GEAR MAG

Vice PresidentJD Vancehas largely opposed U.S. intervention abroad, but after President Donald Trump decided tostrike Iran, Vance now faces a conflict between his past comments and his role in the administration, forcing him to navigate thegrowing political divideand its possible impact on his potential future political ambitions.

In an op-ed Vance wrote in 2023, while he was still in the Senate, before Trump selected him as his running mate, he argued that leaders in both parties supported costly and unsuccessful interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.

Iran live updates

In the article, titled "Trump's Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars," Vance describes then-candidate Trump as the first significant break from that interventionist consensus. It argued that Trump started no wars in his first term, despite pressure to do so, and that was part of the reason Vance supported him in his 2024 presidential run.

Asked by talk show host Tim Dillon during the 2024 campaign how a Trump administration would handle a war in the Middle East, Vance said going to war with Iran would not be in the interest of the U.S. and that it would be "massively expensive."

"Well, I mean, a couple of principles, right? So, obviously, you know, Israel has the right to defend itself, but America's interest is sometimes going to be distinct, like sometimes we're gonna have overlapping interests, and sometimes we're gonna have distinct interests. And our interests, I think very much, is in not going to war with Iran, right? It would be huge distraction of resources. It would be massively expensive to our country," Vance said at the time.

But speaking with reporters in Azerbaijan last month on the subject of Iran, prior to recentU.S. strikes on Iranthat killed several Iranian leaders,including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, Vance said that Trump was working toward a deal to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon, and if that did not work out, there were other options.

As vice president, Vance has been steadfast in supporting the administration's foreign policy agenda. During the administration'sfirst strikes on Iranin June, Vance was in the White House Situation Room with Trump and other top administration officials. During the military operation in which the U.S.captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Vance joined the president in Florida and was on the secure video conference monitoring the operation through the night.

"The president's told his entire senior team that we should be trying to cut a deal that ensures the Iranians don't have a nuclear weapon. But if we can't cut that deal, then there's another option on the table. So, I think the president's going to continue to preserve his options," Vance said in February.

Vancespoke to ABC News' Jonathan Karlthe day after the United States' June strikes on Iran, defending the administration's action. But when asked if he could definitively say that Iran's nuclear program had been destroyed, Vance said that the U.S. had set Iran's nuclear program back "substantially." In his address to the nation, Trump said that the strikes "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities.

Trump's Iran decision sparks backlash from Tucker Carlson and some MAGA supporters

Vance told ABC News at the time that Trump was not interested in a drawn-out conflict in the Middle East. He made similar comments prior to Saturday's attack, tellingThe Washington Postthat there was "no chance" of a drawn-out war in Iran if the U.S. moved forward with the strikes.

Vance reiterated that same sentiment inan interview with Fox Newson Monday night, but also added that the operation against Iran "could go for a lot longer."

"There's just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective. What is different about President Trump, and it's frankly different about both Republicans and Democrats of the past, is that he's not going to let his country go to war unless there's a clearly defined objective," Vance told Fox News.

Advertisement

"He's defined that objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild the nuclear capability. It's pretty clear. It's pretty simple, and I think that means that we're not going to get into the problems that we've had with Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.

Following the U.S. strikes on Iran, Vance did not make any public comments on the military operation for two days. The first time he addressed the strikes publicly was on the Monday night interview with Fox News.

In the lead-up to Saturday's strikes, Vance made his reservations about the strikes known internally, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.

Once it became clear that the decision had been made to move forward, Vance shifted his focus to limiting casualties and pushed to move quickly on a strike out of fear that the plans could leak if the administration waited longer to engage, possibly leading Iran to attack U.S. troops in the region, the source also said.

How we got here: Months after Operation Midnight Hammer, the US strikes Iran again

This is not the first time that Vance has expressed concerns internally about possible foreign military intervention by the U.S.

Last year, in the Signal group chat discussing the U.S. attack on Houthis in Yemen that a journalist was inadvertently invited to join,Vance appeared to break with Trumpand questioned whether the president recognized that a unilateral U.S. attack on the Houthis to keep international shipping lanes open was at odds with his tough talk about European nations paying their share of such efforts.

"I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now," Vance wrote in the chat at the time. "There's a further risk that we see a moderate tosevere spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc."

Vance has not yet officially said whether he will run in 2028.

