Shouts of ‘Trump act now!’ filled the sunny Saturday afternoon on New York’s Fifth Avenue as hundreds of anti-Iranian regime protestors denounced the theocratic regime in Tehran and called for the U.S. to take action against Iran.

‘We want freedom for the Iranian people,’ said protester Sarah Shahi. ‘We want this theocracy that has been taking people’s rights away to be taken out with whatever means necessary. We need help when so many people have been killed.’

The protesters gathered across the street from the residence of Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations and called for the regime in Tehran to be toppled.

The ornate 19th century limestone townhouse was originally purchased by the Iranian government under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran who ruled from 1941 until 1979. It has been the official home of the country’s UN representative ever since. Protests have been rare at the location, but at some point, overnight, someone spray-painted the words ‘terrorists’ and ‘killers’ on the front facade.

The building’s location is one of the most exclusive on the Upper East Side, diagonally across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and less than a block away from the former residence of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

One protester’s sign showed a photograph of current Iranian UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani with the words ‘A terrorist lives here.’

‘For the people of the Islamic republic to be residing here is just so unjust,’ said Shahi. ‘But it is the closest thing we have to an embassy’ as a protest location.

Since Iran does not have diplomatic relations with the United States, the building is the only Iranian government-owned property in the country.

President Trump has ordered U.S. warships to within striking distance of Iran as he considers potential attacks against the regime’s nuclear program, oil and military targets. The buildup is in response to Iran’s continued support of terrorism and its brutal mass killings of protesters, with estimates saying as many as 30,000 people have been killed for participating in anti-regime street demonstrations.

The protesters in Manhattan are supporters of the late shah’s son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who has been speaking out for weeks against the regime as its barbaric crackdown continued. Pahlavi has been in exile for 47 years, since his father fled and the Iranian revolution ushered in the hardline religious Anti-American regime of the Mullahs.

The chants from the protesters were no less impassioned than those of their brethren who have flooded the streets of Iranian cities. Signs demanded ‘End the regime in Iran,’ and ‘Brave Iranians are fighting on the ground. The U.S. and Israel must act against a common enemy now.’ Other signs proclaimed, ‘No to the Islamic Republic regime,’ and ‘Make Iran Great Again.’

The protesters say they are waiting for President Trump to take military action against the regime so that the nation can finally taste freedom.

Amber Rose is sticking up for Charlie Kirk’s widow.

During a recent appearance on a Kick livestream with Sneako on Thursday, the 42-year-old model came to Erika Kirk’s defense, against those who criticize the way she reacted to Charlie’s death.

‘Yeah, I mean they talk s— about her too,’ Rose said. ‘Everyone grieves differently, and I tell people that, like maybe she feels like it’s her duty to keep him alive in a sense by kind of doing everything that he was doing. I don’t know. I don’t know. I can’t tell someone how to grieve you know what I mean?’

Charlie, the founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. He and Erika had two children.

Following his assassination, Erika became the new CEO and chair of TPUSA, and has made public appearances at various events.

‘This woman should be kicked to the curb,’ liberal podcaster, Jennifer Welch, said on her ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast about Erika. ‘She is an absolute grifter, just like Donald Trump, and just like her unrepentant, racist, homophobic husband was.’

Elsewhere during the livestream, Rose responded to Ariana Grande’s support of the protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), urging Americans to skip work, school and shopping.

Grande posted an Instagram story encouraging her followers to stay home from work or school on Friday, in honor of the protest, writing, ‘ICE out! Nationwide shutdown! No work. No school. No shopping. Jan 30, 2026.’

‘Ariana Grande … I think she’s worth, I don’t know, $250–300 million dollars, telling people to not go to work, protest ICE. It’s like, ‘Girl, shut the f— up,’ Rose said.

She continued: ‘Do you want to give your money away to these people to stay home from work? Stop telling people to do that … I think anyone that tells people to not go to work, not go to school, not f—ing buy things for their family, and they’re worth $250-300 million dollars, they should shut the f— up.’

