The Latest
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Iran Abandons Nuclear Limits as US Warns Against Retaliation
The U.S. military may strike more Iranian leaders if the Islamic Republic retaliates for the Trump administration’s killing of Tehran’s most powerful general last week by attacking Americans or American interests, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday. As Pompeo conducted a round of TV interviews to explain President Donald Trump’s decision to target Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the repercussions from...
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Trump Doubles Down on Striking Iran Cultural Sites, Issues Warning to Iraq
President Donald Trump insisted Sunday that Iranian cultural sites were fair game for the U.S. military, dismissing concerns within his own administration that doing so could constitute a war crime under international law. He also warned Iraq that he would levy punishing sanctions if it expelled American troops in retaliation for a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed a...
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Trump Signs $1.4 Trillion Spending Bill, Avoiding Government Shutdown
President Donald Trump has signed off on nearly $1.4 trillion in spending that will keep the government funded through Sept. 30. The spending measures add roughly $400 billion to the deficit over the next decade. They include money for the president’s U.S.-Mexico border fence, pay raises for military and civilian federal workers, and funding for election security grants.
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US Considers Leaving Smaller Number of Troops in Afghanistan
The Pentagon is considering several options to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan, including one that would shift to a narrower counterterrorism mission, the top U.S. military officer told Congress on Wednesday. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not disclose any potential troop totals, but he agreed that leaving a minimal U.S. footprint in...
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Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson Is Resigning
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, once seen as a candidate to succeed Jim Mattis as defense secretary, said Friday she is resigning to become president of the University of Texas at El Paso. A former U.S. House Republican member from New Mexico and graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Wilson has headed the Air Force since May 2017, making...
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New Pentagon Chief Makes Global Debut With Status Uncertain
At an extraordinary moment in Pentagon history, a former business executive with little political stature and without military experience is making his international debut as the acting U.S. secretary of defense. After conferring Monday with Afghan leaders and American military commanders and diplomats in Kabul, Pat Shanahan was scheduled to attend a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels and an...
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Trump Suspends Arms Treaty, Citing Chinese, Russian Threats
The Trump administration is pulling the plug on a decades-old nuclear arms treaty with Russia, lifting what it sees as unreasonable constraints on competing with a resurgent Russia and a more assertive China. The move announced Friday sets the stage for delicate talks with U.S. allies over potential new American missile deployments. In explaining his decision, which he had foreshadowed...
