NATO-linked US senators target Orban government
US lawmakers are seeking to impose sanctions on officials in Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, citing Budapest’s stance on Russian energy imports and its ongoing diplomatic dispute with Ukraine.
A bill threatening Hungarian officials was announced on Friday by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, and Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican, who co-chair the US Senate NATO observer group.
Ukraine cut off Russian oil supplies to Hungary earlier this year, claiming that damage to the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline made deliveries impossible. Orban has accused Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky of trying to manufacture an artificial energy crisis to boost the Hungarian opposition in the upcoming parliamentary election, and has retaliated by blocking a €90 billion EU loan intended to bankroll Kiev.
“When the rest of Europe is rightfully weaning off Russian energy, Hungary has doubled down,” Shaheen, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said. She also took aim at Vice President J.D. Vance over his reported plans to travel to Hungary in a gesture of support for Orban.
Tillis said the bill – the Block Putin Act – signals that NATO members undermining Ukraine aid will face “consequences,” while also “giving Hungary a clear path to get back in line.”
Ukraine and Hungary at loggerheads
Orban’s government has opposed Western policies aimed at providing aid to Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia since the conflict escalated in 2022.
Zelensky has accused Orban of following orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin – rather than defending Hungarian national interests, as the prime minister insists – in rejecting Ukraine’s bids to join NATO and the EU. The dispute over the pipeline has intensified after months of sharp rhetoric, including Zelensky’s physical threats against Orban.
Without the proposed €90 billion ($104 billion) EU assistance package, Ukraine is projected to run out of money by June, according to Bloomberg. Ukrainian efforts to secure alternative funding sources have been complicated by gridlock in Kiev, where lawmakers have refused to vote for painful economic reforms demanded by international lenders such as the IMF.
Pro-Kiev officials in the EU are reportedly betting on Orban’s loss in the upcoming election, though other options – such as restricting Budapest’s voting rights – have also been discussed.
Trump claims Iran’s new supreme leader is ‘probably gay’
US President Donald Trump has said that the CIA told him that Iran’s newly appointed supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, may be gay, quipping to Fox News that it puts the cleric “off to a bad start.”
The claim comes amid failed US-Israeli regime change efforts in Iran, a country where homosexual conduct is illegal under Islamic Law.
Trump had previously made other disparaging comments regarding Mojtaba Khamenei, dismissing him as a “lightweight” and an “unacceptable” leader. However, critics have noted that such claims have only consolidated Iranian public opinion against Washington.
The president’s latest insult comes as the US and Israel continue their unprovoked attacks against Iran which began with the assassination of Mojtaba’s father, former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, late last month. US and Israeli officials have repeatedly called for regime change in Tehran, but the government has not collapsed.
According to a New York Times report on Sunday, the Trump administration had embraced an Israeli plan to foment a coup in Iran within days of the start of the war. Despite skepticism from US intelligence agencies, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly bet on the “optimistic outlook” that decapitating Iran’s leadership would spark a popular uprising.
The plan failed, and Mojtaba Khamenei was quickly appointed as the new supreme leader. However, he has remained out of public sight since being wounded in the strike that killed his father.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has dismissed the notion that the killing of top officials could bring down the government. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic, and social institutions,” he told Al Jazeera last week. “The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect this structure.”
Former Mossad official Rami Igra also told RT that the US‑Israeli strategy of decapitating Iran’s leadership in hopes of sparking a revolution was a “miscalculation,” noting that a revolution requires a popular movement, local leadership and armed control – none of which exist in Iran.
IDF chief warns of ‘collapse’ as Israel delays ultra-Orthodox draft – media
The Israel Defense Forces is “on the verge of collapse” due to acute personnel shortages, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has warned, according to local media. Opposition parties have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of stalling on drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Military service is mandatory for most Israeli citizens, both men and women. However, members of the Haredi community have historically been exempt from conscription. While the Israeli Supreme Court revoked the exemption in June 2024, Netanyahu’s cabinet has so far delayed drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Parties within the ruling coalition representing the Haredi community have repeatedly threatened to withdraw support for Netanyahu should he introduce the measure.
Addressing the cabinet on Wednesday, Lieutenant General Zamir said he was “raising ten red flags for you before the IDF collapses,” as quoted by The Jerusalem Post.
In addition to its ongoing campaign against Iran, the Israeli military is continuing its years-long operation against Hamas in Gaza. The IDF also launched an incursion into southern Lebanon in early March, targeting Hezbollah militants.
The IDF chief reportedly lamented that the government was failing to address the escalating personnel shortages, relying instead on reservists, some of whom have been serving since 2023.
Several opposition parties have criticized Netanyahu over his failure to address the issue and warned of a potential security crisis. Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz charged that the government was not providing the IDF with enough “soldiers to actually win.”
In a post on X on Thursday, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, a former prime minister and foreign minister, warned that the “IDF is stretched to the limit and beyond.”
“These reservists are exhausted and worn out and can no longer respond to our security challenges,” he wrote, accusing the government of encouraging “Haredi draft evasion.”
