Trump issues another deadline to Iran; Strikes on universities, petrochemical plants; Israel strikes WHO vehicle in Gaza

Trump issues another deadline to Iran; Strikes on universities, petrochemical plants; Israel strikes WHO vehicle in Gaza Drop Site Daily: April 6, 2026 U.S. and Israel continue to bombard Iran, striking residences, engineering university, petrochemical plants, and nuclear power plant. Iran responds with attacks on Israel and the Gulf. Israel assassinates Iranian military officials. U.S. reports rescue of downed F-15E crew members. Verified footage shows missiles fired from Kuwaiti territory into Iran. Trump threatens to “blow up” all of Iran. Mediators scrambling for ceasefire ahead of Trump ultimatum. Trump admits U.S. attempted to arm Iranian protesters. Araghchi conducts diplomatic blitz. Israeli assault on Lebanon continues, 36 killed over 24 hours. Israeli forces systematically demolish homes in southern Lebanon. Israel kills 10 in Gaza in weekend attacks. Israel attacks WHO vehicle, Rafah travel suspended. Video shows Israeli soldiers beating unarmed Palestinian in West Bank refugee camp. Rat bites surge among Gaza children. Democrats in Congress open space for Trump deal to end war. Mass surveillance fight in Congress pits reformer Jamie Raskin against Dem Rep. Jim Himes and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Mary Peltola surges in Alaska with populist message. Maine Gov. Mills skips tribal forum and Senate debate as Platner leads in polling. Anil Ambani sought White House access through Jeffrey Epstein, NYT reports. DRC agrees to accept U.S. third-country deportees. Drone strike ignites fire at foreign oil facility in Basra. Floods, landslides and lightning kill 77 across Afghanistan. Syrian Alawite women and girls are being abducted and brutalized, the NYT finds. Nepalese government cuts the work week short. Kidnappings and raids in northwestern Nigeria. Seven protesters arrested at UK air base used by the U.S. Ukraine escalates strikes on Russian ports and energy infrastructure. Over 70 people feared dead in Mediterranean after migrant boat capsizes. NEW from Drop Site: Iran Rejects Temporary Ceasefire, Says It Has Already Laid Out Terms for Agreement: A senior Iranian official who spoke to Drop Site said that they had rejected a proposal mediated by Pakistan for a temporary ceasefire with the U.S. and Israel, instead laying out their proposal for a permanent end to the war. Read the full story from Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, and Jawa Ahmad. Plus: Iran war threatens Gulf financing that underpins A.I. boom and Paramount-Warner merger. Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. Join the channel here. This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. War on Iran U.S. and Israel continue to bombard Iran: The U.S. and Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes on Iran overnight and early Monday morning, killing at least 34 people, according to Al Jazeera. In Tehran province, at least 23 people were killed, including six children. Five were killed in a residential neighborhood in the city of Qom, and six were killed in the port city of Bandar-e Lengeh. U.S.-Israeli airstrikes hit Sharif University of Technology, Iran’s top engineering school, in Tehran on Monday. Tasnim News Agency reported damage to the campus mosque including shattered windows and collapsed ceilings, while a nearby gas distribution site was also struck, triggering outages across the Sharif area and District 9. Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari, denounced the attack in a post on X, writing: “Sharif University is Iran’s MIT. They’ve produced a huge number of engineers who’ve gone on to Silicon Valley and founded some of the most successful American tech companies. Why are we bombing a university in a city of 10 million people?” U.S.-Israeli forces struck the Mahshahr petrochemical zone in Khuzestan province Saturday, hitting multiple facilities inside Iran’s largest petrochemical complex, according to Reuters and Iranian media. Local officials said explosions struck at least three companies within the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone, while Iran’s Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex—part of the same industrial cluster—also sustained damage. At least five people were wounded, with officials warning the casualty toll may rise. People in Mahshahr reportedly are struggling to breathe due to the chemical pollution caused by the US and Israeli bombardment of the nearby petrochemical factories. Israel attacked Iran’s petrochemical plant in South Pars on Monday, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, which reported that plants in Asaluyeh, including Jam and Damavand, were targeted, while the companies Mobin and Damavand, which supply electricity, water, and oxygen to the Assaluyeh petrochemical plants, were also hit. Pars Petrochemical was not damaged. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, “The IDF has just powerfully struck the largest petrochemical facility in Iran, located in Asaluyeh, a central target responsible for about 50% of the country’s petrochemical production, following last week’s strike on the second main facility. As a result, both facilities, which together account for 85% of Iran’s petrochemical production, are now out of operation. This represents a multi-billion dollar economic blow to the Iranian regime.” A U.S.