In his infamous guide to ruling, Niccolò Machiavelli also offers a warning to ambitious advisers: Power belongs to the prince. Those who attempt to channel that power for their own purposes may not be able to control the outcome — and won't last long in court. During President Donald Trump's first term, numerous foreign policy aides learned this lesson the hard way, including George W. Bush-era neoconservative holdovers who sought to channel the mercurial president's instincts into a more familiar orthodoxy. They could not. Trump jettisoned adviser after adviser, and by the end of 2020 we still didn't have a clear MAGA foreign policy vision — aside from a consistent opposition to the post-World War II consensus.

President Trump's regime-change war in Iran is already remaking the Middle East — and will have global ramifications whose scale and severity we can barely comprehend in these early hours. The Iran war also marks a similarly consequential turn at the level of ideas inside the Trump administration and the American Right more broadly: seemingly against all odds, it is the neoconservative hawks who have emerged as the winners of the Trump era, with the Trumpian intellectuals left holding the bag.

There is so much to say as an Iranian American who has devoted my entire career to the promise of a moment like this. And, now, it is finally here. Watching Iranians pour into the streets waving the lion and sun flag, singing old freedom songs and crying tears of disbelief feels surreal. These are people who have literally buried their children for a chance at freedom. Their joy is over a day they never thought they'd experience after 47 years of suffocation. It is hard to fathom a people so desperate for justice, so hungry for liberty, that they are cheering military strikes on their own soil as the price of liberation. They know the cost of freedom better than anyone.

The US has suffered 200 casualties in Iranian retaliatory strikes on bases across the Middle East, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed. Backed by the US, Israel launched what was described as a preemptive operation against Iranian military and nuclear-related targets in the early hours of Saturday, claiming the strikes were aimed at neutralizing threats posed by the Islamic Republic in the region.

As questions hang over who will ultimately succeed Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an interim leader has been appointed to fulfill his duties. Top Shia cleric Alireza Arafi has been named to the interim Leadership Council after Supreme Leader Khamenei was confirmed killed in US-Israeli strikes, state media reported Sunday. The ISNA news agency has described that Arafi, a member of the Guardian Council, is joining President Masoud Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei on the body tasked with carrying out the supreme leader's responsibilities until the Assembly of Experts appoints a permanent successor. All of this happening as US-Israeli bombs continue to fall on Tehran and other sites for a second straight day, 'uninterrupted' - as President Trump pledged Saturday.

Three U.S. service members were killed in action and five more seriously wounded as part of the American and Israeli strikes on Iran, U.S. Central Command announced Sunday morning. The big picture: The casualties are the first confirmed American combat deaths since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran Saturday. The confirmation comes as Iran retaliates with ballistic missiles and drones against U.S. bases and allies across the Middle East.

A larger number of Georgia voters support stricter voter registration requirements and voter ID at polling places, two of the policy proposals contained in the SAVE America Act. The results from the Georgia survey show the popularity of the measure, even though most Democrats—including Georgia's two senators—oppose it. Nearly 70% of Georgians said voters should be required to prove their U.S. citizenship to vote. The poll also found that 82% believe legal voters should not be diluted by ballots cast by people who are not eligible, and 79% said this voter registration standard should apply to all states.

A heated U.S. Senate race in Texas entered its final stretch on Sunday with candidates on both sides of the aisle making final pitches to voters ahead of Tuesday's primary, the nation's first big contest of the 2026 midterm elections.

Polling released Friday reveals that more Americans say they sympathize with Palestinians than they do with Israelis, a new statistic coming several months after Israel and Hamas struck a deal to pause their devastating war in the Gaza Strip. Gallup found that 41 percent of Americans said they sympathize with the Palestinians compared with the 36 percent who said they sympathize with the Israelis. The polling firm noted that although this difference is not statistically significant, it contrasts with the lead Israelis have had in similar polls over the past 24 years.

At least three people have died and 14 have been hospitalized following an overnight shooting in Austin, Texas. Austin Police Department said in an early-morning statement on Sunday that officers were responding to a shooting in the 600 block of Rio Grande Street close to Downtown and that the suspect was deceased.

Brent crude jumped 10% to about $80 a barrel over the counter on Sunday, oil traders said, while analysts predicted that prices could climb as high as $100 after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran plunged the Middle East into a new war. The global oil benchmark has rallied this year and reached $73 a barrel on Friday for its highest since July, buoyed by growing concern over the potential attacks that arrived a day later. Futures trading is closed over the weekend.

With Iran's leadership reeling from attacks from American and Israeli troops, Reza Pahlavi is arguing that he is best positioned to take over the country in the aftermath of war. Pahlavi, the oldest son of Iran's last shah, is a longtime political activist living in exile in the U.S. On Sunday, he told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo that he has the support and mandate necessary to helm a transitional government in Iran, after the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.