Rose famously supported President Donald Trump during his campaign for the presidency in 2024, even speaking at the Republican National Convention.

At the convention, she told the audience she decided to ‘put the red hat on’ and ‘let go’ of any fear she had of being ‘misunderstood’ or ‘of getting attacked by the left.’ 

She later told Maxim in a January 2025 interview she was ‘canceled’ during the election.

‘Unfortunately, the ‘woke’ left cancels people for having a different ideology,’ she told Maxim. ‘Fortunately for me, I don’t give a f— and will always stand 10 toes down until the wheels fall off, regardless of what my beliefs may be. I used to be on the left and thought I was doing the right thing. That’s why it’s so important to have open conversations.’

‘On the left, there’s no objective truth. It’s only about feelings,’ she added.

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Saturday alerted U.S. citizens of ongoing security operations north and south of the embassy and in Croix-de-Bouquets. 

Heavy gunfire was reported in the Haitian capital, prompting U.S. government personnel to halt all movements, according to an alert from the Department of State.

The embassy remains open for emergency services.

Officials urged nearby U.S. citizens to avoid the area and monitor local media for updates.

Armed gangs control large portions of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, according to the U.S. State Department and the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH). 

Croix-de-Bouquets, one of the areas referenced in Saturday’s security alert, has long been considered a ‘400 Mawozo’ gang stronghold.

‘400 Mawozo’ gang leader Joly Germine, 34, of Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, was sentenced to life in prison in December for his role in the 2021 abduction of 16 American citizens, including five children, Fox News Digital previously reported.

The victims, with Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, were on their way back from an orphanage when they were taken hostage, according to the Justice Department.

The State Department currently maintains a Level 4 ‘Do Not Travel’ advisory for Haiti, citing kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest and limited health care.

The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he believes Iran is negotiating ‘seriously’ with the U.S., stressing that he hopes an ‘acceptable’ deal can be brokered.

The president’s comments were made as he reportedly weighs options on a possible military strike on Iran amid widespread protests and a violent crackdown in the country.

When asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One whether he had decided on a strike against Iran, Trump responded, ‘I certainly can’t tell you that.’

‘But we do have very big, powerful ships heading in that direction,’ he added. ‘I hope they negotiate something that’s acceptable.’

The president then sidestepped a question about whether Tehran would be emboldened if the U.S. opted not to launch strikes on Iran, saying, ‘Some people think that. Some people don’t.’

‘You could make a negotiated deal that would be satisfactory with no nuclear weapons,’ Trump said. ‘They should do that, but I don’t know that they will. But they are talking to us. Seriously talking to us.’

Trump has said the U.S. will not share military plans with Gulf allies while negotiating with Iran, even as U.S. naval forces surge into the region.

Speaking with Fox News Channel senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich on Saturday, Trump said, ‘We can’t tell them the plan. If I told them the plan, it would be almost as bad as telling you the plan — it could be worse, actually.’

‘But, look, the plan is that [Iran is] talking to us, and we’ll see if we can do something,’ Trump continued. ‘Otherwise, we’ll see what happens. … We have a big fleet heading out there, bigger than we had — and still have, actually — in Venezuela.’

On Sunday, the speaker of Iran’s parliament said the Islamic Republic now considers all European Union militaries to be terrorist groups after the bloc declared the country’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terror group over its crackdown on nationwide protests.

Iran again invoked a 2019 law to declare other nations’ militaries terrorist groups following the United States’ designation of the Guard as a terror organization that year.

The announcement by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard commander, comes as the Islamic Republic also planned live-fire military drills for Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade passes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., urged House Republicans on a lawmaker-only call to rally behind President Donald Trump after the commander in chief struck a deal with Senate Democrats to avert a prolonged government shutdown, Fox News Digital was told Friday evening.

The top House Republican admitted to being ‘frustrated’ by the result, sources told Fox News Digital, but he lauded Trump’s deal-making ability and called for lawmakers to back the president’s decision.

