US slaps new sanctions on Iran’s drone program as Israel considers response to weekend attack
CNN
The United States slapped new sanctions Thursday on sixteen people and two entities associated with Iran’s drone program as it looks to punish Tehran for last weekend’s attack on Israel.
The United States slapped new sanctions Thursday on 16 people and two entities associated with Iran’s drone program as it looks to punish Tehran for last weekend’s attack on Israel. The sanctions target executives of an engine manufacturer that supplies Iran’s Shahad-131 drones, which were used in the onslaught, as well as companies that service the engines and individuals associated with providing the drones to Iranian proxy forces throughout the Middle East. The Treasury Department also said it was punishing five companies associated with Iran’s steel industry and three subsidiaries of an Iranian automaker. The new sanctions, which were coordinated with European allies, are an effort to cut off supplies to Iran’s missile and drone program and to isolate the country on the global stage. But they are also a signal to Israel from the United States and its top allies that countering Iran’s latest aggression doesn’t necessarily require a military response. In a statement accompanying the announcement of the sanctions, President Joe Biden said the US will “not hesitate” to hold Iran accountable.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









