INTERNACIONAL
Trump to meet leader of ‘out of control’ South Africa at White House
JOHANNESBURG — President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House on Wednesday for a make-or-break session, despite new accusations from the president this past Friday that South Africa is «out of control» and committing genocide.
Speaking on Air Force One as it returned from the Persian Gulf region, Trump repeated his claim that White Afrikaner South African farmers are being slaughtered and forced off their land. The Afrikaners are descendants of mostly Dutch settlers who first arrived in South Africa in 1652.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio elaborated on these claims Sunday on CBS, saying «all evidence [indicates] the farmers in South Africa are being treated brutally.»
Some 50 Afrikaners were flown to the U.S. as refugees last week. Rubio said there’s «more to come». South Africa, and its president, denies claims of genocide and harassment.
INCOMING TRUMP ADMIN, CONGRESS SHOWDOWN LOOMS WITH SOUTH AFRICA OVER SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA, US FOES
Afrikaner refugees from South Africa arrive on Monday at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va. On Monday, the Episcopal Church said its Migration Ministries services will refuse a government directive to help resettle White South Africans who have been granted refugee status in the United States. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Could the Oval Office and the Wednesday meeting be the setting for a Zelenskyy-style dressing down of the South African president? In February, Ukraine’s president was involved in a shouting match with Trump and others, which reportedly led to him being ejected from the White House.
«The meeting is set to occur at a time when the relationship between the two countries has soured to unprecedented lows,» analyst Frans Cronje, Yorktown Foundation for Freedom advisory board member, told Fox News Digital.
Contentious issues:
- South Africa’s ambassador to Washington was thrown out of the U.S. for calling Trump a «White supremacist.»
- South Africa took legal action against U.S. ally Israel, accusing it of genocide in its war in Gaza, at the International Court of Justice.
- Ramaphosa’s ruling party, the ANC, has shown support for the terror group Hamas.
- Trade and military links with Iran and allegedly nuclear co-operation.
- Shown support for the designated terrorist group Hezbollah.
- Military links with Russia.
- The creation of the controversial Land Expropriation Act, which is aimed at seizing land the government wants in certain circumstances without compensation and which reportedly led to Trump’s focus on White Afrikaner families and claims they are being killed.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, left, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin (ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
TRUMP ADMIN MAKES NEW MOVE TO BRING SOUTH AFRICAN REFUGEES TO US AS PRESIDENT BLASTS NATION’S RULERS AGAIN
South Africa is «hosting Hamas and Hezbollah, doing business with Iran’s IRGC, prosecuting Israel at the ICJ and cozying up to Beijing and Moscow. These choices have consequences,» Max Meizlish, senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
Meizlish said South Africa has «attracted the ire of the president and key members of Congress, who play significant roles in shaping the future of U.S.-South African relations. Unfortunately, President Ramaphosa and his colleagues in the ANC do not appear to fully appreciate this fact. President Trump should insist on meaningful change and be ready to back his demands up with tools like targeted sanctions and tariffs.»
But will the White House meeting be icy, feisty, even loud? Not from the South African side, former U.S. diplomat and Daily Maverick Associate Editor J. Brooks Spector told Fox News Digital. «Ramaphosa has a long track record of careful negotiating with adversaries.»
A man brandishes a replica toy gun during a pro-Palestinian demonstration organized by the South African opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters in front of the Israeli Embassy in Pretoria on Oct. 23, 2023. (Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images)
He doesn’t raise his voice, even when others become heated. This reporter has seen this first hand. In a smoke-filled room in 1990 in South Africa’s dusty Free State, I watched Ramaphosa, then a leader of a Black miners’ union, sometimes even smile as he quietly and successfully calmed down [the] often-shouting White miners accused of killing Black colleagues underground and got the murders stopped.
Spector continued, «It is almost certain Ramaphosa and his team have closely studied the way three recent prior meetings with Trump have gone – those with Zelenskyy (Ukraine), Starmer (the United Kingdom) and Carney (Canada) – in an effort to draw lessons about how to present their best face. He will not make neophyte negotiation mistakes.»
WHITE SOUTH AFRICAN REFUGEES BROUGHT TO US DUE TO ‘GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION’: STATE DEPT
South African Embassy officials Vusimuzi Madonsela, seated right, and Cornelius Scholtz, seated second left, talk at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, on May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Cronje told Fox News Digital that Ramaphosa and his country badly need the U.S.
«At home, Mr Ramaphosa is presiding over economic stagnation, with South Africa facing a rate of economic growth estimated at just over 1% together with an unemployment rate of over 30%. Mr. Ramaphosa will, therefore, be under great pressure to secure a deal.»