The Senate passed a revamped government funding deal Friday that will set the federal budget through the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30, save for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

It comes after Democrats walked away from a bipartisan plan to fully fund the federal government over demands for stricter guardrails on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) than what the initial House-passed package included.

Johnson told House Republicans he went to the White House Wednesday to lay out his arguments for sticking to the initial plan and warned, ‘Opening the Pandora’s Box of amending this thing could be a dangerous prospect,’ sources said.

Trump nevertheless struck an agreement with Senate Democrats. 

Fox News Digital was told that Johnson conceded, ‘The president has made a play call, and we have to support him on it.’

The initial bipartisan DHS bill included guardrails for ICE, such as mandating body-worn cameras and training for public engagement and de-escalation. But Democrats are now demanding significantly more after a second deadly shooting of a U.S. citizen by federal law enforcement during demonstrations against Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

The new deal struck with Democrats would only extend current DHS funding levels for two weeks to keep other critical agencies under the department’s purview funded while new bipartisan negotiations on immigration enforcement play out.

Multiple Republican lawmakers have both publicly and privately expressed concern about the deal, arguing it could potentially give Democrats more ability to constrain the administration. 

One House Republican voiced such concerns on the lawmaker-only call on Friday, Fox News Digital was told. Johnson, according to sources, agreed he was ‘frustrated … but I’ve got to tip my hat to the president. He knows the art of the deal.’

Johnson told House Republicans that Trump now needed their support to ‘navigate the next two weeks’ of deal-making with Democrats.

Trump said on Truth Social of his deal with Democrats, ‘I am working hard with Congress to ensure that we are able to fully fund the Government, without delay. Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security (including the very important Coast Guard, which we are expanding and rebuilding like never before).’

Sources said the speaker did sound optimistic about Republicans still having leverage in the talks, however. Johnson noted that ICE had already been funded under Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ and that it would be offices like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that would run low on funds.

Sources said Johnson said of Democrats, ‘We can hang that on their necks.’

The House is expected to take up the legislation by Monday evening.

A Panamanian court has voided a port contract held by a Hong Kong subsidiary, prompting assurances from President José Raúl Mulino that canal traffic will not be disrupted.

The court ruled Thursday that the port concession granted to Panama Ports Company — a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings — was unconstitutional. 

The decision was welcomed by the U.S. and criticized by Beijing, according to The Associated Press.

‘Beijing plays rough. Trump plays rougher,’ China expert Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital in an email. ‘The American president just showed the Chinese who’s boss in the Western Hemisphere.

‘President Trump, by extracting Nicolás Maduro and his wife from Caracas, ended Chinese influence in Venezuela,’ Chang added. ‘With the termination of the Hutchison port concessions in Panama, countries are getting the message that Trump is determined to drive China out of the region and that they should get on board with the American president.’

Mulino said Friday that port operations at both ends of the canal will continue as the ruling is carried out, adding that Panama’s Maritime Authority will work with Panama Ports Company to keep the ports running, the AP reported.

Once the concession is formally terminated, Mulino said, a local subsidiary of Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk will temporarily operate the ports while the government opens a new bidding process for a long-term concession.

The court decision followed an audit by Panama’s comptroller that identified irregularities in a 25-year extension of the concession granted in 2021, according to the AP.

The ruling aligns with long-standing U.S. concerns over China’s presence near the Panama Canal. 

Limiting Beijing’s influence in the region has been a priority of the Trump administration, and Panama was the first overseas stop this year for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the AP reported.

‘The United States is encouraged by the recent Panamanian Supreme Court’s decision to rule port concessions to China unconstitutional,’ Rubio posted to X on Friday.

Panama Ports Company said it has not been formally notified of the ruling and argued it lacks legal basis, warning it could harm thousands of Panamanian families and undermine legal certainty. The Hong Kong government also rejected the ruling, according to the AP.

Senate Republicans and Democrats cut through partisan rancor and sent a retooled government spending package to the House Friday evening after President Donald Trump struck a deal to sate Democrats’ demands. 

