bench of Justice Naveen Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja has termed it as a ‘big failure of the system’.

This case is related to a criminal named Sonu. In 2009, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Sonu challenged this decision in the High Court and in December 2010, his sentence was suspended for two months. According to the rules, he had to return to jail after two months, but he never returned.

Surprisingly, the High Court had also rejected his appeal in September 2012, yet the police and jail administration failed to catch him. Ultimately, he could be arrested on 13 October 2025, i.e. after about 13 years.

Court’s rebuke: ‘Credibility is becoming hollow’

Describing this delay as ‘extraordinary’, the High Court said that it is not just a human error, but is the result of a huge lack of coordination between the trial court, jail administration and police. The court commented, “If a criminal continues to roam outside for more than a decade even after being convicted, it destroys the confidence of the common man in the justice system.”

Strict guidelines issued for the future

To ensure that such a situation does not arise in the future, the High Court has implemented new and strict rules. If the sentence of any convict is suspended, then this information will have to be immediately given to the trial court, the concerned police station and the jail superintendent. The date of surrender will be fixed once the bail period is over. If the convict does not appear on time, the Jail Superintendent will immediately inform the trial court and the police will have to issue orders for immediate arrest.

The court has directed the Registrar General to send a copy of this order to all criminal courts, police commissioner and jail department so that the rules are strictly followed.

Two Republican members of Congress sued Utah’s top election official on Monday, seeking to block a court-ordered congressional map they argue was unlawfully imposed by a judge and tilts the state’s House delegation in favor of Democrats.

Reps. Celeste Maloy and Burgess Owens, R-Utah, along with several other elected officials including county commissioners, filed a 31-page federal lawsuit challenging a redistricting plan known as “Map 1.”

The plaintiffs argue the map violates the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause by bypassing the state legislature, which they say holds exclusive authority to draw congressional districts.

They also contend that Judge Dianna Gibson violated the Constitution by rejecting congressional maps drawn by the Utah Legislature and imposing “Map 1,” a redistricting plan drafted by attorneys and experts for advocacy groups.

BATTLEGROUND GOP LAWMAKER MOVES TO BLOCK WHAT HE CALLS DEMOCRATIC REDISTRICTING ‘POWER GRAB’

Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, speaks during a panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 27, 2021. (Octavio Jones/Reuters)

The plaintiffs said the redistricting plan had “never been introduced, debated, or voted upon by a single member of the Utah House or Senate.”

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“Map 1 was instead drafted by attorneys and expert witnesses for the League of Women Voters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government, private activist organizations that possess no lawmaking power under either the United States or Utah Constitutions,” the lawsuit reads in part.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to convene a three-judge panel, invalidate “Map 1,” and permanently block its implementation, a move that would prevent its use in the 2026 elections.

Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, speaks during a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center following a meeting of the House Republican Conference on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

They are also seeking to return redistricting authority to the Utah Legislature and, if lawmakers do not enact a new map, reinstate the state’s 2021 congressional districts.

Republicans currently control all four of Utah’s seats in the U.S. House under district lines approved by lawmakers following the 2020 census, according to The Associated Press.

The AP reported that Gibson found those districts ran afoul of voter-approved anti-gerrymandering standards and replaced them with a new map that largely keeps Salt Lake County, a Democratic stronghold, intact within a single district rather than dividing it among all four.

“This lawsuit is not an effort to control political outcomes. It is not an attempt to advantage one party or disadvantage another,” Maloy, Owens, and the other plaintiffs wrote in an op-ed for Deseret News. “It is not a referendum on whether districts should be competitive or compact or on how political balance ought to be measured. Those debates belong in the Legislature, where proposals can be introduced publicly, amended openly and resolved by representatives accountable to voters.”

Flags fly at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City on Jan. 18, 2026. (Sydney Schaefer/AP)

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“We filed this federal lawsuit not because it was easy but because it was necessary. We seek no special treatment. We ask only that the U.S. Constitution be followed, that the Legislature be allowed to fulfill its lawful role under the federal Constitution and that Utahns retain their right to choose representatives through a process that is legitimate and accountable,” they added. “That is not radical. It is foundational. And it is worth defending.”

A summer camp leader who drugged children with poisoned sweets before sexually assaulting them has admitted to also drugging his wife so she would not wake while the abuse took place.

Jon Ruben, a former vet, had previously admitted sexually assaulting two boys at a summer camp in Leicestershire, and child cruelty towards six other victims.

Ruben, who sobbed in the dock at Leicester Crown Court during his plea hearing on Wednesday, admitted administering a poison or noxious substance, Temazapam, to Susan Ruben between July 26 and 29 last year, so she would not wake up while he sexually assaulted the children.

The 76-year-old defendant, who ran a holiday camp for at least 27 years, said “I’m so sorry” after entering his guilty plea.

