As the war between the United States and Iran approaches the three-week mark, President Donald Trump and Irans new supreme leader are projecting strength.

Speaking at an event at the White House on Friday, Trump suggested the United States is doing extremely well in the conflict.

They had a Navy two weeks ago. They have no Navy anymore. Its all at the bottom of the sea, he said in front of the U.S. Navy football team.

He added that the United States will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, one of the reasons he has cited for launching the operation with Israel on Feb. 28.

Meanwhile, Irans supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a statement Friday commemorating the Persian New Year. Khamenei did not read the statement himself and has not been seen publicly since his father was killed and he assumed the leadership role. Instead, it was read aloud on state media.

In the statement, Khamenei commended Iranians for their resilience since the war began, claiming Irans military has delivered a dizzying blow to its enemies.

The supreme leader also cautioned Irans media organizations to refrain from focusing on weakness, saying the enemy could otherwise achieve its goals. The comments were somewhat similar to remarks from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday, when he criticized U.S. news organizations for asking tough questions about the conflict.

While both leaders are trying to rally support, questions remain about how the conflict will end and whether it could involve U.S. troops on the ground.

The Associated Press reported that the United States is deploying about 2,500 additional Marines, along with three more warships, to the Middle East. The U.S. and the United Kingdom also entered into an agreement allowing the United States to use U.K. bases to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Thirteen U.S. troops have been killed in the conflict. A spokesperson for U.S. Central Command told Scripps News on Friday that 232 troops have been wounded, including 10 seriously, and 207 have returned to duty.

President Donald Trump and the White House continue to present mixed messaging on the conflict in Iran.

The president repeated claims on Wednesday that the conflict was "won."

Reporter: You just said it is a little excursion, and you said it is a war. So which one is it?

President Trump: Well, it's both. It's an excursion that will keep us out of a war, and the war is going to be for them it's a war, for us it turned out to be easier than we thought.

"We've won. We've won," President Trump said during an appearance in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday. "You never like to say too early you won. We won. In the first hour it was over."

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Meanwhile, the fighting continues in Iran and in the Middle East region. At least 7 U.S. service members have been killed and about 140 have been wounded, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Administration officials have said the conflict is necessary, especially as fighting over the Strait of Hormuz causes severe volatility in oil markets worldwide.

"This is an operation that will take weeks, not months, but in the short term pain for the long term gain. But it's simply a must achieve thing," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.

U.S. officials have not given a specific timeline for when they may consider their objectives in the conflict achieved.

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The comments come as officials in Iran warn America will have to pay the price for a war it started.

"Trump has said again: 'We must win this war quickly,'" said Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, in a social media message. "Starting a war is easy, but ending it won't happen with a few tweets. We won't let you off the hook until you admit your mistake and pay the price for it."

Irans newly appointed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday Iran would continue its strikes on Gulf neighbors as it seeks to use more leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.

Even before President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military to join Israel in a bombing campaign against the Iranian regime, many within the so-called Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement were already souring on the Trump administration.

But the decision to engage U.S. forces in another foreign conflict in the Middle East is, for some, an outright breaking point and, they say, Republicans should be on notice that MAHA voters are unlikely to support the GOP in the upcoming 2026 midterms.

No nation that does horrible things abroad, wages war, unjust wars, and besets violence on the world can actually be healthy, Charles Eisenstein, an author and environmentalist who served as the chief speechwriter for Kennedys 2024 presidential bid, told Scripps News in an interview Wednesday. What we do to the world, in some sense, we do to ourselves.

Eisenstein is among a group of Kennedy campaign alumni involved in a new Health Not War effort organizing voters against Trumps Iran action and calling on lawmakers to back congressional War Powers Resolutions that would limit the presidents ability to continue the conflict without congressional approval.

RELATED STORY | Senate rejects effort to limit Trump's military operations on Iran

We, the undersigned, are American citizens who care deeply about the health of our nation: both its physical health of its people, and the moral health of its conduct in the world, the petition begins. We understand that these are related. Neither can stand without the other.

Organizers acknowledged the campaign has room to grow. Eisenstein said the number of signers as of Wednesday evening was in the thousands, though that did little to stop Republicans from blocking Democrats War Powers vote on Wednesday evening (a similar vote is scheduled for later Thursday in the House, where its likewise expected to fail).

