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US Veterans Urge Biden Against Releasing Frozen Funds to Iran

In this Sept. 25, 2019, file photo, The White House is seen from the Ellipse in Washington. (AP)
In this Sept. 25, 2019, file photo, The White House is seen from the Ellipse in Washington. (AP)
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US Veterans Urge Biden Against Releasing Frozen Funds to Iran

In this Sept. 25, 2019, file photo, The White House is seen from the Ellipse in Washington. (AP)
In this Sept. 25, 2019, file photo, The White House is seen from the Ellipse in Washington. (AP)

US military veterans and their families called on the Biden administration Thursday not to release frozen funds to Iran as part of nuclear negotiations until US victims of terrorist attacks carried out by the Tehran regime or its proxies are compensated.

More than 1,000 veterans and family members of those killed or wounded in bombings and other attacks in Iraq and elsewhere asked President Joe Biden in a letter to meet with some of the families whose loved ones were killed, reported NBC News.

“We share your view that Iran must never be allowed to develop or acquire nuclear weapons, but we do not believe that any sanctions on Iran should be lifted or suspended that result in the release of frozen funds until all outstanding judgments and pending claims against Iran and the IRGC [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] have been fully satisfied,” said the letter, which was obtained by NBC News.

“In our view, Iran’s frozen funds should go first to the regime’s American victims before a single dollar goes to the regime itself,” it added.

The letter estimated that $60 billion in terrorism lawsuit judgments and associated liens have gone unpaid because of US court cases against Iran, with billions more tied up in pending claims.

Iran has denied playing any role in the attacks. American officials have accused Iran-backed militias of killing hundreds of American troops in the Iraq war.

The Iranian regime owes around 53 billion dollars in nine unpaid court judgements to American victims of its terrorism.

Iran has refused to pay its dues, which is weighing heavily on its ties with the United States and its opportunities to expand trade with Europe and other countries that have frozen Iranian assets in response to American court orders.

Meanwhile, several observers said that if Iran agrees or is forced to agree to settles these cases, as Libya did in the Lockerbie case, then it could act as a significant deterrent in preventing similar Tehran-sponsored atrocities in the future.

Throughout the nuclear talks, Iran has demanded that the US unblock billions of dollars around the world that have been frozen by US sanctions.

The US and European powers have reported modest progress in talks with Iran in Vienna over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, which was designed to prevent Tehran from building nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department said this month that it would allow South Korea to send at least $63 million in overdue damages to an Iranian company. US sanctions had blocked the money, and Iran has been seeking access to billions of dollars frozen in South Korea and other countries, reported NBC News.

The move followed talks between South Korea’s deputy foreign minister, Choi Jong-kun, and the US special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley. Iran says the US has blocked about $7 billion in South Korea related to oil shipments.

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World

Pope Leo Has Cancerous Growth Removed in Lung Operation

Pope Leo arrives at Gemelli Hospital ahead of the pontiff's surgery to remove a lung nodule, in Rome, Italy, October 13, 2026. (Vatican Media/­Simone Risoluti/Handout via Reuters)
Pope Leo arrives at Gemelli Hospital ahead of the pontiff's surgery to remove a lung nodule, in Rome, Italy, October 13, 2026. (Vatican Media/­Simone Risoluti/Handout via Reuters)
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Pope Leo Has Cancerous Growth Removed in Lung Operation

Pope Leo arrives at Gemelli Hospital ahead of the pontiff's surgery to remove a lung nodule, in Rome, Italy, October 13, 2026. (Vatican Media/­Simone Risoluti/Handout via Reuters)
Pope Leo arrives at Gemelli Hospital ahead of the pontiff's surgery to remove a lung nodule, in Rome, Italy, October 13, 2026. (Vatican Media/­Simone Risoluti/Handout via Reuters)

Pope Leo XIV had a cancerous growth removed from his right lung in a 90-minute operation on Tuesday and "woke up normally" after the procedure, the Vatican said.

A Vatican source said further tests were being carried out to determine if the cancer had spread.

"To ensure the procedure was radical, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed," the Vatican said in a statement.

The operation "confirmed the diagnosis of a pulmonary adenocarcinoma, as suspected from the pre-operative tests", it said.

The pope was in the operating room for a total of three hours and the operation lasted half that time.

"The surgery was successful and there were no complications," the Vatican said.

A Vatican source said he requested dinner after the procedure.

Leo had entered the hospital smiling and waving earlier on Tuesday hours before the surgery.

The Vatican has said it expects the pope to stay in his room on the 10th floor of Rome's Gemelli hospital to recover for several days.

His audiences have been cancelled until October 20 and the operation raises questions about whether the pope will go on a lengthy visit to Latin America next month.

- 'I will pray a lot' -

The surgery marks the 71-year-old Leo's first hospitalization since he became head of the Catholic Church on May 8, 2025.

In a surprise announcement following Angelus prayers on Sunday, Leo told crowds in St Peter's Square that doctors had discovered a nodule "at a very early stage" during medical checks.

"The doctors believe it would be right to intervene," he said.

The Vatican has historically been very secretive about the health of popes, but began to be more transparent during the illness of Leo's predecessor Francis, an Argentine who freely discussed his ailments.