Vice presidential scholar Joel Goldstein told ABC News that if Vance, seen as afront-runner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, were to decide to run for president, the Iran operation would carry its own risks, as the conflict's fallout would be inherited by Vance.

"So, it seems to me that this situation poses a lot of risk for Vance: number one, it raises the question of his level of influence with Trump, given that Trump ends up taking a course that is, you know, widely at odds with the sort of rhetoric that Vance has used throughout his short political career, about foreign interventions and about what Trump would do or should do," Goldstein said.

JD Vance is a soon-to-be dad of 4: What to know about his wife, kids

Goldstein told ABC News that the recent decision by the Trump administration to attack Iran and the several policy shifts and changes Vance has made over the past several years could lead voters to question his positions and values.

"It alienates people who like Vance because they think he's a noninterventionist, and now look at him and say, 'Why is he supporting foreign intervention instead of focusing domestically?' But it also raises the risk that people will think you're simply not credible and will wonder where is his core?"

"Here's a guy who has shifted on a number of things. And you know, that raises the risk that there's no substance there," Goldstein said.

Russia is providing Iran with intelligence about the locations and movements of American troops, ships and aircraft, according to multiple people familiar with US intelligence reporting on the issue, the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved inthe war.

Much of the intelligence Russia has shared with Iran has been imagery from Moscow's sophisticated constellation of overhead satellites, one of the people said. It is not clear what Russia is getting in return for the assistance.

CNN has asked the Kremlin and the Russian embassy in Washington for comment.

It is also not clear whether any single Iranian attack can be linked to Russian targeting intelligence, which wasfirst reportedby the Washington Post. But several Iranian drones have hit locations where US troops have been in recent days. An Iranian drone struck a makeshift facility housing US troops in Kuwait on Sunday, killing six US service members, CNN has reported.

One of the sources briefed on the intelligence said, "This shows Russia still likes Iran very much."

The US also has intelligence suggesting that China may be preparing to provide Iran with financial assistance, spare parts and missile components, three people familiar with the matter said, though Beijing has stayed out of the war up until now. China relies heavily on Iranian oil and hasreportedlybeen pressuring Tehran ⁠to allow safe passage for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

Advertisement

"China is more cautious in its support. It wants the war to end because it endangers their energy supply," one of the sources familiar said.

The CIA declined to comment. CNN has asked the Chinese embassy in Washington for comment on the suggestion China may be preparing to assist Iran.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Wednesday that Russia and China are "not really a factor" in the war with Iran.

Russia and Iran have been cooperating for at least the last three years on missile and drone technology, with Iran providing Russia with Shahed drones and short-range ballistic missiles to target Ukraine and helping to set up a massive drone factory to pump out Iranian-designed drones inside Russia. Iran has in turn sought Russia's help to bolster its nuclear program,CNN has reported.

The US operation against Iran currently involves more than 50,000 troops, more than 200 fighter jets and two aircraft carriers, CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said this week, and administration officials have not said how long the war is expected to last. The US military objective, according to Pentagon officials, is to eliminate Iran's ballistic missile capabilities, which Pete Hegseth said this week Iran was using as a "shield" to develop its nuclear program.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

René López says he still has nightmares about the three years he spentdetained in ICE custody.

"It's an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone," López said in an interview with Noticias Telemundo from his home in Alexandria, Virginia.

About a decade ago, immigration officials argued that the citizenship López obtained as a minor through his naturalized mother was not valid. This put him on a path to deportation because of a previous drug conviction when he was younger.

During those years, López always insisted that he was a U.S. citizen when he was questioned by ICE officers, his lawyers, judges and journalists.

"I came from El Salvador with permanent residency when I was 11 years old, and when my mother became a citizen, I was 16 years old, so I automatically obtained citizenship derived from my mother. That's how it was," he said.

According to the website of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,derivative citizenship refers to the automatic acquisition of U.S. citizenshipby children under 18 years of age through the citizenship status of their parents and, under certain circumstances, by adopted children of U.S. citizens born abroad.

López was detained by ICE officials in January 2023 and was held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia. He was not released until Feb. 13 of this year after the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appealsissued a rulingthat not only stopped his deportation, but also reaffirmed that he's a U.S. citizen.

"The court says in its decision that he has been an American citizen since 1998. That's why they are releasing him," said Benjamin Osorio, López's lawyer.

Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to requests for comment from Noticias Telemundo on López's case.