-Israeli strike hit the area near Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Saturday at approximately 8:30 a.m. local time, killing one security guard, according to Iranian reports. The attack marks the fourth strike on the facility since the start of the war. Israeli forces struck the Alborz foothills north of Tehran just before midnight Friday, with Iranian media reporting massive explosions and the activation of air defenses in the capital. U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Abolfazl Dehnavi, a 20-year-old Iranian Red Crescent Society volunteer, on Saturday in Isfahan province while he was carrying out humanitarian work, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Dehnavi is the fourth Red Crescent volunteer killed since the war began on February 28. Israel assassinates Iranian military officials: The head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Tehran on Monday, according to state media. Israel claimed the killing, with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz saying, “Iran’s leaders live with a sense of being targeted. We will continue to hunt them down one by one.” An Israeli military spokesperson also said on Monday that Israel killed the leader of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s undercover unit in its expeditionary Quds Force Asghar Bakeri. Iran has not confirmed Bakeri’s killing yet. U.S. reports recovery of downed F-15 crew members but loses multiple aircraft in rescue operation: Both crew members of the U.S. F-15E shot down over Iran have reportedly been recovered alive, following a 36-hour search-and-rescue operation conducted inside Iranian territory. The operation appears to have cost multiple American aircraft, according to U.S. and Iranian accounts. The second recovered airman—who had not been identified—reportedly evaded Iranian forces in mountainous terrain before extraction. According to the U.S. account, two MC-130J Commando II special operations transport aircraft landed at a makeshift airstrip during the rescue but could not take off again. U.S. forces evacuated all personnel and deliberately destroyed the aircraft on the ground to prevent capture. Iranian military-linked sources, however, claimed Iranian forces destroyed two C-130/MC-130 transports, two Black Hawk helicopters, an MQ-9 Reaper drone, and a Hermes 900 drone in combat. Fars News Agency reported nine Iranians killed and seven wounded in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province during the overnight operation. Iran’s foreign ministry also claimed the U.S. operation may have been a cover to “steal enriched uranium” from Iran. “The area where the American pilot was claimed to be present in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province is a long way from the area where they attempted to land or wanted to land their forces in central Iran,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said, according to Al Jazeera. “The possibility that this was a deception operation to steal enriched uranium should not be ignored at all.” Verified footage shows missiles fired from Kuwaiti territory into Iran: Videos verified by France 24 show missiles being launched from Kuwaiti territory into Iran, directly contradicting Kuwait’s official position that it has not allowed its land to be used for attacks. At least 13 missiles were filmed firing on March 24 from near Abdali in northern Kuwait, with a second barrage recorded March 31 through April 1 from the same area. Weapons experts said the launches are consistent with U.S.-made Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets fired from HIMARS platforms, which the Kuwaiti military does not operate but U.S. forces do. Iran responds with attacks on Israel and the Gulf: Four people were killed in an Iranian missile strike on a residential building in Haifa on Sunday, according to the Israeli military. Other residential buildings in Haifa were hit over the weekend as well as a factory in the city. Iran launched at least five salvos targeting military and industrial infrastructure across Israel on Sunday, with one missile directly striking the Ne’ot Hovav Industrial Zone. Al Jazeera reported sirens and explosions across northern Israel including the Galilee, with fragments falling in areas including Petah Tikva. Drone strikes hit multiple government and energy sites across Kuwait City Saturday, according to state news agency KUNA. The Ministries Complex sustained “significant material damage” after a drone strike, with the Finance Ministry reporting no injuries and ordering staff to work remotely while barring visitors. A separate attack on the Shuwaikh Oil Sector Complex near Kuwait City sparked a fire that emergency crews quickly contained. A Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity spokesperson Fatima Hayat also announced on Saturday that two power generation units were out of service after drones struck power and water desalination plants. Iran struck Bahrain’s Bapco Energies refinery complex Saturday, with witnesses and early reports describing a drone or missile hitting the Sitra/Ma’ameer industrial area and producing visible flames and thick smoke near the facility. No details on injuries or damage have been reported. A drone strike damaged a