North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday that his country could ‘completely destroy’ South Korea if it feels threatened, escalating rhetoric while ruling out renewed talks.

Speaking at North Korea’s week-long Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, Kim labeled South Korea the ‘most hostile enemy’ and said ‘the conciliatory attitude that South Korea’s current government advocates on the surface is clumsily deceptive and crude,’ according to state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim said North Korea ‘can initiate arbitrary action’ if South Korea engages in ‘obnoxious behavior’ directed at his country, dismissing recent efforts by Seoul to improve relations.

‘South Korea’s complete collapse cannot be ruled out,’ Kim said, according to KCNA.

During the congress, Kim outlined sweeping five-year policy goals centered on expanding North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. The country is believed to possess around 50 warheads and enough fissile material to produce up to 40 more, according to an estimate last year from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The North Korean leader said the country’s ‘international status has risen extraordinarily.’

‘It is our party’s firm will to further expand and strengthen our national nuclear power, and thoroughly exercise its status as a nuclear state,’ Kim said, according to KCNA. ‘We will focus on projects to increase the number of nuclear weapons and expand nuclear operational means.’

Kim laid out plans for North Korea to develop more advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of underwater launches, along with artificial intelligence-driven weapons systems and unmanned drones, KCNA reported.

Kim, who met with President Donald Trump three times during Trump’s first term, signaled he may be open to future negotiations with Washington but placed responsibility squarely on the United States.

‘Whether it’s peaceful coexistence or permanent confrontation, we are ready for either, and the choice is not ours to make,’ he said.

Kim said that if the U.S ‘withdraws its policy of confrontation’ with North Korea and acknowledges the country’s ‘current status,’ there would be ‘no reason why we cannot get along well with the U.S.’

Following the congress, Kim’s teenage daughter attended a military parade in Pyongyang on Wednesday, according to KCNA. Ju Ae, believed to be 13 or 14, was photographed standing beside her father and senior military leaders.

Her appearance comes after South Korean media reported that Kim recently gave her a leadership role in the regime’s powerful ‘Missile Administration,’ which oversees Pyongyang’s nuclear forces.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey, along with Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Senate Democrat is demanding that the Trump administration refund billions in tariff revenue to Americans following last week’s Supreme Court decision, according to a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote in a letter to President Donald Trump charging that he was concerned over the White House’s ‘lack of action’ to issue refunds to families and small businesses impacted by tariffs.

His appeal to the president comes after the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision last week that Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the law undergirding his sweeping duties, ‘does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.’

‘The invalidation of these IEEPA tariffs is a chance to make American families and small businesses whole — not to retain unlawfully collected funds or enable additional corporate profit,’ Gallego wrote.

Gallego’s letter comes as Congress wrestles with its next move on tariffs and as Trump has vowed to sidestep lawmakers in his quest to continue levying duties on other countries.

Some Republicans want to see Trump’s tariffs considered through budget reconciliation — the same party-line move used to pass his ‘big, beautiful bill’ last year — to meet the deliberative parameters established in the court’s decision.

Others think Trump doesn’t need to come to Congress. The president already moved to reinstate 10% tariffs that are set to last for 150 days and will require lawmakers to weigh in on continuing them.

Several congressional Democrats want to see the administration tender full refunds from the billions raked in under Trump’s tariffs — 25 Senate Democrats back a newly introduced bill led by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to refund all duties with interest.

And Gallego specifically wants guardrails to ensure that money ends up in the hands of families and small businesses.

‘Absent action from this administration, over $100 billion in tariff revenue collected under those unlawful tariffs will not make it into the hands of American families and small businesses but instead will remain either in government coffers or in corporate accounts,’ Gallego wrote.

Since the start of the current fiscal year in October, Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are estimated to have generated roughly $155 billion, according to data from the Treasury Department.

He also raised concerns about large corporations taking advantage of the ‘chaotic and expansive nature of the IEEPA tariffs’ to crank up prices on products in response to the duties.

Gallego included several requests of the administration in his letter to be met no later than March 4, including whether the administration will issue tariff refunds, who will be eligible, how much revenue has been collected as of Feb. 20 and whether corporations will be required to disclose tariff costs passed on to consumers, among several others.

He also warned that corporations, armed with the financial firepower to hire ‘high-priced lawyers and lobbyists,’ would have a leg up on Americans without the same means.

‘Without your administration providing a structured process to determine how refunds should be distributed, American families and small businesses will once again be left behind,’ Gallego wrote.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to be deposed by the House Oversight Committee late Thursday morning, as lawmakers continue to investigate the federal government’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s case.