Though lawmakers were able to advance the revamped five-bill package without the controversial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill and a two-week funding extension to keep the agency afloat, a partial government shutdown is all but guaranteed after the 71-29 vote.

That’s because modifications to the package and the inclusion of a short-term continuing resolution (CR) for DHS must be approved by the House. And lawmakers in the lower chamber aren’t scheduled to return to Washington, D.C., until early next week. 

Schumer and his caucus are determined to get a series of extra reforms attached and dropped three categories of restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday that many Republicans have balked at.

‘These are not radical demands,’ Schumer said on the Senate floor. ‘They’re basic standards the American people already expect from law enforcement. I hope we can get voting quickly here in the Senate today so we can move forward on the important work of reining in ICE. The clock is ticking.’

Democrats argued that the tweaks were common sense and geared toward reducing further incidents during immigration operations around the country after two fatal shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. 

‘This is not like some wish list,’ Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., said. ‘This is, like, really practical, commonsense stuff that would actually go a long way towards minimizing the harm that we’re seeing in Minnesota.’

Among the most difficult requests is the requirement of judicial warrants, rather than administrative warrants, for ICE agents to make arrests. 

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., argued that while Republicans didn’t want to have a government shutdown, they wouldn’t legislate ‘stupid s—‘ into the DHS bill. 

‘We’re not, like, telling [ICE] they need judicial warrants when they already have administrative warrants,’ Schmitt said. ‘We’re not doing that.’

Successfully moving the bill from one chamber to the other was not an easy lift for Republicans. A cohort of Senate Republicans pushed back against the underlying, original package because of the billions in earmarked funding it included. 

And Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was enraged over the House’s decision to include a repeal of a provision that would allow senators, like himself, to sue for up to $500,000 if they had their phone records subpoenaed by former special counsel Jack Smith as part of his Arctic Frost probe. 

‘You jammed me, Speaker Johnson. I won’t forget this,’ Graham said. ‘I got a lot of good friends in the House. If you think I’m going to give up on this, you really don’t know me.’

He demanded votes on expanding the number of people and organizations who were affected by Smith’s Arctic Frost probe who can sue, along with a vote on his legislation that would criminalize the conduct of officials who operate sanctuary cities. 

But he didn’t tee them up for an amendment vote, instead contending he’d be OK with floor action after the two-week CR lapsed. 

Moving the package through the House could be a heavier lift than expected.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expected the earliest he could move on the package was by Monday, three days into the partial shutdown, given that lawmakers are away from Washington, D.C., until next week. 

One House GOP source suggested to Fox News Digital that passing the legislation under suspension of the rules could be a pathway to success because it would fast-track the bills past a House-wide procedural hurdle called a ‘rule vote’ that normally falls along party lines.

But that would require raising the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds, meaning a significant number of Democrats would be needed for the bills to proceed.

That does not appear to be the route House leaders are taking, however, at least for now. Two other sources told Fox News Digital Friday morning that the House Rules Committee is expected to meet for a rare Sunday hearing to consider the bill. 

The House Rules Committee is the final gatekeeper before most legislation gets a chamber-wide vote, meaning its advancement of the package Sunday could set up further action as early as Monday.

House Republican resistance to the modified package, particularly the DHS CR, has already fomented among members of the House Freedom Caucus.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris told Fox News Digital ‘the Democrats’ desire to keep millions of illegal aliens in the United States will not suddenly disappear in a week or a month with a continuing resolution.’

‘Delaying full year funding for the Department of Homeland Security any further is a bad idea,’ Harris said. 

The U.S. State Department late Friday announced it had approved two arms sales to Israel and Saudi Arabia worth $6.67 billion and $9 billion.

The sales come as the Trump administration moves forward with its peacekeeping plan in Gaza and amid the threat of U.S. military strikes in Iran.

Thirty Apache helicopters with rocket launchers make up the largest part of the sale to Israel, along with 3,250 light tactical vehicles, power packs for armored personnel carriers and a number of light utility helicopters.

