Daily Caller
World’s Largest State Sponsor Of Terrorism Sets Sights On New Goal: Become A Vacation Destination
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Jake Smith
The world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, is setting its sights on a new goal: to become a first-rate resort and tourism destination.
Iran is sanctioned by vast swaths of the international community for its support and funding of various terrorist networks in the Middle East that have killed a number of U.S. forces in recent years. Though the Islamic regime is infamous for imposing an iron rule against the Iranian people and has one of the world’s worst economies, Tehran is hoping to break into the vacation game and bring in millions of tourists per year, according to reports.
“Tourism is the greatest asset for Iran’s cultural diplomacy,” Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri said at an event Tuesday. “Cultural diplomacy fosters relations between nations, shared understanding, and collective peace and stability.”
“We must recognize that cultural heritage and tourism should become one of the country’s top three priorities. By promoting cultural diplomacy, we can aim for a future where tourism replaces the oil revenues as a primary economic driver,” Salehi-Amiri said.
Salehi-Amiri explained that the goal is to attract 15 million tourists to Iran by 2028. He also went on to say that Iran should build hundreds of new hotels by that year.
What our armed forces did was to inflict the minimum punishment on that usurping Zionist regime in response to its appalling crimes. It’s a bloodthirsty regime, a wolf-like regime, and the US’s rabid dog in the region.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) October 6, 2024
Iran enjoyed a 21% increase in tourism in 2023, according to the Tehran Times.
“Cultural heritage is Iran’s soft power. Just as we need hard power for deterrence, we need soft power to showcase our cultural and civilizational capacities to the world,” Salehi-Amiri said on Tuesday.
His comments leave many open questions in place, such as how practical it is to build hundreds of new hotels in such a short time frame, as Iran’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) is only a fraction of other Arab states in the region, such as Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates. Iran’s economy is considered “repressed,” given rampant corruption in the government, weak rule of law and a lack of robust trade relations with virtually any Western nation, according to The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom.
There are also questions as to how the theoretical tourists would be treated, given Iran’s incredible hostility toward the West and scores of reports of human rights abuses, particularly against women. Because of corruption at even the highest ends of Iran’s government and law enforcement structure, these abuses often go unpunished.
The regime in Iran also sends a considerable amount of money to its various terrorist groups in the Middle East, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Iran’s chief export — oil — brings in money for the regime to send to its actors in the region.
Iranian oil revenues fell sharply under the former Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Iran. However, in recent years under the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy and eased sanctions, Iran has made tens of billions in additional revenues.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hudson Crozier
The unrest that has consumed Los Angeles in recent days appears to be spreading elsewhere as numerous rioters outraged at immigration raids were arrested across the country on Tuesday night.
Los Angeles authorities began making “mass arrests” late Tuesday and issued a curfew following days of rioting sparked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of illegal immigrants in the area. Businesses were seen in the process of boarding up their buildings in anticipation of possible looting, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.
LOS ANGELES: Adidas is boarding up their store that already got looted. Shops next to it have workers cutting wood to finish up as we’re now about 40 minutes out from curfew @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/Pshx5lixbZ
— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) June 11, 2025
Local media outlets reported that major U.S. cities saw their own versions of Los Angeles’ chaos Tuesday night, with alleged assaults of police officers, fires, rock-throwing and other acts of violence. Protests and resulting arrests had already started to spread beyond Los Angeles as of Monday night.
Seattle
At least two people were arrested after protesters tore down American flags at a federal building in Seattle and burned them on Tuesday night, according to multiple reports. Earlier that day, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers were seen on video shoving back Antifa-style militants and firing crowd control munitions after the activists tried to block entrances and exits to the building, which houses an immigration court.
New York City
Eighty-six people were arrested overnight starting on Tuesday evening as protesters marched to a Manhattan immigration court and other locations, local outlet ABC7 reported. Police said people threw bottles at protesters and debris and traffic cones onto the road. Charges included assault, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment and obstructing government administration.
One exchange caught on video showed a woman pleading with protesters to let her drive past them on the road so she could go to work.
Illegal migrants “are having their children taken and their parents,” a traffic-blocking activist told the driver.
Another video posted by Sky News showed a mob trying to force its way past a wall of officers while screaming.
🚨 SPOTTED near the LA Law Library
Photos from @haileyggomez pic.twitter.com/Wr02Zi9b6L
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 10, 2025
Denver
Protesters began gathering at the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver on Tuesday before moving off in a crowd to block traffic on two streets, Colorado Newsline reported. Police ended up in confrontations with rioters throughout the evening, arresting at least 17 on charges such as obstruction of streets, graffiti, assaulting a peace officer and unlawful throwing of projectiles, according to 9News. Police were reportedly seen throwing smoke bombs and pepper balls to disperse crowds.
Atlanta
Organizers of an anti-ICE rally in Atlanta on Tuesday night had agreed to disperse by 9 p.m., but some protesters remained and set off scuffles with police, a local Fox network reported. Rioters damaged three police squad cars by throwing rocks, police said, and threw fireworks at officers. Police used tear gas to disperse the agitators and arrested at least six.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Mariane Angela
During a Monday night press briefing, Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told the Trump administration to stop the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles.
President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles on Saturday after riots erupted following an ICE raid at a Home Depot. During Monday’s press briefing, Bass called for an end to the raids conducted by the Trump administration, claiming that the power to deploy troops or request assistance should lie with state and local officials, not the federal government.
“I would say stop the raids. Stop the raids, period. I would say give the power back to our governor, and if we need the National Guard, we can do it in the normal circumstances, which is the request is made local, and the governor decides, or not to, grant that to our city,” Bass said when asked what she would say to the Trump administration.
Bass reiterated her earlier stance and questioned the need for an additional military presence, given the National Guard’s current role in securing federal buildings.
WATCH:
“We didn’t need the National Guard. Why on earth? What are they going to do? Do you know what the National Guard is doing now? They are guarding two buildings,” Bass said when asked to react to the deployment of Marines.
Bass then called the deployment an unjustified and overreaching action.
“They are guarding the federal building here in downtown, and they’re guarding the federal building in Westwood. That’s what they’re doing. So they need Marines on top of it? I don’t understand that. That’s why I feel like we are part of an experiment that we did not ask to be a part of,” Bass added.
Despite Bass claiming that the National Guard’s deployment was unnecessary, Fox News reporter Bill Melugin shared videos showing ICE agents in one of the vehicles being struck by rocks. Melugin also posted additional footage and photos of the aftermath, including an image of an ICE agent’s injury and a windshield damaged by a rioter’s rock.
Around 1,000 individuals wreaked havoc in Los Angeles Friday night, surrounding a federal building, attacking ICE agents, deflating tires and vandalizing government property, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The unrest caused significant damage and severe traffic disruptions, bringing several key city roads to a complete standstill.
On Saturday night, Trump authorized the deployment of the National Guard to assist local law enforcement and warned Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom that the federal government would intervene if local authorities failed to restore order.
In response, California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday, challenging the deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles to address the immigration riots. Attorney General Rob Bonta and Newsom said that federalizing 2,000 California National Guard members without Newsom’s consent exceeded the president’s authority.
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