Trump says Markwayne Mullin will replace Kristi Noem as DHS secretary

(WASHINGTON) — Three Navy ships carrying 2,200 Marines left San Diego earlier this week for a previously scheduled deployment to the Indo-Pacific, but two U.S. officials tell ABC News their ultimate destination is likely the Middle East.

The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) is aboard the USS Boxer, the USS Comstock and the USS Portland — along with 2,000 sailors.

If it receives final orders to the Middle East, joining the 31st MEU, it will be an increase of close to 9,000 additional forces to the region.

The 31st MEU is still on its way to the Middle East from Asia after receiving orders from the Pentagon last Friday. Those Marines and ships are likely to arrive in the region sometime next week.

It will take two weeks for the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group to get to southeast Asia, then additional time to make its way to the Middle East if it gets final orders to go there.

Included in the MEU: ground forces, a logistical element and aviation units that include fighter jets, MV-22 Ospreys and attack helicopters.

Last week’s deployment of the 31st MEU to the Middle East has sparked speculation as to whether they might be used to seize Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf — crucial to Iran’s oil trade — or carry out raids on the Iranian shoreline around the Strait of Hormuz.

For now, the U.S. Navy Third Fleet says the 11th MEU is conducting routine operations in its area of operations.

“An integral part of U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. 3rd Fleet operates naval forces in the Indo-Pacific to conduct routine training that ensures the continued warfighting readiness of Navy and Marine forces operating in the area,” the U.S. Navy Third Fleet said in a statement. 

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(WASHINGTON) — In Georgia runoff election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, 2 veterans pitch opposing views on Iran war

In the special election runoff in Georgia’s deep-red 14th Congressional District, the two military veterans who are running to replace former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene find themselves with differing views on the ongoing Iran war.

The two candidates, Democrat Shawn Harris and Republican Clay Fuller, will go head-to-head at the ballot box on Tuesday, in a special election runoff that will serve as one of the fist glimpses into the role the war in Iran  — something Greene and other members of the Make America Great Again movement have criticized — might play in this year’s midterms.

Harris, a retired Army brigadier general, told moderators at an Atlanta Press Club debate last month that the Iran war is “not a war we should be in.”

“I spent 40 years in the military. The reality of it is, this war that we’re in right now is a war of choice,” Harris said.

Harris’ Trump-backed opponent holds a different view on the war.

Fuller, who served overseas with the Air National Guard, said on the debate stage that “our country is safer because of what President Trump has done regarding Iran.”

Greene has been outspoken about her opposition to the war, saying as recently as Sunday in a statement on X that Trump “has gone insane.”

“This NOT what we promised the American people when they overwhelmingly voted in 2024,” Greene wrote.

In an interview with ABC News, Harris slammed the Trump administration for failing to communicate their reasoning for military action to the public, and for the oil high prices caused by the war.

“The United States is suffering right now from these high oil prices, from these higher fuel prices, and this very high diesel. And because I live in a rural area, we are also suffering from the high inflation on fertilizer,” Harris, who runs a cattle farm, told ABC News.

“I 100% support our military. They are doing an outstanding job,” Harris added. “We will win this war militarily. However, we can lose this war politically.”

Fuller, the district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, declined to be interviewed by ABC News for this story.

Carl Cavalli, a political science professor at the University of North Georgia, told ABC News that dissatisfaction with the war in Iran among Republicans might serve in Harris’ favor.

A recent CNN poll found that 28% of Republicans disapprove of the Iran war.

“I don’t know whether it’s nearly enough to overcome the heavy Republican majority in the district, but as the war drags on, it could become more of an issue in the general election in November,” said Cavalli.

Greene’s surprise resignation from the House earlier this year led to a jam-packed March 10 special election where no one candidate won 50% of the vote. Harris and Fuller finished in the top two, advancing to Tuesday’s runoff.

But the runoff is only to fill the remainder of Greene’s term, meaning whoever wins will have to run again in a separate election for a full two-year term that begins with next month’s party primaries, meaning Georgians could see a Fuller-Harris rematch come November.