The State Department said the sale would ‘enhance Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to defend Israel’s borders, vital infrastructure and population centers.’

‘The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,’ it said.

Saudi Arabia will receive 730 Patriot missiles and related equipment that ‘will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-NATO ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf Region,’ the department said.

‘This enhanced capability will protect land forces of Saudi Arabia, the United States and local allies and will significantly improve Saudi Arabia’s contribution’ to the integrated air and missile defense system in the region.

On Thursday during a Cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said they believe Hamas will disarm under a U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire plan as it enters its second phase.

But regional analysts have warned the terror group has no intention of disarming and could even block Trump’s Gaza plan altogether.

‘Hamas will do all the possible and creative maneuvers and manipulations in order to keep its power and influence in the Gaza Strip,’ professor Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital.

‘The Israel Defense Forces are the only entity that can disarm Hamas.’

Fox News’ Emma Bussey and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

As President Donald Trump weighs his options on a possible military strike on Iran, a senior Gulf official told Fox News Saudi Arabia will not allow the U.S. to use its airspace or bases for such an attack.

A high-ranking government figure from a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state told Fox News that the ‘U.S. hasn’t shared objectives or plans’ regarding Iran with Gulf allies despite recent high-level Saudi meetings in Washington aimed at gaining clarity.

‘We said this as friends, [we] want to make sure they understand our position and our assessment in general. And we want to understand the U.S. assessment with as much clarity as possible,’ the senior official said. ‘I’d like to get full clarity, and we did not get there.’

Regarding U.S. military movements for a strike on Iran, the official said, ‘The plan is something other than using Saudi airspace.’

The official said the U.S. is welcome in Saudi Arabia, especially regarding Operation Inherent Resolve, the ongoing U.S.-led campaign against ISIS. Yet, the Saudi position now is ‘consistent’ with what it was during the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran in April 2024, the official said.

‘Saudi Arabia wouldn’t allow airspace to be used to target Israel, Houthis, Iran. The position is the same now. Saudi Arabia wouldn’t allow airspace to be used in a war Saudi Arabia is not a part of,’ the official said.

Trump said Friday that the United States has directly communicated expectations to Iran as pressure mounts for Tehran to accept a nuclear deal, even as Iranian officials publicly signal interest in talks.

Asked whether Iran faces a deadline to make a deal, Trump suggested the timeline had been conveyed privately. 

‘Only they know for sure,’ he said when pressed that the message had been delivered directly to Iranian leaders.

Trump also tied the growing U.S. naval presence in the region explicitly to Iran, saying American warships ‘have to float someplace’ and ‘might as well float near Iran’ as Washington weighs its next steps.

Despite the president’s words that Iran wants to make a deal, the official cautioned that ‘Iran always wants to make a deal, but the question is what kind of deal? Is it acceptable to the U.S.?

‘We don’t see it coming together at this moment,’ the official said. ‘Everybody knows the U.S. is bringing capabilities to the region in general to deal not with whatever the plan is but whatever the ramification of the plan is.’

Regarding the success of future U.S. actions in Iran, the official said, ‘There is always a problem whether you make a decision or don’t. There’s a balance of … future in the Middle East. We advise the U.S. on a better outcome at the end, using all means, including diplomatic means, and advise Iranians too. … We understand that we’re all in this — the U.S., Iran and others — and we hope for better results.’

The official said that, in the Gulf allies’ assessment, the Trump administration’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear assets heavily degraded their capabilities so that they are ‘not in the same situation as before.’

That being said, they believe an ‘off ramp could be reached by Iranians doing the right thing.’

‘We want a prosperous country that supports their people. That’s what we think we should all be doing. Iran has real economic potential, energy. A lot of talent in Iran and especially abroad who live in other countries. … There’s a way to get out of it, and Iran could be a very constructive actor in the region and important actor in the region. I hope that they get there because the Iranian people deserve a lot.’ 

Though the U.S. has not shared its objectives or plans, the source said, ‘I hope that outcome is for a more stable Middle East, more prosperous.’