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.
Daily Caller
Spreading Sedition? Media Defends Democrats Calling On Soldiers And Officers To Defy Chain Of Command
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was confronted on Thursday about President Donald Trump stating that the Democrats who called on the military to defy his orders committed crimes “punishable by death.”
In two Truth Social posts on Thursday, Trump accused the six Democratic lawmakers who called on military members to “ignore illegal orders” of committing “seditious behavior” that potentially could be “punishable by death.” In response, Leavitt immediately started criticizing the lawmakers who “conspired” to encourage military members to defy the president and potentially put themselves in harm’s way.
“You have sitting members of the United States Congress, who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military, to active duty service members, to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president’s lawful orders. The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command, and if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to people getting killed, it that’s what these members of Congress, who swore an oath to abide by the Constitution, are essentially encouraging,” Leavitt said.
“We have 1.3 active duty service members in this country, and if they hear this radical message from sitting members of Congress, that could inspire chaos, and it could incite violence, and it certainly could disrupt the chain of command,” Leavitt continued.
WATCH:
Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin released the viral video on Tuesday, which included Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio, in which they accused Trump of of “pitting” service members and intelligence community officials “against American citizens” and of violating the U.S. Constitution. The six lawmakers all previously served in the military or intelligence community.
The press secretary added that their actions may be “punishable by law” given that Trump has never given any unlawful orders.
“That is a very, very dangerous message, and it perhaps is punishable by law. I’m not a lawyer … They are literally saying to 1.3 million active duty service members not to defy the chain of command, not to follow lawful orders. But they’re suggesting, they’re suggesting, Nancy, that the president has given illegal orders, which he has not. Every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander in chief and through this chain of command, through the Secretary of War, is lawful,” Leavitt said.
The lawmakers issued a joint statement stating that Trump believes they should be put to death for swearing to “protect and defend the Constitution.”
“What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law,” the statement read. “Our servicemembers should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty. “But this isn’t about any one of us. This isn’t about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.”
“In these moments, fear is contagious, but so is courage. We will continue to lead and will not be intimidated. “Don’t Give Up the Ship!” the statement concluded.
Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states that the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is also in charge of intelligence agencies such as the FBI and CIA since he is the head of the executive branch.
In response to the video, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated that they have “Stage 4 [Trump Derangement Syndrome].”
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Audrey Streb
A fire erupted at the United Nations climate conference in Belém, Brazil on Thursday, according to the Brazilian publication GloboNews.
Firefighters worked to extinguish the flames engulfing the pavilion roof, and the power was cut off in regions across COP30 as authorities evacuated the section known as the “blue zone,” according to GloboNews. One official reportedly told GloboNews that the fire is now contained.
Ministro do Turismo diz que estrutura da COP30, em Belém, é feita de material antichamas. Incêndio grave atinge pavilhões. #Estúdioi
➡ Assista à #GloboNews: https://t.co/bFwcwLpLU9 pic.twitter.com/ZvejBMnPoa
— GloboNews (@GloboNews) November 20, 2025
Over 190 countries and around 50,000 attendees are at the conference, according to multiple reports. Notably, a top United Nations official reportedly directed Brazilian authorities to immediately address concerns like leaky light fixtures, unbearable heat and insufficient security personnel at the conference on Nov. 12, according to Bloomberg.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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