It was kind of a short runway to really launch any kind of campaign, Eisenstein said, noting activists first announced the effort just a few days ago.

But he promised this was not the end of MAHAs anti-war push.

We're going to continue to advocate for peace, he said.

Kennedy allies push anti-war effort

Beyond Eisenstein, other Kennedy allies involved in the Heath Not War campaign include David Murphy, a food and farming activist who served as finance director for Kennedys presidential bid, and Meryll Nass, M.D., a longtime Kennedy ally who works with the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense.

This is a war of choice, Nass told Scripps News. This was a war that really went against what the president himself had said.

For Nass, the goal of the campaign is not only to convince lawmakers to support measures curbing Trumps power to further the conflict, but also to highlight what she describes as a series of broken promises by the Trump administration when it comes to MAHA topics.

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[Trump] needs some pressure on him to do what he said his presidency was going to be about, which was both Make America Great Again, put America First and Make America Healthy Again, Nass said. He's done a number of things that fly in the face of all of that.

Murphy a self-described former Republican who runs United We Eat, a MAHA-aligned group advocating against the commercialization of food and agriculture said the Trump administrations moves in Iran reminded him of actions by neocons like former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney, going so far as to suggest the president may be trying to distract from other administration failings.

Is this really the Trump administration, President Trump's Wag the Dog moment? Murphy posed. Are they trying to get away from the Epstein story? Are they trying to change, you know, the negative stories that are going on in the press with glyphosate and Bayer and pesticides, overwhelming it with a fake, urgent need to launch a war on some imaginary nuclear threat that Iran does not pose?

MAHA and the midterms

Its not just the Iran war that has MAHA mad.

MAHA activists who spoke to Scripps News pointed to a host of moves by the Trump administration in recent months they said directly contradicted promises Trump and Kennedy made on the campaign trail.

Among their grievances: the decision to back biotech giants Bayer and Monsanto in their Supreme Court bid to kill lawsuits against them for illnesses allegedly caused by their pesticide products; the EPAs reapproval of three dicamba-based herbicides opposed by MAHA groups; and Trumps recent executive order aiming to boost domestic production of glyphosate, a prominent weedkiller more commonly known as Roundup thats long been alleged to be carcinogenic.

It's not even mixed anymore, I would say that it has been an anti-MAHA agenda since December 1, Nass argued.

Such moves risk turning off MAHA-aligned voters said to be central to Trumps win in 2024.

There's no question that [Kennedys] involvement in the Trump campaign was pivotal in the election of President Trump, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who served as Kennedys campaign manager during his Democratic presidential bid and remains a close ally, told Scripps News.

I think [Republicans] should have increasingly growing concern, Murphy echoed.

A polling memo late last year from Tony Fabrizio and Bob Ward, Trumps pollsters in his 2024 run, found 44% of Americans self-identified as MAHA supporters, and most priorities within the movement with the notable exception of eliminating vaccine recommendations were broadly popular.

And a more recent analysis by Tony Lyons, president of MAHA Action and a leading voice within MAHA, was more blunt:

[T]he Republican party is renting MAHA voters, Lyons wrote, drawing on Fabrizios public opinion research. They havent decided to purchase them yet.

Asked about such concerns, the officials working with Kennedy in the Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment.

The White House, for its part, brushed aside any suggestion of a MAHA-MAGA schism, on Iran or otherwise.

President Trump can walk and chew gum at the same time, White House spokesman Kush Desai told Scripps News in a statement. While the U.S. military wrecks the Iranian terrorist regime, the Trump administration remains laser-focused here at home to deliver on the Presidents MAHA agenda: from cracking down on artificial ingredients in our food supply to revising federal Dietary Guidelines to finally lowering prescription drug prices.

Kennedys power proves limited

While many within the movement still view Kennedy positively, particularly his handling of issues of health and wellness, they acknowledged that his power is limited.

I know Secretary Kennedy, and I stay in touch with him on medical issues. He has no authority over this war, Nass said. What's the point of talking to him about it?

Secretary Kennedy is, and has been, the captain of his own ship, echoed Kucinich. His service in the cabinet is circumscribed within questions relating to health, and that's what he does.

But while MAHA voters may have been willing to swallow other concerns about the Trump administrations policies in exchange for Kennedys ascendance to the cabinet, for some, the Iran conflict is a bridge too far.