Some 600 U.S. companies operate in South Africa. Ramaphosa has taken four top ministers to Washington hoping to offer new deals, especially reportedly on natural gas, minerals and agricultural product sales to the U.S., and possibly finally the licensing of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system in South Africa.
Cronje noted a military perspective the U.S. will also want to consider: «South Africa commands the southern sea route between the Indian and Atlantic oceans, which is an important trade and naval choke point.»
Meizlish added that South Africa «holds vast mineral wealth and could anchor U.S. investment in Africa, but that doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to its alignment with America’s enemies.»
President Donald Trump listens to a question during an event at the Oval Office on May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
South Africa’s chief rabbi, Dr. Warren Goldstein, told Fox News Digital that South Africa could «easily withdraw» its ICJ case against Israel if it wanted to, adding that «opinion polls show that there is very little domestic support for his (Ramaphosa’s) anti-Israel stance, with most holding positive views towards Israel, sharing the same conservative Christian values that deeply resonate with Mr. Trump’s support base in the U.S.»
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Meizlish said, «This visit can’t be about optics or deals that fail to address the root of South Africa’s malign foreign policy. Trump needs to push Ramaphosa to make substantive, structural reforms in his country’s foreign policy while also creating pathways for greater U.S. investment. It can’t just be one or the other.»
As South African politicians swept through Washington on Tuesday on a major lobbying exercise, trying to get traction on the idea of focusing on trade, Rubio told senators during a hearing that a reset in relations might be possible.
«If there’s a willingness on their side to reset relations, obviously [that’s] something we’ll explore, but we do so with eyes wide open to what they’ve done so far,» he said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the South African government for comment but received no response.
INTERNACIONAL
Trump confirmó que el líder supremo de Irán murió en los ataques coordinados de Israel y EE.UU.
El presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, informó que el líder supremo de Irán, el ayatolá Ali Jamenei, murió por los ataques lanzados este sábado por Israel y EE.UU. contra territorio iraní.
“Jamenei, una de las personas más malvadas de la historia, está muerto”, escribió Trump en su red social Truth Social y calificó esa muerte como «un acto de justicia» no solo para el pueblo de Irán, sino también para ciudadanos estadounidenses y personas de distintos países que, según afirmó, “fueron asesinadas o mutiladas por Jamenei y su banda de matones sedientos de sangre”.
Leé también: Video: así fue la “Operación Furia Épica” de Estados Unidos contra Irán
“El plan para destruir Israel ya no existe”, había dicho previamente el primer ministro israelí Benjamin Netanyahu sobre el operativo contra Jamenei durante una declaración retransmitida en la noche de este sábado.
En su comunicado, Trump sostuvo que Jamenei no logró evadir los sistemas de inteligencia y rastreo “altamente sofisticados” de Estados Unidos y aseguró que, trabajando estrechamente con Israel, el líder iraní y otros dirigentes “no pudieron hacer absolutamente nada” para evitar el ataque. Trump afirmó además que otros jerarcas militares habrían muerto junto a Jamenei.
Leé también: El ataque a Irán sacude a los mercados y el petróleo podría trepar hasta los US$100 por barril Donald Trump supervisó las operaciones militares estadounidenses en Irán desde Mar-a-Lago. Foto: X/La Casa Blanca)
El presidente estadounidense señaló que este escenario representa “la mayor oportunidad” para que el pueblo iraní “recupere su país” y sostuvo que sectores de la Guardia Revolucionaria Islámica, las fuerzas armadas y los cuerpos de seguridad estarían desistiendo de combatir y buscando inmunidad.
“Ahora pueden tener inmunidad, después solo obtendrán la muerte”, advirtió Trump, al tiempo que expresó su deseo de que las fuerzas de seguridad se unan “pacíficamente” con lo que denominó “patriotas iraníes” para reconstruir el país.
En su mensaje, Trump también aseguró que, en apenas un día, Irán habría sido “muy seriamente destruido e incluso obliterado”, y confirmó que los bombardeos “pesados y de precisión” continuarán de manera ininterrumpida durante la semana o el tiempo que sea necesario para alcanzar el objetivo de lo que definió como “paz en Medio Oriente y en el mundo”. Una imagen satelital muestra humo negro elevándose y daños importantes en el refugio del líder supremo iraní, el ayatolá Ali Jamenei, tras los ataques de Estados Unidos e Israel en Teherán el 28 de febrero de 2026. (Foto: REUTERS)
En Teherán, testigos reportaron aplausos desde ventanas y gritos de alegría tras conocerse la muerte de Jamenei. Desde primeras horas del día, Trump y Netanyahu alentaron a los iraníes a sublevarse. “Es el momento de unir fuerzas, derrocar al régimen y garantizar su futuro”, dijo Netanyahu. Trump fue aún más explícito: “Cuando hayamos terminado, tomen el poder, les tocará a ustedes hacerlo”.