state-funded telecommunications building in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, according to the state-run WAM news agency. Meanwhile, Emirati authorities confirmed on Saturday an Iranian attack on the Oracle building in Dubai, stating that the building’s facade was damaged by debris following an interception. UAE authorities said on Sunday that fires broke out at the Borouge petrochemical plant after debris from intercepted aerial threats struck the facility, forcing a shutdown of operations, with no injuries reported. Trump threatens to “blow up” all of Iran: President Donald Trump issued an expletive-laden threat Sunday on social media, writing: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” Trump also reportedly told ABC that the conflict may end in “days, not weeks,” but threatened that if no deal is reached, the U.S. could escalate dramatically with “very little” off limits. “If it happens, it happens… if it doesn’t, we’re blowing up the whole country.” Iran rejects ceasefire proposal, mediators scrambling ahead of Trump ultimatum: Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators have sent Iran and the U.S. a proposal calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the AP. Officials said the proposal was sent late Sunday night to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. A senior Iranian official who spoke to Drop Site said that they had rejected a proposal mediated by Pakistan for a temporary ceasefire with the U.S. and Israel, instead laying out their proposal for a permanent end to the war. Read the full story from Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, and Jawa Ahmad. A senior Iranian official also confirmed to Reuters that Iran won’t reopen the strait of Hormuz in exchange for a “temporary ceasefire,” adding that Tehran would not be pressured into accepting deadlines and making a decision. Araghchi conducts diplomatic blitz: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has held calls with his counterparts in Turkey, Austria, Pakistan, Egypt, Russia, India, and France since Friday evening, in an intensive diplomatic push to build international pressure against U.S.-Israeli military operations. Across the calls, Araghchi described strikes on infrastructure, energy sites, residential areas, and nuclear facilities as “unprecedented war crimes,” called on the United Nations and international bodies to hold Washington and Tel Aviv accountable, and stressed Iran’s determination to defend its sovereignty. Trump admits U.S. attempted to arm Iranian protesters: President Donald Trump admitted on Sunday that the United States attempted to send weapons to anti-government protesters in Iran earlier this year, disclosing the covert effort in a phone interview with Fox News anchor Trey Yingst. Trump claimed “a lot of guns” were sent “through the Kurds” but said he believes the weapons never reached demonstrators, suggesting Kurdish intermediaries “kept them.” Oman and Iran hold talks on Hormuz transit: Oman and Iran held talks on Saturday to discuss options for ensuring smooth transit through the Strait of Hormuz, the Omani Foreign Ministry announced. The meeting follows an Iranian official’s statement Thursday that Tehran was drafting a formal monitoring protocol with Oman for strait traffic. Separately, tracking data monitored by Lloyd’s List showed three Omani vessels—two large oil supertankers and one liquefied natural gas carrier—transiting the strait Sunday, outside Iran’s approved corridor near Larak Island, sailing unusually close to the Omani coastline. On Sunday, Iran officially declared Iraq exempt from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, and a Portuguese-flagged tanker carrying one million barrels of Iraqi Basra heavy crude crossed the Strait of Hormuz Sunday, becoming the first Iraqi oil shipment to transit the waterway since the war began February 28. U.S. arrests supposed relatives of slain Iranian general Soleimani: The State Department announced Saturday that Hamideh Soleimani Afshar—allegedly the niece of the late Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander General Qasem Soleimani—and her daughter were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and were set to be removed from the country. Qasem Soleimani’s daughter, however, denies that the two individuals arrested in the U.S. are related to the family. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the lawful permanent resident status of both women, describing Soleimani Afshar as “an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran.” Gen. Soleimani, Iran’s most powerful military commander, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020. U.S. missile inventory: The United States has committed nearly its entire inventory of JASSM-ER cruise missiles to the Iran campaign, according to Bloomberg. An order issued at the end of March redirected weapons from Pacific and continental U.S. stockpiles to Central Command bases and RAF Fairford in the UK, leaving only approximately 425 of a prewar inventory of 2,300 available for the rest of the world. U.S. operations consumed more than 1,000 JASSM-ERs in the first four weeks of the war alone. Combined with shorter-range JASSM variants, roughly two-thirds of total U.S. cruise missile stockpiles have been committed to the war on Iran. Gulf funds are reconsidering