In a district Trump won by 39 points in 2024, Fuller remains the strong favorite to win on Tuesday.

“The 14th District is united behind President Trump and his candidate Clay Fuller because they understand we can’t afford to give any ground to the radical left or their candidates,” Fuller campaign spokesperson Will Hampson told ABC News in a statement.

But the coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans that Harris has built has caught the attention of moderate national Democrats such as Pete Buttigieg, another military veteran, who traveled to the northwest Georgia district to stump for Harris last month.

Harris drew comparisons between himself and the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, telling ABC News that both politicians are “stand-alone leaders.”

“I’m a Democrat, but I am not tied to the party. And that simply means I don’t care if you’re Democrat, independent or Republican. If you live in Northwest Georgia … I work directly for you, nobody else,” Harris said. 

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday told reporters he hasn’t made a final decision about what comes next in his pressure campaign on Iran but he made clear he was “not happy” with the current negotiations over his demand that Tehran end its nuclear program.

Trump spoke as left the White House for a trip to Texas amid the massive U.S. military buildup he’s ordered in the region.

“I’m not happy with the fact that they’re not willing to give us what we have to have,” Trump said. “So, I’m not thrilled with that. We’ll see what happens with talking later. We’ll — we’ll have some additional talks today. But no, I’m not happy with the way they’re going.”

“Well, we haven’t made a final decision,” he added. “They cannot have nuclear weapons, and we’re not thrilled with the way they’re negotiating. So, we’ll see how it all works.”

Asked if there’s a risk that U.S. strikes could lead to prolonged conflict in the Middle East, Trump said “there’s always a risk. You know, when there’s war, there’s a risk in anything both good and bad.”

Trump, who has yet to explain why he might soon order a strike on Iran and what his overall objective is, also spoke of regime change in Tehran, but only in vague terms.

Asked if his team had told him U.S. strikes now will lead to regime change right away, Trump said no.

“No, nobody’s told me that. You don’t know. I mean, nobody knows. There might be and there might not be,” he said.

Trump repeated that he preferred diplomacy over military action.

“We have the greatest military anywhere in the world. There’s nothing close. I’d love not to use it, but sometimes you have to,” he said.

His remarks came after it was announced earlier Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would travel to Israel on Monday and Tuesday, with rising tensions with Iran said to be high on his agenda.

That trip announcement came just hours after the U.S. embassy in Israel ordered the departure of nonessential employees and family members.

Meanwhile, in an interview aboard Air Force Two on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance told The Washington Post that there was “no chance” of a drawn-out war in Iran as a result of potential strikes that are being weighed by the White House.

“The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen,” Vance told the Post.

Vance’s comments come as the U.S. and Iran held indirect talks on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland, which concluded without a resolution so far.

Vance added that while he doesn’t know what President Donald Trump will do in Iran, he described the range of options as strikes that would “ensure Iran isn’t going to get a nuclear weapon” or actions that could lead to a diplomatic solution.

The vice president told the Post that he remained a “skeptic of foreign military interventions” and said he believed the president was as well. He added that “we all prefer the diplomatic option,” while conceding, “but it really depends on what the Iranians do and what they say.”

Vance dismissed questions from the Post about his past criticisms of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and if he could have foreseen being part of an administration now flirting with the prospect of regime change.

“Well, I mean, look. Life has all kinds of crazy twists and turns,” Vance said. “But I think Donald Trump is an ‘America First’ president, and he pursues policies that work for the American people.”

“I do think we have to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. I also think that we have to avoid overlearning the lessons of the past. Just because one president screwed up a military conflict doesn’t mean we can never engage in military conflict again. We’ve got to be careful about it, but I think the president is being careful,” he said.

Vance’s comments came ahead of his meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi and other U.S. officials Friday in Washington to discuss Iran, a source familiar with the meeting confirmed to ABC News.

The scheduled meeting follows Thursday’s gathering in Geneva between special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, with Al Busaidi for indirect talks between Iran and the United States.

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