The frustrations with Defense Secretary Hegseth’s approach came to a boil last summer during a heated exchange between Ricky Buria, Hegseth’s Chief of Staff, and Army Secretary Driscoll about a separate promotion. Buria chastised the Driscoll for selecting Maj. Gen. Antoinette R. Gant, a combat engineer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, to take command of the Military District of Washington, said three current and former defense and administration officials familiar with the exchange, with Buria telling Driscoll that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events, the officials told The New York Times.

Driscoll was shocked. “The President is not a racist or sexist,” he told Mr. Buria, according to the officials. Driscoll then raised the issue with a senior official at the White House who agreed with his assessment of President Trump. Hegseth’s office retreated from the issue, while General Gant began serving in the position last summer and was promoted to two-star rank in early March. The Pentagon did not address Hegseth’s decision to strike the four officers from the promotion list or respond to questions about Mr. Buria’s interaction with Secretary Driscoll.

The Israeli Air Force bombed two of Iran’s largest steel factories a short while ago, Khuzestan Steel near Ahvaz and Mobarakeh Steel in Isfahan, both which are partially owned by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to Israeli security sources and the Iranian state-run Fars News Agency. The strikes were directly ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

The Iranian response to the Trump Administration’s 15-point framework for a peace deal is expected on Friday, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

Following today’s Israeli strikes against two of Iran’s major steel processing plants, the Iranian state-run Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has published a graphic highlighting and warning of retaliatory attacks soon against a number of steel factories in Israel and the Gulf Nations.

The Royal Navy has been authorized to step up hostile action against the Russian Shadow Fleet in the waters of the United Kingdom, including the English Channel, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer ordering warships, commandos, and law enforcement personnel to stop and board tankers suspected of evading sanctions imposed on Russia since the Invasion of Ukraine, according to Navy Lookout.

The Israel Defense Force has announced that the Air Force carried out targeted strikes earlier against the Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor (IR-40), part of the Arak Nuclear Complex, a key plutonium production site for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ nuclear weapons program and a significant economic asset that served as a source of income for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). Arak was previously struck by Israel during last year’s Twelve-Day War.

According to the Daily Mail, one of the Secret Service Agents assigned to protect First Lady Jill Biden accidentally shot himself in the leg today while escorting her through Philadelphia Airport.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told G7 Foreign Ministers during a meeting on Friday that the United States was close to holding serious negotiations with Iran, but added that the war will continue for another two to four weeks, three sources with direct knowledge tell Axios.

Satellite imagery appears to show a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker having been destroyed and several others possibly damaged, as a result of an Iranian attack earlier today, utilizing ballistic missiles and drones, against Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have decided to officially join the ongoing war on the side of Iran, with sirens currently sounding across Southern Israel due to the launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen.

According to the Israel Defense Force, the ballistic missile launched by the Houthis was successfully intercepted over Southern Israel.

Following Israeli strikes against Iranian steel, power, and nuclear infrastructure, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has said that Iran will exact a “heavy price” for Israel’s strikes, saying that the strikes violate U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s extended deadline for dialogue.

The statement by the Houthi armed forces has just released and fell just short of announcing an entrance into the conflict. However, the statement sets a number of thresholds for Houthi involvement, including the U.S. and Israel failing to seek a diplomatic pathway to ending the conflict, increased aggression against both Iran and the Houthis, the use of the Red Sea to target Iran, expanded coalitions with the U.S., and the implementation of past Gaza agreements.

Footage shows impacts from cluster munitions in Tel Aviv, following the launch of a ballistic missile earlier tonight by Iran against Central Israel.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. and Saudi officials with knowledge on the matter, several U.S. servicemembers were injured in an Iranian ballistic missile strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on Friday.