American investments, including Paramount-Warner merger: Gulf sovereign wealth funds are reportedly reviewing their American investments as the Iran war continues to strain the region’s finances, Ryan Grim reports in his latest. One particular deal, $111 billion Paramount Skydance–Warner Brothers Discovery merger, is imperiled by this development, as $24 billion of that total came from the Gulf. The Qatar Investment Authority is set to reconvene within the week to reassess its role in the merger, with industry sources saying widespread divestment on the part of the Gulf is now a mathematical inevitability if the war continues. For more on the economic fallout from the war in Iran – particularly its threat to the artificial intelligence industry. Read the latest from Ryan Grim for Drop Site, here. Lebanon Casualty count: The death toll from Israel’s assault on Lebanon has risen to at least 1,497, including 129 children—with 4,639 wounded—since March 2, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. At least 36 people were killed and 209 injured as a result of Israeli attacks in Lebanon over the past 24 hours. Israeli strikes kill seven on Monday: Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least seven people and injured several others on Monday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. A missile strike on a vehicle at the Kafr Rumman roundabout in the Nabatieh district killed four. An attack on the town of Siddiqine killed one and injured another. In West Bekaa, a strike on Mashghara early today killed two people and injured five, according to preliminary reports. The Israeli army reissued forced displacement orders to residents of southern Lebanon to move north of the Zahrani River and ordered those in southern Beirut neighborhoods—including Haret Hreik, Ghobeiry, Lilaki, Hadath, Burj Al-Barajneh, Tahwitat Al-Ghdeir, and Chiyah—to immediately evacuate. Weekend strikes: Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon and Beirut killed at least 14 people Sunday. An Israeli strike on the Al-Jinah area south of Beirut killed at least four people and wounded 39 others Sunday, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported. The strike was within approximately 100 meters of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the country’s largest public medical facility. An Israeli airstrike on Sunday night directly targeted a medical crew in the town of Haris, in the Bint Jbeil district, killing two medics, according to the state-run National News Agency. Over 50 Lebanese medical workers have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2. Israeli strikes killed 10 others in southern Lebanon on Sunday—including a family of six and a four-year-old girl among seven killed in Kfar Hatta, where Israel had issued a forced evacuation order the previous evening. Israeli strikes killed two girls and wounded 22 others in the southern Lebanese village of Habbush on Saturday, Lebanon’s health ministry reported. An Israeli strike on Saturday near the coastal city of Tyre, approximately 50 miles south of Beirut, damaged a hospital and wounded 18 people, including three paramedics. Israeli attacks killed the mayor of Abba and a municipal police officer in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh Governorate on Sunday. Abba is a majority Shia town of roughly 8,000 to 9,000 residents located north of the Litani River between Nabatieh and Tyre. A Lebanese soldier was killed by an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Sunday, according to the Lebanese military. An Israeli strike on the Ain Saadeh Hills suburb northeast of Beirut killed Pierre Moawad, a local leader of the Lebanese Forces party, and his wife on Sunday. The Christian party is staunchly anti-Hezbollah and has a history of collaboration with Israel. According to sources cited by L’Orient-Le Jour, the intended target may have been on the floor above the Moawad family. Israeli forces systematically demolish homes in southern Lebanon: Israel demolished homes in the southern Lebanese border towns of Naqoura and Taybeh on Sunday in large, controlled explosions. Naqoura, a coastal town sitting directly on the border with Israel along the Blue Line—an unofficial border drawn up by the UN between Lebanon and Israel—hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and was known before the war as a vacation destination. Most of its roughly 4,000 residents have been displaced. Israel threatens to strike Lebanon’s main border crossing with Syria: Israel announced Saturday that it intends to bomb the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria “in the near future,” claiming Hezbollah is using the passage for military purposes. The threat carries severe humanitarian implications—Masnaa is one of Lebanon’s primary land crossings with Syria and is used by thousands of travelers and commercial vehicles daily. Hezbollah claims success against major targets: Hezbollah claimed on Sunday that it had struck an Israeli warship 68 nautical miles off the Lebanese coast using an anti-ship cruise missile, with Israeli Channel 14 reporting that Israeli officials believe the warship hit may have been a British vessel, not an Israeli one. British defense officials denied that any of their warships were struck, according to the Telegraph. Hezbollah also released footage Saturday showing