US fighter jet appears to have been shot down by Iran, search and rescue underway, US officials say

(LONDON) — London police said Friday they are “assessing” whether the city’s airports played a role in human trafficking tied to the release of the U.S. Department of Justice’s files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Following the further release of millions of court documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein by the United States Department of Justice, we are aware of the suggestion that London airports may have been used to facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Friday. “We are assessing this information and are actively seeking further detail from law enforcement partners, including those in the United States.”

The Met Police’s statement comes after Essex Police said on Wednesday that they are also “assessing the information that has emerged in relation to private flights into and out of Stansted Airport following the publication of the US DoJ Epstein files.”

Met Police said that it had previously investigated sex trafficking allegations involving Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell has denied any knowledge of what Epstein was doing with women and girls at his various properties.

Based on guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service and U.S. authorities, “it was clear that any investigation into human trafficking would be largely focused on activities outside the UK and perpetrators based overseas and therefore international authorities were best placed to progress these allegations,” Met Police said.

Met Police said it decided in 2016 not to conduct a full criminal investigation, a decision that was reviewed in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and remained unchanged.

Following the release of the Epstein materials, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he asked Met Police “urgently to re-examine their decision-making in their investigation and the subsequent reviews,” in a piece published in the New Statesman earlier this month. 

“The Epstein emails, which record the visas issued, payments made and transport organised for girls and women trafficked across the world, suggest a number of British girls were on 90 Epstein flights organised from UK airports on what was called his ‘Lolita Express,'” Brown wrote. “Among the many aspects that should sicken anyone looking at the emails is that 15 of these flights were given the go-ahead after his 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor. How the flights were allowed to continue should have been fully investigated.”

Brown further wrote that the Epstein emails “tell us in graphic detail how Epstein was able to use Stansted Airport — he boasted how cheap the airport charges were compared to Paris — to fly in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.” 

Stansted Airport, located some 30 miles northeast of central London, was where “women were transferred from one Epstein plane to another,” Brown wrote, adding that “women arriving on private planes into Britain would not need British visas.”

Brown also cited a BBC investigation into Epstein’s private planes published late last year that found that from the early 1990s to 2018, nearly 90 flights linked to Epstein had arrived or departed from UK airports — including some that had British women on board who alleged abuse by Epstein. 

“It seems the authorities never knew what was happening: evidence the BBC has uncovered shows incomplete flight logs, with unnamed passengers simply labelled as ‘female,'” Brown wrote. “To this day, the names of many of the male passengers are unknown because their names were withheld. In short, British authorities had little or no idea who was being trafficked through our country, and for whom other than Epstein.”

In the wake of the Epstein files release, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly known as Prince Andrew and the younger brother of King Charles III — was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was released after 11 hours and has not been charged.

In late 2010, Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to share sensitive information stemming from his role as the U.K. trade envoy with Epstein, emails released by the U.S. DOJ suggest.

His arrest follows the emergence of documents detailing communication between him and Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied wrongdoing with respect to Epstein.

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(NEW YORK) — Airport operations are gradually returning to normal in Mexico after violence ignited in the country following the killing of the drug lord known as “El Mencho,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a press conference Tuesday.

Sheinbaum said there were “seven roadblocks” in Mexico Tuesday morning, but “all of them” have now been cleared. Flights have resumed at Guadalajara Airport, and operations are “gradually returning” at Puerto Vallarta airport, she added.

School was suspended in Jalisco and Michoacan on Tuesday, but “activities are expected to return to normal tomorrow,” Sheinbaum added.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was killed in an operation led by Mexican authorities on Sunday in Jalisco, Mexican officials said.

Widespread cartel-organized violence erupted following his death, with vehicles set on fire, hundreds of road blockages and attacks on gas stations and businesses, according to Mexican authorities.

Mexico’s security strategy “has not changed,” after the operation, emphasizing that law enforcement were attempting to arrested an individual with an outstanding warrant, Sheinbaum said Tuesday.  

“Members of the Army were attacked and responded. He later died while being transferred. But we will never act outside the law. That is very important. Here, the objective was never to kill anyone,” Sheinbaum said.

“Yes, this was a very significant member of organized crime, but the strategy has not changed. The strategy remains the same and is grounded in our laws and our Constitution,” she added.

Sheinbaum said that as of Monday morning, there are no longer any blockades and “normal activity has largely been restored.”

Oseguera Cervantes was one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States. He was one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into the U.S., and last year President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the White House said.

When Mexican forces moved in to arrest him on Sunday, “El Mencho’s security detail opened fire,” Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Monday.

El Mencho “fled the location, leaving behind a group heavily armed,” Trevilla said. “The attack by organized crime members was extremely violent.”

Mexican special forces members continued to pursue El Mencho and eventually were able to injure him and two of the bodyguards with him, according to Trevilla.

El Mencho and the two bodyguards died during the helicopter evacuation flight that was heading towards a medical facility in Jalisco, Trevilla added.

Ultimately, 25 members of the Mexican National Guard and 30 cartel members were killed in Jalisco, Mexican officials said. Four cartel members were also killed in Michoacan, officials said.

Among those killed was a “principal confidant” of El Mencho in Jalisco who was “coordinating road blockades, vehicle burnings, and attacks on military and government facilities,” Trevilla said.