Why was a U.S. citizen detained by ICE?

López's arrest was the final step in a long process in which he had to fight the courts to try to have his citizenship recognized.

López came to the U.S. as a legal resident after his mom, a legal resident and a single mother, completed the paperwork to bring him from El Salvador in the early 1990s. When he was 16, his mother became a naturalized U.S. citizen and he automatically acquired derivative citizenship underTitle 8, Section 1432 of the U.S. Code,the law in effect at that time.

At age 20, López was convicted of drug offenses (in 2004 and 2005) and served a seven-year prison sentence. During his time in prison, he was visited by officials from DHS, who in 2009 determined that he had obtained U.S. citizenship through his mother.

"They came to see me in 2009 and declared that I was a citizen," López said in aninterview with Noticias Telemundo last year, while he was in custody.

After his release from prison in 2011, López rebuilt his life: He finished high school, learned electrical work, started his own company and spent more than a decade working, married and raising his children without further legal trouble.

However, in 2016, according to court papers and López's attorney, DHS changed its position, deemed him a legal resident but not a citizen and initiated removal proceedings because of his previous drug conviction.

Advertisement

From that time until his eventual immigration detention in 2023, López and his attorneys had been trying to prove he had legitimately acquired U.S. citizenship through his single mother.

The government argued that the Salvadoran constitution had eliminated legal distinctions between children born in or out of wedlock, meaning that deriving citizenship from his mother was not enough.

"He would have had to prove that his father was also naturalized, but apparently his father never had a relationship with him," said Charles Wheeler, a senior attorney with theCatholic Legal Immigration Network.

López said that in 2023, "one day I went to work and about eight immigration agents were waiting for me." The agents told him he wasn't a citizen, that he was still a legal resident with "aggravated felonies," and that he was now deportable.

The ruling that declares him a citizen

Last month, the 4th Circuitissued its decisionconcluding that López met the requirements of the law that governed derivative citizenship before its reform in 2001. The judges analyzed Salvadoran law on parentage and legitimation, as well as López's family history, to determine whether or not his biological father had "established paternity" in the required legal sense.

"They concluded that my father never established paternity and never made me a legitimate son, even though his name appeared on my birth certificate," López explained. Essentially, the court agreed that his mom had been his sole parent and legal guardian, so deriving U.S. citizenship from her alone had been legal.

Immigration attorney Enrique Espinoza recommends that people with parents who are U.S. citizens by naturalization or birth consult with a lawyer and, if possible, obtain formal proof of citizenship — such asthe N-600 certificateor a U.S. passport — before a misunderstanding turns into a crisis.

In fact, Espinoza said it's not uncommon for people to have acquired U.S. citizenship through their parents "and not know it — that really does happen."

'ICE should not detain U.S. citizens'

Following the recent court decision, López's legal team is focusing on obtaining all the necessary citizenship certification and pursuing some form of redress.

"We are going to sue the government. ICE should not detain American citizens," said Osorio, López's attorney. After three years in prison, López lost his business as an electrician.

"He has lost his job. He has lost a lot. We are going to try to recover his money," Osorio said.

"This has cost me dearly; I've lost everything. My family had to endure a very unpleasant experience because of my unjust arrest, even though they knew I was an American citizen," López said.

While his legal team continues working on his case, López says he is trying to return to a normal life and always carries a copy of the 4th Circuit's decision in case a police officer or federal agent arrests him again. His main goal is to rebuild his electrical company and resume working with the contractors who knew him before his arrest.

"I can't get that time back — what's lost is lost," López said. "Now I have to start over. I have many contacts who know that my dedication and honesty at work are 100% guaranteed."

During the long nights while he was detained, López began writing songs about his legal situation and what he saw in the detention centers. He wrote that his family kept him going as he fought the government, and that the "love of my family continues to wait for me."

An earlier version of this story was first published in Noticias Telemundo.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is progressing inhis recovery from the right oblique strain he sufferedin a win over the Miami Heat last Thursday, but he's not back on the court yet and will be re-evaluated again in approximately one week, the team announced Friday,according to PhillyVoice's Adam Aaronson.

Both Embiid and rookie guard VJ Edgecombe, who is dealing with a back injury, didn't participate in Friday's practice, per the Sixers, via Aaronson.

Embiid has already missed three games with his oblique issue. He will miss at least three more based on the timeline the team provided, per Aaronson.