Además, Trump declaró que tiene “una idea muy clara” sobre quién podría ser el próximo líder de Irán, aunque no dio nombres. Entre los posibles aspirantes aparece Reza Pahlavi, hijo del último sah de Irán, quien aseguró que espera una “victoria final” para reconstruir el país.
Por su parte, las autoridades de Teherán evitaron confirmar oficialmente la muerte de Jameneí. No obstante, el jefe del Consejo Supremo de Seguridad Nacional iraní, Ali Larijani, prometió una “lección inolvidable” a Estados Unidos e Israel.
La Guardia Revolucionaria anunció ataques contra el Ministerio de Defensa y bases militares israelíes, mientras que el ejército de Israel reportó múltiples impactos de misiles.
En Irán, la Media Luna Roja informó al menos 201 muertos y 747 heridos por los ataques, que habrían alcanzado 24 de las 31 provincias del país. Las autoridades ordenaron evacuar Teherán y reportaron decenas de víctimas en distintos puntos del territorio.
La escalada no se limitó a Irán e Israel. Misiles iraníes alcanzaron o fueron interceptados en varias capitales del Golfo, como Riad, Abu Dabi, Doha, Dubái, Kuwait y Manama. Arabia Saudita, Qatar y Emiratos Árabes Unidos afirmaron haberse reservado el derecho de responder. Baréin, sede de la Quinta Flota estadounidense, reportó ataques contra edificios residenciales.
Las hostilidades también amenazan con afectar el suministro mundial de petróleo y disparar los precios. Varios países cerraron su espacio aéreo y Estados Unidos desaconsejó a los barcos comerciales acercarse a la zona.
(Con información de AFP y EFE)
Israel, Irán, Estados Unidos
INTERNACIONAL
Mamdani’s response to Trump’s Iran strike sparks conservative backlash: ‘Rooting for the ayatollah’
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New York City’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing blowback from conservatives on social media over his post condemning the U.S. attack on Iran that led to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Saturday, as a joint strike on Iran by the United States and Israel was developing, Mamdani blasted the Trump administration’s decision in a post on X that has been viewed roughly 20 million times.
«Today’s military strikes on Iran — carried out by the United States and Israel — mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression,» Mamdani wrote.
«Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war. Americans do not want this. They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change.»
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters during a news conference in New York Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Mamdani said Americans prefer «relief from the affordability crisis» before speaking directly to Iranians in New York City.
«You are part of the fabric of this city — you are our neighbors, small business owners, students, artists, workers, and community leaders,» Mamdani said. «You will be safe here.»
The post was quickly slammed by conservatives on social media making the case that Mamdani’s response appeared sympathetic to Iran’s brutal regime and pointing to his lack of public reaction to the Iranian protesters killed in recent years.
«Comrade Mayor is rooting for the Ayatollah,» GOP Sen. Ted Cruz posted on X. «They can chant together.»
OBAMA OFFICIAL WHO BACKED IRAN DEAL SPARKS ONLINE OUTRAGE WITH REACTION TO TRUMP’S STRIKE: ‘SIT THIS ONE OUT’
«Do u say anything pro American ?» Fox News host Brian Kilmeade posted on X. «do u know any Iranians – ? they hate @fr_Khamenei they celebrate his death, you should be celebrating his death ! hes killed thousands of American’s and just killed 30k Iranians, did u even say a word about that? You are an embarrassment !! Please quit.»
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, questions Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Hart building Jan. 15, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
«I don’t feel safe in New York listening to someone like you, Mamdani, who sympathizes with the regime that killed more than 30,000 unarmed Iranians in less than 24 hours,» Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad posted on X.
«We Iranians do not allow you to lecture us about war while you had nothing to say when the Islamic Republic shot schoolgirls and blinded more than 10,000 innocent people in the streets. You were busy celebrating the hijab while women of my beloved country Iran were jailed and raped by Islamic Security forces for removing it.
«And NOW you find your voice to defend the regime? No. I will not let you claim the moral high ground. The people of Iran want to be free. Where were you when they needed solidarity?»
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«How is it that you can’t differentiate between good and evil?» Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posted on X. «Why is this so hard for you?»
«It takes a particular kind of audacity, or ignorance, for a city mayor to appoint himself the conscience of American foreign policy while his constituents step over garbage on their way to work,» GOP Rep. Nancy Mace posted on X. «History will not remember his bravery. It will not remember him at all.»
«Iranian New Yorkers are thrilled today and see right through you,» Republican New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino posted on X.
Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management LP, speaks during the WSJ D.Live global technology conference in Laguna Beach, Calif., Oct. 17, 2017. (Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
«When Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, UAE, Bahrain all support today’s operation eliminating world’s #1 sponsor of terror, but New York City’s Mayor @ZohranMamdani is shilling for Iran,» Republican New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov posted on X.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment.