Seventy cartel members have been detained across seven states, Mexican officials said Monday.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico on Monday continued to urge Americans in locations throughout Mexico to shelter in place due to “ongoing security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity.”

“While no airports have been closed, roadblocks have impacted airline operations, with most domestic and international flights cancelled in both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta,” the U.S. Embassy said in a security alert. “All ride shares are suspended in Puerto Vallarta.  Some businesses have suspended operations.”

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(LONDON) — With the war in Iran still unresolved and an energy crisis linked to it battering the global economy, here’s a timeline of the key phases of the conflict, from the start of “Operation Epic Fury” to “Project Freedom,” intended to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Phase 1: Trump announces the start of combat operations in Iran

In a late-night video statement released to the nation on Feb. 28, just hours after U.S. and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran, President Donald Trump announced that major combat operations were underway.

“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump said.

He said that chief among the goals of the joint U.S.-Israel operations was to eliminate once and for all Iran’s ambitions to obtain a nuclear weapon.

“They’ve rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” said Trump, adding that after the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025, the regime began rebuilding its nuclear program and developing long-range missiles.

In his first press briefing four days after the start of combat operations, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “I stand before you today with one unmistakable message about Operation Epic Fury: America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy.”

U.S. military officials said top government and military leaders of the Iranian regime were killed in the opening salvos of the conflict, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Hegseth said the hundreds of military targets were hit in the first hours of the operation, knocking out the IRGC’s ability to effectively communicate.

Iran retaliated by firing missiles at seven Gulf states, hitting civilian infrastructure and airports in the United Arab Emirates, residential areas in Qatar and an apartment building in Bahrain.

During the briefing, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine released the names of six U.S. service members killed in an Iranian drone strike on Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.

Phase 2: Strait of Hormuz becomes focal point of the war

As the fighting progressed, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was named the country’s new supreme leader on March 8, despite reports that he was badly injured in the attack that killed his father.

In his purported first written statement, Mojtaba Khamenei directed the IRGC to continue to limit traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the maritime channel linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, through which 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed in 2024.

Tensions immediately escalated in the Strait of Hormuz following Mojtaba Khamenei’s directive to the IRGC. The Iranian military claimed on March 12 that it struck an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, one of three commercial ships attacked that day near the Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks came just days after President Trump posted a message on his social media platform, saying if Iran attempted to stop the flow of oil in the strait, “They will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”

On March 21, Trump gave Iran an ultimatum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial vessels in 48 hours. The president posted on his social media platform that if Iran didn’t comply, “The United States will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST.”

The following day, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the U.N. International Maritime Organization, saying the strait was open to “non-hostile” vessels.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV on March 25 that “Iran’s power is the Hormuz Strait.”

Phase 3: US Naval blockade and ceasefire

Trump announced on March 23 that the U.S. and Iran were discussing an end to the war, giving the first indication of diplomatic talks since the start of the war. He gave Iran a five-day extension to reopen the strait, citing progress in ongoing peace negotiations.

The next day, the Trump administration offered Iran, through intermediaries in Pakistan, a 15-point plan to end the war.

Israeli Defense Forces announced on March 26 that Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the IRGC’s navy, was “eliminated” in a strike. The IDF also claimed the strike killed the head of Iran’s naval intelligence, Behnam Rezaei.

On March 26, Trump announced that he was pausing the attack on Iran’s energy plants for 10 days until April 6 at 8 p.m. ET., saying in a social media post, “Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well.”

Trump extended Iran’s deadline again on April 5, giving Iran until April 7 to make a deal. Iran responded to Trump’s 15-point peace plan with a 10-point proposal for ending the war, but the strait remained on lockdown.

Just hours ahead of the April 7 deadline, Trump again took to social media, writing, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

That same day, Iran and the United States announced they had agreed to a two-week ceasefire that would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

But on April 8, Israel launched a heavy bombing attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon, prompting Iran to complain that Israel broke the ceasefire agreement and closed the strait again.

Vice President JD Vance then traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, for peace talks with Iran, brokered by Pakistan. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also participated in the talks, but Vance announced on April 11 that no agreement had been reached.

With the strait still closed, President Trump on April 13 announced a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports along the strait. “We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that’s what they’re doing,” Trump said.

Trump said on April 21 that the ceasefire was being extended indefinitely at the request of Pakistan, but that the naval blockade would stay in place.

Phase 4: ‘Project Freedom’

As the war dragged into May, Trump announced that the U.S. Central Command was launching “Project Freedom,” in which U.S. military ships would escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

But the launch of Project Freedom on May 3 caused an escalation of tensions in the strait.

On May 4, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. Central Command, said the IRGC had launched missiles, drones, and small boats toward ships the U.S. was protecting in the Strait of Hormuz. Cooper said the U.S. “defeated each and every one of those threats,” and that U.S. AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and others were used to “eliminate” the Iranian attack boats.

On May 5, Trump announced a temporary pause in Project Freedom at the request of Pakistan.

In a statement on social media on May 6, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the pause “will go a long way towards advancing regional peace, stability and reconciliation during this sensitive period.”

Trump said that while Project Freedom is paused, the U.S. naval blockade is still in effect.

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