the targeting of two Israeli Merkava tanks in Wadi al-Ayun, southern Lebanon, near the Israeli border. Genocide in Gaza, West Bank, and Israel Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, seven Palestinians were killed and 17 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,302 killed, with 172,090 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 723 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,990, while 759 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. One Palestinian man was killed in a building collapse, raising the death toll from structural collapse to 29. Israel kills 10 over the weekend: An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinians and wounded others on Jaffa Street near the Darraj neighborhood in Gaza City on Sunday, local health authorities said. In another attack on Sunday, a child was shot in the head in Mawasi Rafah in southern Gaza. A strike on Saturday killed four people in Gaza City. One Palestinian was killed in a separate strike east of Gaza. At least six Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire in tent camps in Rafah and Khan Younis. Rat bites surge among Gaza’s children: Medical workers in Gaza are reporting a surge in rat bites on children’s bodies and faces as Israel’s ongoing blockade denies displaced families proper shelter, with overcrowding and collapsing sanitation infrastructure leaving children especially vulnerable. Al Jazeera’s video report is available here. Israel attacks WHO vehicle, Rafah travel suspended: The Israeli military opened fire on a World Health Organization (WHO) vehicle transporting several WHO staff members in Khan Younis on Monday in an area designated as a “green zone,” according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The driver of the vehicle was killed in the attack, which the Health Ministry blasted as “undermining the work of humanitarian organizations and imposing further restrictions on their operations.” As a result, the WHO informed the Palestinian Red Crescent it had temporarily suspended medical evacuations of Palestinian patients and of returnees to Gaza through the Rafah crossing, according to the WAFA news agency. Video shows Israeli soldiers beating unarmed Palestinian in West Bank refugee camp: Israeli soldiers were filmed assaulting an unarmed Palestinian man with his hands raised in the occupied West Bank refugee camp of Qalandia on Sunday, with multiple soldiers taking turns beating him before dragging him off camera. U.S. News By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com. Democrats in Congress open space for Trump deal to end war: Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Ro Khanna, both appearing on “Meet The Press” on Sunday, were pressed on whether they’d support a deal to end the war with Iran still in control of the Strait of Hormuz. The question itself is embedded in the American media’s propensity to push politicians in a relentlessly more hawkish direction, but both Khanna and Kaine pushed back, saying that the most important thing to do now is end the war. Mass surveillance fight in Congress pits reformer Jamie Raskin against Dem Rep. Jim Himes and House Speaker Mike Johnson: Reauthorization of what’s known as Section 702 is likely coming to a floor vote next week in the House, with the focus of the battle on whether to allow the Trump administration to use data brokers to evade the Fourth Amendment, hoover up personal information, and feed it into government-controlled AI programs. Himes has been attacking his fellow Democrat Raskin, who has argued against giving the Trump administration these powers. “Jamie’s argument…is the reason we’re splitting right now,” he said recently. “Day in and day out, I see what this authority is doing to keep people safe … whereas Jamie lives in a domestic world where he has Pam Bondi publicly humiliating him.” A left-right coalition is forming to block the FISA legislation. As the American Prospect reported, the CPC has committed its members to voting against reauthorization, and a lack of trust in Trump has led more to join. “There’s a lot of people who are going to switch from yes two years ago to no today,” Himes told The Hill. “Because even though Donald Trump’s been president for five years, and he has never abused the program—I would know it pretty much in real time if he did—even though that’s true, people don’t trust Donald Trump.” The Trump administration, however, has gutted the inspectors general and other internal police who would spot Trump abusing the program. Mary Peltola surges in Alaska with populist message: Democrats looking to flip the Senate are increasingly eyeing Alaska as a major pickup opportunity, with polls showing former Rep. Peltola, who half-jokingly has run as “pro-fish,” consistently ahead of incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. What’s new this time, reports Alaska’s NPR station, is that Peltola is leaning hard into the kind of populist messaging that is working for candidates like Maine’s Graham Platner or independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska. “The former Alaska congresswoman is talking about more than fish, family and freedom as she runs for U.S. Senate,” Alaska Public Media reported. “Many of her posts are about ‘crooked politicians feathering their own nests,’ and an elite class that’s ‘rigging the system’ against regular people.” U.S. academics suspended or dismissed over opposition to Iran war: At least three American academics have been suspended or dismissed in the past month after voicing opposition to the U.S.