The deposition is expected to begin at 11 a.m. ET in Chappaqua, N.Y., Fox News Digital was told. The Clintons have owned a home in the affluent New York City suburb since 1999 and have primarily lived there since former President Bill Clinton left office.

And while closed-door depositions normally just require a committee staff presence in most cases, a source familiar with planning told Fox News Digital that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., will be there in person.

At least 10 House Republicans on the committee will also attend, the source said.

Hillary Clinton will be deposed on Thursday, while Bill Clinton’s deposition is scheduled for Friday. Both interviews will be closed to the press, but they will be transcribed and videotaped.

Comer told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the former first couple’s testimony ‘is critical to understanding Epstein and [Ghislaine Maxwell’s] sex trafficking network and the ways they sought to curry favor and influence to shield themselves from scrutiny.’

‘Their testimony may also inform how Congress can strengthen laws to better combat human trafficking. Our goal for this investigation is straightforward: We seek to deliver transparency and accountability for the American people and survivors,’ Comer said.

The Clintons’ testimony comes after months of back-and-forth with the committee on the circumstances and conditions of the interviews.

They are two of several people and entities whom Comer subpoenaed for information on Epstein back in August.

Their attorneys initially pushed back on the subpoenas, calling them legally invalid and a violation of the separation of powers, but House Republicans responded by pressing forward with resolutions to hold both Clintons in contempt of Congress.

The lawyers finally agreed to Comer’s terms just days before a full House vote was expected to move forward.

But not all members of the committee are satisfied with how the situation is playing out.

‘I don’t know why the heck we didn’t bring them here. If you or I got in trouble, guess what? We’d be here, or we’d be in chains, and they’d be dragging us in. Having them up in Chappaqua to me is an insult to the public,’ Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told reporters on Wednesday. ‘I realize they got to cut a deal, but it’s not a deal I would have cut.’

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the committee, told reporters, ‘We have a good group going up to New York.’

‘I think that anyone that has information about Jeffrey Epstein or spent any time with him, I think it’s important to ask questions. I mean, personally, I think one of the things that we’ve been hearing a lot about lately is whether Jeffrey Epstein had any sort of foreign ties, whether there were any sort of…wealth of foreign governments,’ Garcia said.

But both sides have largely accused the other of politicizing the probe. Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to create a narrative that persecutes figures on the left while attempting to clear President Donald Trump, and Republicans are arguing that Democrats are using the investigation to purposefully target the sitting commander-in-chief.

Neither Clinton has been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, nor has Trump.

But both Trump and Clinton have appeared numerous times in the Epstein files released so far and are known to have had relationships with the late pedophile before his federal investigations.

Republican and Independent voters reacted favorably when President Donald Trump brought up how his administration has cracked down on drug cartels and fentanyl, but Democrats appeared less motivated by Trump’s aggressive foreign policy stance. 

‘For years, large swaths of territory in our region, including large parts of Mexico, really large parts of Mexico, have been controlled by murderous drug cartels. That’s why I designated these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and I declared illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction,’ Trump said to applause as he turned to look at Republicans. 

Per a panel assembled by polling group Maslansky & Partners of 29 Democrats, 30 Independents, and 40 Republicans, which tracked their real-time reactions during Trump’s SOTU address, Democrats appeared to go slightly below baseline when Trump began touting his aggressive stance towards cartels in Central and South America, specifically his administration’s bombing campaign against them which has included attacks in the open ocean off the South American coastline and in the eastern Pacific.

Meanwhile, Republicans and Independents showed a much stronger favorable reaction to the president’s remarks about the actions his administration has taken against drug cartels and illegal fentanyl. 

During his address, Trump also highlighted the U.S.’s help in capturing drug kingpin ‘El Mencho’ earlier this month in Mexico. Ruben ‘Nemesio’ Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho,’ the leader of the CJNG, was killed Sunday in a Mexican military operation in Tapalpa, Mexico, authorities said. Though the operation was carried out by Mexican forces, the United States laid the groundwork, making El Mencho’s fall possible.

On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order directing the State Department to designate several cartels and international criminal groups ‘foreign terrorist organizations’ (FTOs), a designation unlocking military-grade surveillance and ‘material support’ prosecutions. Though lesser known than MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, CJNG was one of the groups designated an FTO by the administration.

Shortly after Trump’s executive order, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a policy memorandum to all Department of Justice employees, announcing a ‘fundamental change in mindset and approach’ to cartels and transnational criminal organizations to a policy of ‘total elimination.’

