A MONTH OF WAR: The war in Iran has now passed the 30-day mark as the conflict escalates and pressure rises for Washington and Tehran to reach a ceasefire deal.
Trump said days after the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that the operation would last at least four to five weeks but could be shorter or longer. Proposals traded between the U.S. and Iran haven't made any progress toward dialing down the conflict, and the war has shown signs of expanding in recent days.
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen waded into the conflict Saturday as the group took credit for a missile attack on Israel, which said the projectile was intercepted without any casualties caused. It came a day after the Houthis set out three red lines that if crossed would cause them to get involved.
Russia is also allegedly upping its assistance of Iran. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News that Russian forces took photos of a U.S. air base in Saudi Arabia three times in the days before Iran attacked the site.
A missile attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, on Friday injured a dozen U.S. service members.
"And I don't believe — I know — that they share information. Do they help Iranians? Of course. How many percent? One hundred percent," Zelensky said.
Trump has delayed a threatened U.S. strike on Iran's energy infrastructure to next week, claiming talks between the two sides are "going very well." But additional U.S. forces are continuing to be sent to the Middle East, raising speculation that the administration may be buying time for a ground invasion to take Kharg Island, located inside the Persian Gulf and an island key to Iran's oil exports.
Trump suggested to The Financial Times in an interview that his priority is gaining control of Iran's oil industry, comparing his focus to the U.S. operation in Venezuela in which Trump has sought to improve U.S. access to the country's oil after removing Nicolás Maduro.
"Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options," Trump said.
Trump said if U.S. forces took the island, they would likely have to stay for a "while." He also said a deal with Iran could be made "fairly quickly."
The Wall Street Journal reported Trump is also considering a possible military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran to help accomplish his goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Officials told the outlet Trump hasn't made a decision and is reviewing the danger to U.S. troops. Such an operation would likely require U.S. forces to be inside Iran for days, if not longer.
Trump has also told his advisers to press Iran to give up its material as a condition for ending the war.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey met in Islamabad on Sunday to discuss efforts to de-escalate the conflict. Pakistani officials have served as mediators in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
▪ The Hill: MAGA divides on Iran on display.
▪ The Hill: How Iran could strike back if the U.S. invades Kharg Island.
TPS VOTE COMING: A vote calling on the Trump administration to extend temporary legal protections for migrants from Haiti will be coming once the House returns to Washington after a discharge petition received enough signatures.
The petition garnered the requisite 218 signatures on Friday as more than a half-dozen Democrats signed on, joining their Democratic colleagues and four House Republicans who have pushed for a vote.
The Trump administration has pushed to end temporary protected status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitians, asking the Supreme Court earlier this month to end it. TPS protects foreign nationals who cannot safely return to their home countries because of armed conflict, natural disasters or other temporary conditions, preventing deportation and giving them a pathway to work authorization.
The administration has also targeted TPS for more than a dozen other countries.
The resolution would direct DHS to keep Haiti designated for TPS until Jan. 20, 2029.
▪ NBC 6 South Florida: TPS benefits for Haitians extended to July 1.
PUBLIC DISCLOSURE? FBI Director Kash Patel is reportedly pushing to release investigative files on Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and his interactions with a suspected Chinese spy.
The New York Times reported Trump administration officials have ordered FBI agents to gather documents from the decade-old investigation into Swalwell's interactions with a Chinese woman named Christine Fang, or Fang Fang, who helped Swalwell with fundraising during his 2014 congressional campaign.
Fang also reportedly courted other California politicians from 2011 to 2015.
Swalwell wasn't accused of any wrongdoing and cut ties with Fang in 2015 after being briefed by U.S. intelligence officials about their suspicions of her. The House Ethics Committee concluded a two-year investigation into Swalwell in 2023, taking no further action.
But The Washington Post reported Patel is pushing for the files' release and directed agents in the FBI's San Francisco office to redact the files before they are released publicly. Releasing documents from a case that didn't result in criminal charges would be highly unusual.
Swalwell, who is running for governor of California, has accused the Trump administration of trying to weaponize the Department of Justice (DOJ) against him. The administration's top housing official sent a criminal referral for Swalwell to the DOJ last year, though no charges have been filed.
▪ The Hill: Defense secretary injects Christianity into U.S. military.
CPAC MOMENTUM: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is hoping to seize momentum from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last week as he continues to push for Trump's endorsement in his Senate primary runoff.
Paxton took to the CPAC stage as a featured speaker on Friday, throwing jabs at Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) for not attending. Cornyn had cited scheduling issues for skipping the event.
Paxton and Cornyn are locked in a heated primary runoff for Cornyn's Senate seat. Neither candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round of voting earlier this month, and both have been vying for the president's support to put themselves over the finish line in the May runoff.
National Republicans have been pushing for Trump to endorse Cornyn, expressing more confidence that he can hold off a challenge from the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, than they have for Paxton, a firebrand who has faced multiple scandals during his political career.
After the first round of the primary, Trump was reportedly preparing to endorse Cornyn, with a statement drafted to announce his backing. But Trump has backed off in recent weeks, apparently saying last week he believes his base is with Paxton, The Washington Post reported.
CPAC served to reinforce that point. In a straw poll of the loyal MAGA crowd, he won two-thirds of the vote to Cornyn's 21 percent.
"Let's get rid of the guy that represents Washington, and let's put somebody in that represents Texas," Paxton told CPAC attendees after receiving their backing.
▪ The Hill: Vice President Vance wins CPAC presidential straw poll.
▪ The Associated Press: Paxton embraced at CPAC as MAGA's choice.
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