-Israeli actions in the Middle East, the Guardian reported. Shirin Saeidi was formally dismissed from the University of Arkansas following social media posts supporting Palestine and praising Iranian leadership, as well as allegations she used university letterhead to advocate for the release of an Iranian official convicted in Sweden. Idris Robinson, a philosophy professor at Texas State University, filed a lawsuit after his contract was terminated following an off-campus talk on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Aria Fani was removed as director of the Middle East Center at the University of Washington after sending emails via the center’s listserv criticizing Israel and U.S. policy, though he retains his faculty position. Maine Gov. Janet Mills skips tribal forum and Senate debate as Platner leads in polling: Mills cited “scheduling conflicts” for backing out of the April 11 U.S. Senate primary debate with challenger Graham Platner as well as an April 16 forum hosted by the Penobscot Nation. Also: Platner called on Sunday for an end to U.S. military assistance to Israel, saying “not a single taxpayer dollar should be spent on arming and defending a country that commits a genocide.” “This is a nation that right now is exterminating people,” he added, saying it would be “very difficult” for him to view Israel as a close partner of the United States ever again. A recent Emerson College poll shows Platner leading Mills 55% to 28%. Anil Ambani sought White House access through Jeffrey Epstein, NYT reports: Indian billionaire Anil Ambani turned to Jeffrey Epstein in 2017 to navigate U.S.-India defense and diplomatic relations, the New York Times reported, citing hundreds of newly released Epstein-related communications. Epstein reportedly provided Ambani with advance intelligence on White House appointments—including correctly predicting John Bolton would replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser—in exchange for access to Modi’s government. Epstein also advised Ambani that India purchasing more Israeli weapons would improve its standing with the Trump White House, a suggestion that preceded Modi’s historic first visit to Israel and a roughly $2 billion Indian weapons purchase that year. Drop Site’s reporting on the Epstein-Ambani connection, which we published in January, is available here. Other International News DRC agrees to accept U.S. third-country deportees: The Democratic Republic of the Congo announced it will begin receiving migrants deported from the United States this month. The Congolese government described the new arrangement with the Trump administration as “temporary” and reflective of Congo’s “commitment to human dignity and international solidarity.” The U.S. will reportedly cover costs of deportation, though no number of expected arrivals has not been specified. The Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport approximately 300 migrants to third countries since February 2025, according to Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Drone strike ignites fire at foreign oil facility in Basra: A drone attack triggered a fire Saturday at a storage facility belonging to foreign oil companies in Basra, Iraq’s principal southern oil hub, according to security sources who spoke to Reuters. No casualties were reported and the company was not identified. Floods, landslides, and lightning kill 77 across Afghanistan: Widespread flooding, landslides, and lightning strikes triggered by heavy rain and storms have killed 77 people and injured 137 across Afghanistan over the past 10 days, the country’s Disaster Management Authority reported. Almost 800 homes have been completely destroyed and thousands more damaged. Critical routes, including the main artery linking the capital to the Pakistani border, and one connecting Kabul to northern cities including Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif, have been blocked by the storms. More rain is forecast in the coming days. Syrian Alawite women and girls abducted and brutalized: NYT: Abductions of women and girls from Syria’s Alawite minority are far more widespread and brutal than authorities have acknowledged, according to a New York Times investigation. While the government officially recognized only one verified case, the Times confirmed the kidnappings of 13 Alawite women and girls and received reports of many more. Survivors described being seized in broad daylight, held in filthy conditions, beaten, and subjected to sexual violence; five of the victims had reportedly been raped and two returned home pregnant. One family paid a $17,000 ransom for a relative who was never released. Read the full report here. Nepalese government cuts the work week short: The government of Nepal announced Sunday it would shorten the working week for government offices and educational institutions from six days to five, adding Saturday as a day off to cope with an energy crisis triggered by the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. Nepal has no domestic fossil fuel supplies and relies almost entirely on India for its energy, leaving it acutely exposed to