The Trump administration has engaged in an aggressive bombing campaign against cartel boats throughout both 2025 and 2026. The U.S. has also conducted non-lethal maritime drug interdiction efforts as well.

In early 2026, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro was captured by U.S. forces and extradited to New York on drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges, with Trump accusing him at the time of being a ‘kingpin of a vast criminal network.’

The recent violence and capture of El Mencho this month has led American tourists to be trapped in Mexico. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the State Department has been taking ‘hundreds of calls a day’ providing Americans with travel support and advice.

‘We are unaware of any reports of any Americans being hurt, kidnapped, or killed, and the Mexican drug cartels know not to lay a finger on a single American or they will pay severe consequences under this president – and they already are,’ Leavitt told Fox News. 

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump has drawn his line. Now the clock is running.

After publicly giving Iran roughly 10 days to 15 days to reach a nuclear agreement, Trump used his State of the Union address to make clear the deadline is backed by force. 

‘I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror … to have a nuclear weapon,’ he told lawmakers Tuesday night.

The president first outlined the short timeline Feb. 19, saying the world would know within ‘probably 10 days’ whether Tehran was prepared to strike what he called a meaningful deal. 

‘I would think that would be enough time — 10, 15 days, pretty much maximum,’ Trump said, warning that absent an agreement, ‘it’s going to be unfortunate for them.’

On Tuesday, he reinforced the pressure from the House chamber, telling Congress negotiations are underway, but Iran has not met his core condition. 

‘We are in negotiations with them,’ Trump said. ‘They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.”

He also pointed back to the 2025 U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, describing Operation Midnight Hammer as having ‘obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program.’ 

After that operation, he said, Tehran was warned ‘to make no future attempts to rebuild its weapons program,’ adding that Iran is now ‘starting it all over again.’

The combination of a defined diplomatic window and a public reminder of U.S. military action marks a sharper phase in the standoff, as talks in Geneva unfold under mounting pressure.

Trump has not detailed what specific action would follow if Iran refuses his terms. But he told reporters in mid-February that if a meaningful agreement does not materialize, ‘bad things will happen,’ and acknowledged he is considering further steps.

With the State of the Union complete and the president’s timeline already in motion, the coming days are likely to determine whether the administration secures a nuclear concession — or shifts toward a more confrontational path in the Middle East.

The diplomatic ultimatum is underscored by the largest assembly of U.S. naval power in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

The world’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived at Souda Bay, Crete, Monday. The Ford joined the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been conducting 24-hour flight operations in the Arabian Sea since late January.

Between the two strike groups, the U.S. now commands a fleet of 14 major warships, including nine Arleigh Burke-class destroyers armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Meanwhile 12 U.S. F-22 Raptor stealth fighters touched down at Ovda Airbase in southern Israel. 

As national security analyst Joe Funderburke noted in the Small Wars Journal, ‘The F-22 is not a simple show-of-force aircraft. It is designed to suppress enemy air defenses and protect penetrating strike platforms like the B-2 Spirit bomber, the same combination used to devastate Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities at Fordow and Natanz nine months ago.’

The president’s reminder of Operation Midnight Hammer — which utilized B-2 bombers to drop 30,000-pound ‘bunker buster’ munitions — serves as the tactical blueprint for what follows the current deadline. 

While the 2025 operation was a ‘surgical’ surprise strike, the current buildup suggests a far broader mission set, potentially due to Iran’s threat of an aggressive response. 

Iran’s response to Operation Midnight Hammer was measured and the U.S. had warning. This time, Iran has vowed a more forceful response and says any U.S. troops operating in the Middle East could be open targets. 

Amid his sharper diplomatic timeline, Trump also asserted that Iranian authorities had killed some 32,000 protesters in weeks of demonstrations that began in early January — a number far above independent estimates and Tehran’s own death toll. 

‘Just over the last couple of months with the protests, they’ve killed at least, it looks like, 32,000 protesters — 32,000 protesters in their own country,’ the president said. ‘They shot them and hung them.’ 

Administration officials have signaled that any agreement would require Iran to halt all uranium enrichment and provide verifiable guarantees that its program cannot be reconstituted — terms Iran repeatedly has objected to.

Both Washington and Iran appear to believe the other is bluffing. 

Trump has framed the timeline as a final opportunity for diplomacy backed by overwhelming force. Iranian leaders, meanwhile, have publicly dismissed U.S. threats and warned that any strike would trigger retaliation against American forces and regional allies.

Still, U.S. negotiators will meet with Iranian envoys once again in Geneva Thursday.