*By Justin Chermol & Megan Pratz*
After Iran's Revolutionary Guard seized a foreign tanker accused of smuggling oil through the Strait of Hormuz Thursday morning, President Trump announced a Navy ship has shot down an Iranian drone.
"The \[USS\] Boxer took defensive action against an Iranian drone," Trump said in a flag presentation ceremony at the White House with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands.
"The drone was immediately destroyed," Trump added.
Those escalations have made officials, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) nervous about potential U.S. military action in the Middle East, as Tehran and Washington continue to [spar over the strait](https://cheddar.com/media/iran-escalations-will-likely-wipe-out-recent-decline-in-gas-prices), one of the most important passageways for oil shipping in the world.
"Iran has about .55 percent of global GDP, we're at 24 percent, China is at 15 percent, the entire Middle East is at 3.5 percent, it's just not in our strategic interest to spend trillions of dollars on another war that could be better spent on broadband here, on education, on infrastructure," Khanna told Cheddar Thursday.
Last week, Khanna and Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-Fla.) bipartisan amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act in order to prohibit funds from being used with a war against Iran passed 251-170. Khanna called the amendment's sweeping victory in the House "historic", adding: "It will really show that our nation has learned its lesson."
It will now move on to the Senate, where he hopes it will be added to the defense funding bill.
"This amendment affirms what President Trump knows and believes: unfocused, unconstitutional, unending wars in the Middle East make America weaker, not stronger," Gaetz [said in a statement](https://khanna.house.gov/media/press-releases/release-rep-khanna-and-rep-gaetz-introduce-bipartisan-amendment-prohibit-funds).
In May of last year, President Trump announced the U.S. exit from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal. Trump has called the deal, brokered by President Obama, the "worst deal ever."
Khanna says, were it up to him, he would immediately get back into the agreement: "That's what helped prevent Iran from going nuclear," he said, adding: "Even Secretary Mattis and General Dunford all said that Iran was complying with that."
The Biden administration has stopped taking mobile app appointments to admit asylum-seekers at a Texas border crossing that connects to a notoriously dangerous Mexican city after advocates warned U.S. authorities that migrants were being targeted there for extortion.
Donald Trump arrived in Florida on Monday ahead of a history-making federal court appearance on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents and thwarting the Justice Department's efforts to get them back.
The Supreme Court said Monday it won't review North Carolina's decision to stop issuing specialty license plates with the Confederate flag.
The Human Rights Campaign has declared a state of emergency for the lgbtq+ community. The unprecedented move comes after the passage of more than 75 anti-gay bills this year alone. Here with more is Cheddar News senior reporter Chloe Aiello.
President Joe Biden welcomed hundreds to the White House on Saturday for a delayed Pride Month celebration aimed at showing LGBTQ+ people that his administration has their back at a time when advocates are warning of a spike in discriminatory legislation, particularly aimed at the transgender community, sweeping through statehouses.
Silvio Berlusconi, the boastful billionaire media mogul who was Italy’s longest-serving premier despite scandals over his sex-fueled parties and allegations of corruption, died Monday. He was 86.
“Any consumer can tell you that online airline bookings are confusing enough," said William McGee, an aviation expert at the American Economic Liberties Project. "The last thing we need is to roll back an existing protection that provides effective transparency.”
Cheddar News checks in to see what to look out for Next Week on the Street as former president Donald Trump makes an appearance in federal court after being indicted. Investors will also keep an eye on the Federal Reserve meeting to see what comes out of that while earnings continue to pour in.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.
It is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
