The Senate on Wednesday rejected an effort to advance legislation that would restrict President Trump from using further military action in Iran, despite overwhelming support from Democrats.
Why it matters: Congress has now denied repeated attempts to rein in Trump's military interventions in the Middle East and South America.
Progressive groups are preparing to primary any House Democrat who votes against a War Powers Resolution constraining the Trump administration from carrying out military operations in Iran, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The threat raises the stakes of a highly charged Thursday vote that has split a group of hawkish Democratic centrists from the rest of their party.
Apple unveiled its cheapest MacBook ever Wednesday with the MacBook Neo, signaling a shifting laptop market.
The big picture: The memory chip and RAM crisis, ignited by the AI boom, is pushing smartphone and laptop developers to recalibrate their plans for products, with many companies cutting products altogether.
The Pentagon says it's threatening to blacklist top American AI lab Anthropic, without putting similar restrictions on Chinese rivals.
Why it matters: By penalizing a domestic leader for its safety standards, the U.S. is creating a market opening for cheaper, unregulated models from competing countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the White House for clarifications earlier this week after learning Trump administration officials might becommunicating with the Iranian regime, two sources with knowledge of the issue said.
Why it matters: Netanyahu's outreach suggests the Israeli government is concerned about a scenario in which the U.S. pursues a ceasefire before all of Israel's war objectives have been achieved.
The leader of an Iranian unit that soughtto assassinatePresident Trump was "hunted down and killed," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday.
The big picture: The plot to target then-candidate Trump has seemingly fueled his ire toward Tehran, with him recently telling ABC News that the U.S. "got" Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei "before he got me."
Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) wants the Pentagon's nascent Artificial Intelligence Futures Steering Committee to identify China's top AI influencers, examine the country's security practices and investigate what sabotage of frontier models might look like, according to a letter Axios obtained exclusively.
Why it matters: AI is supercharging the Washington-Beijing face-off.
And military employment of the technology is driving one of the largest news stories of the year.
The U.S., Israel and Iran have been at war for days. The fighting has thus far:
Produced several combat firsts, including in drone, missile and fighter performances;
Supercharged debate about war powers and congressional oversight, or lack thereof;
And killed many, including six American troops.
The big picture: The conflict is slowly expanding, as Iran lashes out at neighbors and tankers, Hezbollah lobs missiles from Lebanon and European governments mull their respective roles going forward.
America's natural gas bounty is acting like a moat, largelyshielding the U.S. from price spikes while much of the world reels from escalating unrest in the Middle East.
Why it matters: Natural gas hasn't, historically, drawn the same headlines as the more volatile oil markets. But it's increasingly central to the economy — including powering the AI boom.
U.S. and Ecuadorian forces announced drug-trafficking military crackdown operations in Ecuador on Tuesday.
The big picture: U.S. Southern Command in a Tuesday night statement said the operations targeted "Designated Terrorist Organizations" and hailed the cooperation as "a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism."
Critical infrastructure operators are on high alert for potential Iran-backed cyber retaliation following the weekend's military strikes that killed the country's supreme leader and several other senior officials.
Why it matters: Iranian actors — both state-linked and loosely affiliated — have a history of targeting U.S. water and gas systems, even outside the context of an open military conflict.
President Trump's claim that America has a "virtually unlimited" munitions stockpile and could fight a war "forever," could soon be tested as counterattacks target military bases and U.S. Embassies across the Middle East in what has become a rapidly-widening conflict.
Why it matters:Reporting suggests that the U.S. stockpile and that of key allies, such as Israel and Gulf nations, are dwindling faster than production can replace the weapons.
House Democrats left a Tuesday night briefing on Iran expressing even greater frustration towards the Trump administration than they had going in, with several lawmakers describing it as "bullsh*t."
Why it matters: Democrats are full steam ahead on forcing a vote this week on a resolution that would constrain Trump from unilaterally waging war with Iran.
Half of Americans now support abolishing ICE, compared with just 39% who oppose eliminating the agency, according to a new YouGov poll.
Why it matters: It's the first time in YouGov's polling history that support for abolishing ICE has reached 50%, capping a steady rise since January amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