the global price shock. Kidnappings and raids in northwestern Nigeria: Armed bandits abducted more than 150 people—mostly women and children—from Zamfara state’s Bukkuyum area last Thursday, in one of northwest Nigeria’s largest recent mass kidnappings, according to Reuters. The gunmen opened fire on vehicles and homes before sweeping through the communities, forcing residents to flee. A local councilman said those abducted were taken toward surrounding forest areas. In the neighboring Kaduna state, Nigeria’s army rescued 31 civilians taken hostage during an attack on a church during its Easter service, with five people found dead at the scene. The head of a local Christian organization said that two churches were attacked in the village and that seven people were killed, with an undetermined number taken hostage. Seven protesters arrested at UK air base used by the U.S.: British police arrested seven people Sunday at a peace encampment outside RAF Lakenheath on suspicion of supporting the group Palestine Action. The United Kingdom has authorized the U.S. to use British military bases for “defensive” operations against Iran and to protect the Strait of Hormuz. The five men and two women were arrested wearing clothing bearing the message “We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action,” according to the organizers. The Starmer government’s designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization last year was ruled “disproportionate” in February, though it remains in effect pending a government appeal. More than 2,700 people have been arrested over rallies in support of the group. Ukraine escalates strikes on Russian ports and energy infrastructure: Ukrainian drone attacks struck Russia’s Baltic Sea oil export terminal at Primorsk and set fire to the NORSI oil refinery in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday. Russia’s military reported intercepting 148 Ukrainian drones over a three-hour window. Debris from the assault struck a high-rise apartment building in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, injuring at least eight people including children, while a civil defense volunteer was killed in a separate drone strike in the border region of Belgorod. Vladimir Saldo, the Russia-installed leader of occupied Kherson, also announced on Sunday that a Ukrainian drone sunk a wheat cargo ship in the Sea of Azov on Friday, killing one crew member and leaving two others missing. Over 70 people feared dead in Mediterranean after migrant boat capsizes: A boat carrying migrants that departed from Libya on Saturday capsized in the central Mediterranean sea, according to Reuters. Thirty-two people were rescued from the boat by two commercial vessels. Two bodies were recovered and the rest are missing. The International Organization for Migration estimates at least 683 people have died in the central Mediterranean this year, one of the highest death tolls since 2014. UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances refers Mexico case to General Assembly: The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances requested the General Assembly to urgently consider Mexico’s situation, finding well-founded indications that enforced disappearances there have been crimes against humanity. The Mexican government protested the move, charging that the Committee is stretching its own definition of enforced disappearances and that the Convention’s procedure for widespread state‑committed disappearances with uncooperative authorities does not match current conditions in Mexico. More from Drop Site Drop Site’s Capitol Hill correspondent Julian Andreone joined Don Lemon on “Lemon LIVE at 5” on Friday to discuss the firing of Pam Bondi, rumors about further Cabinet dismissals, the domestic political implications of the war on Iran, and more. Watch his full appearance here. Brace Belden of TrueAnon joined Drop Site’s Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky on Breaking Points to discuss his recent trip to Cuba — including a heartbreaking encounter with Carlos, a young boy with cystic fibrosis whose medical care has been made nearly impossible by the U.S. blockade. Listen here. Drop Site’s Latin America Desk Head José Luis Granados Ceja recently joined the Katie Halper Show alongside Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson to discuss U.S. policy toward Cuba, watch here. If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: "The Democratic Republic of the Congo announced it will begin receiving migrants deported from the United States this month." The whole idea of deportation is returning someone to their country of origin. DRC would seem not to fit that description for these people. At the very least, will they be given the Yellow Fever shot before going, or does the US want them to die of disease to open more spaces? Iran's yearly military budget is less than $10 Billion. https://www.defensebudget.org/en/country/iran We are spending $2Billion a day. $70Billion so far, but I would guess more. Trump is so angry that he can't WIN (although claiming we won "in the first hour") and many claims of "winning" since - especially after losing several expensive aircraft to a country that has "no air defense" - that he is lashing out at bridges and other civilian infrastructure. Will bombing schools and hospitals turn the tide ? Never.