Shortly after Mamdani’s post, it was announced by President Trump and Israeli officials that the military operation resulted in Khamenei’s death.
Israeli leaders confirmed Khamenei’s compound and offices were reduced to rubble early Saturday after a targeted strike in downtown Tehran.
«Khamenei was the contemporary Middle East’s longest-serving autocrat. He did not get to be that way by being a gambler. Khamenei was an ideologue, but one who ruthlessly pursued the preservation and protection of his ideology, often taking two steps forward and one step back,» Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD’s Iran program, told Fox News Digital.
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war with iran,zohran mamdani,politics
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Iran goes dark amid ‘regime paranoia’, blackout follows Israeli, US strikes on compound
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Iran was plunged into an internet blackout Saturday after Israel and the U.S. launched military strikes around the country, according to a global internet monitor.
Within hours of the strikes — which officials said targeted infrastructure and killed dozens of senior regime figures at a compound in Tehran— NetBlocks CEO Alp Toker confirmed connectivity started «flatlining.»
«We’re tracking the ongoing blackout, but our assessment is that this is straight out of Iran’s wartime playbook and consistent both technically and strategically with what we saw during the 2025 Twelve-Day War with Israel,» Toker told Fox News Digital.
«Iran’s internet connectivity is now flatlining around the 1% level, so the original blackout the regime imposed during the morning has been consolidated,» he confirmed.
«The blackout was imposed just after 7:00 UTC, not long after the attack on the Iranian regime compound,» Toker clarified, adding that Iran had been largely offline for approximately 12 hours following the attack.
«At 06:10 UTC, there is the main compound strike; at 07:10 UTC, telecoms disruption starts; at 08:00 UTC, the blackout is largely in effect; and by 08:30 UTC, connectivity flatlines.»
«Wartime national blackouts are exceedingly rare around the world, and it’s something we’ve only really seen at this scale in Iran,» he said.
President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Iran following an Israeli strike in Tehran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (@WhiteHouse/X)
In the wake of the attack, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the «heavy and pinpoint» bombing in Iran «will continue uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!»
He claimed Iranian security forces and members of the regime’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were already seeking immunity. He urged them to «peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots.»
«We are hearing that many of their IRGC, Military, and other Security and Police Forces no longer want to fight and are looking for Immunity from us,» Trump said in the post. «As I said last night, ‘Now they can have Immunity; later they only get Death!’»
Toker argued the timing of the blackout suggested it was imposed deliberately as the regime sought to secure communications amid fears of further targeting.
TRUMP TELLS IRANIANS THE ‘HOUR OF YOUR FREEDOM IS AT HAND’ AS US-ISRAEL LAUNCH STRIKES AGAINST IRAN
TEHRAN, IRAN – FEBRUARY 28: Smoke rises over the city center after an Israeli army launches 2nd wave of airstrikes on Iran on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«The Iranian regime will have deployed this new blackout to counter potential cyberattacks during their own military operation, but also to avoid leaking the locations of senior regime figures through metadata and user-generated content,» he said.
«Communications would have been limited, and Iran’s leadership would have proceeded with the assumption that all communications, including satellite or whitelisted networks, carry risks,» he said before claiming that «paranoia would be well grounded at this point, with the blackout a belated but direct response to that.»
«Those participating directly would already know to avoid technology that could betray their whereabouts,» Toker said.
«However, the metadata may well have played a part in determining that the meeting of regime leaders was being held at the Tehran compound, who was in attendance, and at what time.»
DID THEY GET HIM? KHAMENEI’S FATE REMAINS UNKNOWN AFTER ISRAEL-US STRIKE LEVELS HIS COMPOUND
In this handout image provided by the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the nation in a state television broadcast on June 18, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. (Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran via Getty Images)
Toker revealed that the broader network around the regime leaders and around the compound wouldn’t have had the same strict restrictions.
«This kind of adjacent ‘background noise’ can be correlated against other intelligence sources to build an understanding of activity on the ground,» he added.
«Smartphones are a readily available, almost ‘free’ source of intelligence, and even when locked down, they eventually connect to international online services and generate insights that can be used to pinpoint regime figures,» Toker said.
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«In the aftermath of Saturday’s strike, this concern will have been high on the remaining Iranian leadership’s minds, especially if they didn’t have a clear and specific understanding of how the meeting was compromised.»
Iran has previously imposed sweeping internet shutdowns during periods of domestic unrest, including nationwide protests in January, which saw thousands killed, often seeking to curb the spread of information and restrict coordination.
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war with iran,ali khamenei,bombings,middle east,terrorism
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