Ahead of the operation, people outside the hospital expressed concern over the pope's condition.

Giorgia Fei, a 57-year-old Italian, said she had been worried.

"However, he is in very good hands here at the hospital because we have some outstanding doctors," she said.

"I will pray a lot for him."

Giuseppe Purpura, 72, said he too was concerned.

"He's still quite young and I really wasn't expecting this. I thought he was in better health," he said, noting that "thankfully it was caught in time."

The Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, led a rosary prayer for the pope inside the hospital chapel which was broadcast by the Vatican. Dozens of people attended and Reina asked all the city's parishes to join in.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told ANSA news agency that Leo had been "very calm" about his condition when they met on Monday.

The Vatican told AFP the nodule was found during routine health checks, and there were no symptoms that led to checking the pope's lungs.

Chicago-born Leo, the first US pope, is sporty and believed to generally be in good health.

He is scheduled to travel to South America from November 6-17 to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

It was not immediately clear what would happen if the pope was forced into a longer recovery.

Under Church law, a figure known as the Cardinal Camerlengo -- or chamberlain -- takes over administrative duties if the pope dies, but pontiffs do not have a deputy to replace them if they become incapacitated.

World

Trump Says Yemen's Houthis are 'Behaving Very Badly'

President Donald Trump talks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Trump Says Yemen's Houthis are 'Behaving Very Badly'

President Donald Trump talks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that the Houthi militants were "behaving very badly."

This came as the group has recently escalated attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the vital Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The Houthis also launched attacks on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport in recent days, killing 13 people, wounding more than 300.

Trump told reporters that he "might" ask Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to intervene and support Saudi interests.

"President Erdogan, I think, would do as I ask," Trump said.

Meanwhile, in a development reflecting the widening scope of military strikes against resources relied upon by the Houthi group, the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen carried out several airstrikes Tuesday on the Al-Sabaha Central Fuel Storage Station, west of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in an effort to disrupt a key Houthi fuel supply line that supports the group's military operations.

 

 

World

MI5 Chief Says Iran is Targeting Military Sites and Suspected Plot at RAF Fairford is 'Not Unique’

Director General of MI5 Ken McCallum speaks at Thames House, the headquarters of the UK's Security Service in London, Tuesday Oct. 13, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP, Pool)
Director General of MI5 Ken McCallum speaks at Thames House, the headquarters of the UK's Security Service in London, Tuesday Oct. 13, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP, Pool)
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MI5 Chief Says Iran is Targeting Military Sites and Suspected Plot at RAF Fairford is 'Not Unique’

Director General of MI5 Ken McCallum speaks at Thames House, the headquarters of the UK's Security Service in London, Tuesday Oct. 13, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP, Pool)
Director General of MI5 Ken McCallum speaks at Thames House, the headquarters of the UK's Security Service in London, Tuesday Oct. 13, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP, Pool)

Iran is trying to hit military sites in the UK and the suspected plot to attack a US-run military air base in September is “not unique," the head of Britain's MI5 spy agency said Tuesday.

Ken McCallum, who leads the UK’s domestic security service, said Tehran is seeking to intensify its attacks in Britain beyond the traditional targets of Iranians opposed to the country's Islamic authorities.

That has included arson and sabotage attacks on Jewish sites that Britain says were carried out by Iranian proxies.

McCallum said another “major shift this year has been Iranian ambitions to come at harder targets, like military sites.”

The incident at RAF Fairford “is not unique. There have been other examples, not just in the UK but around the world,” McCallum said.

McCallum delivered a speech outlining major threats to the UK as detectives investigate a suspected terror plot against the US-run base in western England, which has been used to bomb Iran during this year’s war.

Scores of residents were evacuated from their homes near the base on Sept. 27 as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area. Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant — gasoline — in three vans at the site, but no explosives, The AP news reported.

British authorities have linked Tehran to the incident, which led the US to pull its bombers from RAF Fairford. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday that the apparent plot was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Seven men in their 20s have been arrested and released on bail under investigation.

Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

MI5 says AI could bring bioweapon risk In a stark speech, McCallum argued that the UK faces a “new era of national security” and is at a turning point equivalent to the 9/11 attacks a quarter century ago.

He said his agency’s work countering state threats – chiefly from Russia, Iran and China – has quadrupled in the past decade, and claimed that both Russia and Iran are expanding their hybrid warfare campaigns against the UK.

Meanwhile, technology is racing ahead, with artificial intelligence “supercharging” the cybersecurity battle between attackers and defenders, he said.

McCallum said terror plotters have used artificial intelligence for reconnaissance and attacks, including AI-enabled drones. Even more concerning, he said, is “AI’s potential to change the stakes on existing or even new bioweapons.”

He said terror groups “would dearly love” to have chemical, biological or radiological weapons, but these are hard to obtain.

“One risk is that AI could enable dangerous knowledge to get into the hands of people we would all rather didn’t have that knowledge,” he said. “A second and different risk ... is the possibility that AI could generate novel pathogens not previously seen.”

McCallum said MI5 has set up a new AI Threat Assessment Center to try to keep ahead of the risks.

“Human history has given us no experience of facing an actor which is smarter than we are. It is capable of outthinking us. This is genuinely novel, and deserves the serious attention it is getting, including in MI5,” he said.