The warmongering, I mean, for me that trumps all the rest, Eisenstein told Scripps News. There is no way I will ever support a candidate who is embroiling the country in new regime change wars.

A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered federal immigration authorities to stop using taxpayer information for immigration enforcement purposes.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued the ruling Thursday, blocking the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration from sharing taxpayer data with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Judge Talwani said the DHS claim that noncitizens lack Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures is ripe for abuse.

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The decision follows an agreement the IRS finalized last year with DHS to share tax data on suspected undocumented immigrants targeted for deportation. The data-sharing agreement reportedly enabled ICE to submit the names and addresses to the IRS of people who may be in the U.S. illegally. The IRS could then cross-reference that information with tax records for verification.

Undocumented workers are legally required to pay federal taxes on their income. To file tax returns, the IRS issues Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers and collects personal information, including addresses.

The Trump Administration is trying to boost U.S. supply chains for critical minerals, materials that make up everything from your cell phone to fighter jets.

A meeting with high level officials including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio went on at the State Department Wednesday, where more than 50 nations are considering a new trade pact that seeks to combat Chinese influence on rare earths and critical minerals.

The deal would cover more than a dozen critical materials, naturally occurring elements and minerals that are used in everything from jet engines to cell phone batteries and AI chips.

China has dominated this market, accounting for about 70% of mineral drilling markets and 90% of refinery markets. It has also frequently dumped cheap product on the global marketplace as a means of trying to push back against any competition.

The new U.S. effort seeks a trade agreement to try to enable countries to purchase minerals among themselves, setting some floor level prices and ensuring that countries participating in the deal will only purchase those minerals from other participants.

RELATED STORY | Trump holds wide-ranging call with Xi, touching on Iran, Taiwan and trade

"This morning, the Trump administration is proposing a concrete mechanism to return the global critical minerals market to a healthier, more competitive state," said Vice President JD Vance. "A preferential trade zone for critical minerals, protected from external disruptions through enforceable price floors. We will establish reference prices for critical minerals each stage of production, pricing that reflects real world fair market value. And from members of the preferential zone, these reference prices will operate as a floor, maintained through adjustable tariffs, to uphold pricing integrity."

It remains to be seen how successful a deal would be, or what penalties or enforcement mechanisms would ensure compliance.

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed Monday that the agency was reviewing officer body camera footage related to the death of Alex Pretti, who was shot while being apprehended by federal immigration officials in Minneapolis over the weekend.

There is body camera footage from multiple angles which investigators are currently reviewing," a DHS official said in a statement to Scripps News.

When asked Monday if the body camera footage would be made public, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "that's not something I've heard the president commit to." According to court filings, DHS is leading the investigation into Pretti's death, with assistance from the FBI and other federal agencies.

RELATED STORY | Federal agents involved in Minneapolis shooting remain on duty

Up to this point, multiple videos circulating online have shown various different angles of the shooting, which occurred as demonstrators were protesting the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. Pretti, 37, was on hand apparently filming law enforcement activity, nearly one mile away from where Renee Good was fatally shot by an immigration enforcement agent earlier this month.

Video footage from one bystander showed Pretti standing in the street recording federal officers with a cell phone. One agent can then be seen approaching another person and pushing them down onto the ground. At that point, Pretti jumps between the agent and the protester and is pepper sprayed in the face. Seconds later, several other officers jump in and attempt to apprehend Pretti and a scuffle ensues. Officers are then seen backing away from him after at least one shot was fired.

WARNING | GRAPHIC CONTENT

Bystander video of fatal shooting during federal immigration enforcement protest

Separate video captured by another bystander showed the same struggle ensue before four consecutive shots are heard.

Bystander video captures fatal shooting during immigration enforcement protest

The Department of Homeland Security said that Pretti approached agents with a firearm with two magazines and "violently resisted" when officers attempted to disarm him. Pretti's family has said he owned a handgun and had a permit to carry a concealed firearm. However, the footage only shows Pretti holding what appears to be a cell phone in his hand.

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In a sworn declaration filed in federal court, a civilian witness described what they said they observed moments before shots were fired. The witness said they never Pretti him reach for a weapon.

"I didn't see him with a gun," the witness stated. "They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times."

Relatives of Pretti described him as a dedicated intensive care nurse at the Veterans Administration, who was compassionate for others and deeply upset over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in his city.