Ruben, who sat in the dock wearing a blue shirt and beige trousers, laced sweets with tranquillising drugs and attacked two children after playing “a sweet game” with the youngsters.

In November, he pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child under 13, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, eight counts of child cruelty, three counts of making indecent images of children and four drugs charges.

Prosecutor Mary Prior KC told the court on Wednesday that Ruben had asked police for a voluntary interview when he admitted to drugging his wife.

Ruben, of Nottinghamshire, was arrested in July last year after eight children were taken to hospital and found to have taken liquid Xanax.

Several of the youngsters became ill after playing the “sweet game”, with some finding it difficult to walk, having slurred speech and being unable to wake up, the court had heard at a previous hearing.

Children would often feel unwell the morning afterwards, but Ruben would tell them they were “overwrought”.

Ruben’s stepson raised concerns after finding baby oil, syringes with white powder and other items, the court heard in the previous hearing.

Ruben is due to be sentenced for the offences on Friday.

Leicester Crown Court Judge Timothy Spencer KC told Ruben his sentencing would be a “very tough day in your life”.

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FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans who are spearheading the charge of another “big, beautiful bill” say they only have a short window of time to pass a massive piece of legislation aimed at lowering costs for Americans across the board.

“We need to see good movement within the month of February that puts us on a path to achieve this by late spring, early summer,” Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump led Republicans through passing the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” last year, sprawling legislation that makes good on versions of several Trump campaign promises like reducing taxes on tipped and overtime wages, extending his 2017 tax cuts, and surging more money toward his immigration crackdown.

The budget reconciliation process makes such a feat possible by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage to line up with the House’s own simple majority line, empowering the party holding the levers of power in Congress to pass sweeping fiscal changes to U.S. law.

GOP UNVEILS PLAN TO CUT DEFICIT BY $1 TRILLION WITH SECOND ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Republican Study Committee Chairman Congressman August Pfluger speaks during a press conference with other members of the Republican Study Committee as well as members of House Republican leadership, in Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A large contingent of Republican lawmakers, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have said they want to use that process again sometime this year. Pfluger’s RSC, the largest caucus in the House GOP, released a framework last month with recommendations on a bill that would lower costs in areas like housing, healthcare, and energy.

Pfluger told Fox News Digital that affordability would likely be a “major driver” of another such GOP bill, but said he was still working on getting input from other areas of the House Republican Conference.

“I’m sure that there will be refinement as we hear feedback from the different groups. But we do believe that it’s a solid framework. We believe that it’s a winning issue based on good policy,” Pfluger said.

‘ONE MORE’: SENATE REPUBLICANS EYE TACKLING ANOTHER RECONCILIATION BILL

But both he and House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, have acknowledged they will need to work fast — particularly with the 2026 midterm elections coming in November.

“I would be embarrassed as a leader and as a conservative if our conference and Republicans in Washington won’t rally in these 10 or 11 months we have before November, where we still have this window of opportunity to strike,” Arrington said in a forthcoming episode of the RSC’s “Right to the Point” podcast, which Fox News Digital got an exclusive first look at.

Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington speaks at a news conference after the House narrowly passed a bill forwarding President Donald Trump’s agenda at the U.S. Capitol on May 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

He said elsewhere in the podcast that Republicans “probably have a three-month window” during which to take meaningful action, lining up with Pfluger’s own prediction that action should happen by springtime.

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Pfluger said he hoped to get the first key step done this month after sending instructions on what kind of cuts to enact to various House committees.

But Republicans are currently dealing with a one-seat majority in the House until a special election to replace former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., takes place in March.

That could get reduced back down in April after a special election for a blue-leaning seat to replace New Jersey’s new Gov. Mikie Sherrill. Republicans won’t get more breathing room until early August, when California holds a special election for the GOP-leaning seat that was held by late Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif.

Their first reconciliation bill notably passed with all but two House Republicans on board.

“We have a path. We’ve dug that path, and we should just do it for the things that we can all agree on,” Arrington argued.

President Donald Trump holds a gavel presented to him by House Speaker Mike Johnson after he signed his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House, July 4, 2025, in Washington.  (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

He said a second bill “doesn’t have to be as big and comprehensive, it needs to be targeted on the things that were either left undone, things that fell out, that we should put back in…like not allowing tax dollars to go to transgender procedures and not allowing the fungible federal dollars to support states that use their state Medicaid dollars to fund illegals.”

But it’s not yet clear that such policies could make it in or gain the support of moderate Republicans who are wary of an election cycle that’s expected to be an uphill climb for the GOP.

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Pfluger, however, told Fox News Digital that he hoped they could even get some Democratic support if the bill stayed focused on affordability measures.

“I believe that we are going to produce something that is going to make it very difficult for Democrats to vote against,” he said. “I would hope that we would have something on the board that would get Democrat support in some cases.”