Embiid has appeared in only 33 of the Sixers' 62 games during their 2025-26 campaign. With 29 absences, he'sawards-ineligible this seasonand has been for a while.

The soon-to-be 32-year-old Embiid alsomissed five consecutive games last month with a sore right knee and shin issue.

Advertisement

After playing in just 19 games last season because of lingering left-knee issuesthat ultimately resulted in him going under the knife in April 2025, Embiid found himself sidelined again for a significant stretch early this season, this timedue to a right knee injury.

When the seven-time All-Star center has been on the court this season, he's shown why he's still valuable. He's averaging 26.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He's turned in a dozen 30-plus-point performances, including a 40-piece in a Jan. 31 win against the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Sixers are 21-12 in the games Embiid has played in this season. They are 13-16 without him on the court, currently placing sixth in the Eastern Conference standings at 34-28 overall.

As for Edgecombe, last year's No. 3 overall draft pick, he sustained a lumbar contusion when he fell hard on his lower backafter being fouled from behind on a 3-point attempt in a lopsided defeat to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday.

He was in street clothes for Philadelphia's bounce-back win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. His status is up in the air for Saturday when the Sixers will play the Atlanta Hawks on the road.

Edgecombe is averaging 15.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in his first year out of Baylor. He and Embiid are key pieces of a Sixers squad looking to return to the postseason.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky is still with the Florida Panthers, and the team wants to keep it that way.

Maple Leafs Panthers Hockey

The Panthers didn't trade their two-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender on Friday, despite widespread speculation that they would consider accepting offers for him. Instead, the team pivoted toward trying to get a new deal done with the free-agent-in-waiting.

There were offers. None compelled the Panthers to make a move.

"Sergei is a part of our franchise, part of our core," Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said Friday, shortly after the league's 3 p.m. trade deadline passed. "And we want to try to keep him. I think with almost any player ... you always listen. When the phone rings, you answer because you don't know what could happen."

Bobrovsky is enduring the worst statistical season of his 16-year career, with an .873 save percentage. Of the 35 goalies who entered Friday with more than 25 starts this season, Bobrovsky — at 37 — is the oldest of the bunch.

Advertisement

The Panthers don't care about any of that. They've been ravaged by injuries this season and are well out of the playoff chase after three straight runs to the Stanley Cup Final. But virtually all of their top players — Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand, Gustav Forsling, Seth Jones, Anton Lundell, Niko Mikkola and more — are signed for years to come, and more playoff runs are expected.

Zito wants Bobrovsky to be along for that ride.

"I want Sergei to stay, and look forward to having him back," Zito said.

AP NHL:https://apnews.com/NHL

Sprinter Fred Kerley received a two-year ban Friday for missing drug tests — a suspension that shouldn't impact the 30-year-old former world champion because he has signed to run in aleague that does not prohibit performance enhancers.

The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping cases for World Athletics, announced the suspension, quoting from a ruling that called the 100-meter champion in 2022 "'negligent and, to a certain extent, reckless'" in not adhering to anti-doping regulations."

The decision said Kerley's missed tests occurred from May through December of 2024. Last September, he became the biggest name in sprinting to announce he would run in the Enhanced Games, a start-up league that will not penalize athletes for using banned substances.

Shortly after the ban was announced, Kerley released aflurry of social media posts, one of which featured him and a picture of him bursting through a phalanx of men dressed like military police wearing uniforms with "AIU," "WADA" (World Anti-Doping Agency) and "USADA" (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) on them.

Advertisement

"I'm tired of holding everything in," it said. "You can't control me, and the truth is louder than silence."

Anotherpost, which could have been a reference to the doping-control officers that arrived on one of the days he missed a test, said "A random number from Mexico that looked like a scam call and I'm supposed to answer that? I live in USA why is a number calling my phone from Mexico."

Kerley's suspension will run through Aug. 11, 2027.

AP sports:https://apnews.com/sports

March 6 (Reuters) - The ‌U.S. Food ‌and Drug ​Administration on Friday approved a ‌new ⁠formulation of Lantheus ⁠Holdings' prostate ​cancer ​imaging ​agent, aimed ‌at improving scanning access through increased ‌production ​capacity.

Advertisement

(Reporting ​by ​Sahil ‌Pandey, Puyaan Singh ​and ​Kamal Choudhury ​in ‌Bengaluru; Editing ​by Sahal ​Muhammed)