After a month on the sidelines, the 2026 primary season is back with a vengeance.

A dozen states from coast to coast hold primaries or runoffs in May, and the results of those nomination contests may ultimately determine the outcomes of November’s midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending their slim Senate and razor-thin House majorities.

Also on the line in some of the ballot box showdowns: President Donald Trump’s immense sway over the GOP, as his endorsements in key races will be tested.

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Indiana and Ohio kick off the action on May 5, with Nebraska and West Virginia holding primaries a week later, on May 12. Louisiana’s nominating contest follows on Saturday, May 16. Three days later marks the busiest day of the month, with Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania holding primaries. Texas wraps up May with runoff showdowns on May 26.

Here’s a closer look at some of the top races.

The first major test of Trump’s grip on the GOP comes in Indiana.

Five months ago, Republicans in the GOP-dominated state Senate withstood immense pressure from Trump and his allies and voted down congressional redistricting, which would have given solidly red Indiana two more right-leaning U.S. House seats ahead of the midterms. Seeking retribution, the president endorsed challengers to eight GOP state senators who voted against the redistricting bill.

The president’s allies have spent millions of dollars to try to oust the state lawmakers who opposed Trump’s redistricting push. Among those in the political fight on behalf of the president are Turning Point USA’s political wing and the Club for Growth.

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The intra-party battle is seen not just as a test of fealty to Trump but rather a fight between MAGA forces and more traditional conservatives for the future of the GOP.

"We’ve got to change those old-style Republicans, put in people who will fight, fight against the Democrat gerrymandering," Club for Growth President David McIntosh told Fox News Digital.

McIntosh, a former congressman from Indiana, said "I want to see my state do the right thing."

In neighboring Ohio, there’s a lot less drama.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and business leader who grabbed national attention during his bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before dropping out and becoming a top Trump surrogate, is all but certain to capture the Republican gubernatorial nomination in his home state. Ramaswamy, who is backed by Trump, will face off in November against Dr. Amy Acton, a doctor and researcher who served as director of the state Department of Health from 2019 to 2020. Acton is unopposed in the Democratic primary. The winner will succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine.

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It’s the same story in Ohio’s Senate primary, where appointed Republican Sen. Jon Husted, a former lieutenant governor, is unopposed in the GOP primary. Former longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is expected to cruise to his party’s nomination. The winner will serve the final two years of the term of Vice President JD Vance, who stepped down from the Senate after the Trump-Vance ticket won the 2024 presidential election.

Once a top general election battleground state, Ohio has shifted to the right over the past decade, with Trump carrying the state by 11 points in the 2024 election. But this year's races for the Senate and governor are expected to be very competitive. And the Senate race is one of a handful across the country that may determine if the GOP holds the majority or if the Democrats flip the chamber.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is facing primary challenges from two Republicans: Rep. Julia Letlow and former Rep. John Fleming, who is currently the state treasurer. Trump earlier this year weighed into the race by endorsing Letlow.

Cassidy was one of only seven Senate Republicans who voted in early 2021 to convict Trump after he was impeached by the House for his role in the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters who aimed to upend congressional certification of former President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

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But since the start of Trump's second term 15 months ago, Cassidy has been supportive of the president's agenda and his nominees.

If no candidate cracks 50% of the primary vote, the top two finishers will face off for the nomination in a June 27 runoff election.

The third major test of Trump’s endorsement power this month is in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, where Rep. Thomas Massie is facing a challenge from Trump-backed Ed Gallrein.

Massie has long been one of Trump's most vocal GOP critics in Congress, repeatedly taking aim at the president over the Epstein files and foreign policy.

Trump allies have spent big bucks to boost Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, and to take aim at Massie.

The president’s endorsement is also being tested in Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial nomination, in the 2026 race to succeed popular conservative Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term limited.

Trump has endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is trading fire in a competitive and combustible battle with healthcare executive and mega GOP donor Rick Jackson, who has infused millions of his own money in his bid. Among the others battling for the nomination in a crowded Republican field are state Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who later served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Among the other contenders in the crowded field of candidates are Mike Thurmond, a former DeKalb County CEO and former state Labor Commissioner, and former Republican lieutenant governor turned Democrat Geoff Duncan.

Republicans are hoping to flip the U.S. Senate seat up for grabs this year in Georgia. The GOP views first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat seeking re-election this year. But beating Ossoff, who has built a massive war chest, won’t be easy in the southeastern battleground state.

Making matters worse for the GOP: There’s a nasty primary between major contenders Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter, and former college football coach Derek Dooley, who is backed by Kemp. Trump has remained neutral to date in the Senate primary in Georgia.

Longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn is fighting for his political life as he faces off in a runoff election against state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is a MAGA firebrand and major Trump supporter.

Trump has stayed neutral in the showdown between the two Republican titans in right-leaning Texas.

Cornyn narrowly edged Paxton in an early March GOP primary that also included Rep. Wesley Hunt, but with no candidate topping 50%, Cornyn and Paxton advanced to the runoff.

The winner of the runoff will face off in November with Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state representative and rising Democratic Party star who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising the first three months of this year.

Democrats are confident, and Republicans are concerned, that if Paxton wins the GOP nomination, Republicans will have a harder time in the general election holding the seat. And similar to the Senate race in Ohio, the showdown in Texas is one of a handful across the country that may determine if the GOP holds the majority.

NEW YORK CITY — A group financed by a pro-Chinese Communist Party tech tycoon was one of the first on the scene for Friday's May Day demonstrations and socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s remarks.

The People’s Forum and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which both receive direct or indirect funding from Shanghai-based Neville Roy Singham, were key players in the organization of protestors in Union Square ahead of the May Day events.

A self-identified speaker from PSL announced a People’s Forum spokesperson who was the second to speak into a microphone. The speaker rallied the crowd of demonstrators, asking them to repeat chants and later bashed capitalism. Shortly before remarks, PSL arrived with dozens of pre-made anti-Trump signs and equipment, unloading them from a van parked next to Union Sq. Park.

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A Fox News Digital investigation found that the nonprofit received $22.4 million from  Singham.

Communism was a recurring theme at May Day in New York, with the Revolutionary Communists of America, the Revolutionary Communist Party and signs for the Communist Workers of America held by several demonstrators.

Pro-communism advocates were canvassing the crowd, hawking communist newspapers and encouraging participation in upcoming organization events.

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"The existing capitalist-imperialist system and institutions of government in this country must be abolished and dismantled – and replaced by a new, socialist system based on the constitution for the new socialist republic of America," one paper read.

Fox News Digital interviewed one of the members of the Revolutionary Communists of America, who went only by Tom, who said that capitalism "is in crisis in the U.S."

"The small farmer has been killed off by capitalism," Tom told Fox. "The small businessman has been killed off capitalism. Big corporations dominate the society. So America is very proletarianized. And therefore, the working classes has more of a, let's say, the class balance of forces. It's more on the side of the working class now than it ever has been."

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Teamsters and unions gathered downtown at Washington Square Park while TPF and PSL marched from Union Square several blocks up. The union workers’ rally ended shortly after the Singham-connected groups arrived. 

May Day is historically focused on advocacy for pro-workers, but once New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani began speaking, a significant number of teamsters and union employees had already left as calls for their cheers were dull, and the presence of other organizations dominated the crowd. 

Mamdani stood in front of billboards labeled "NO ICE, NO WAR" and "NO BILLIONAIRES," and pushed his commitment to taxing the rich, and noted "faster buses" instead of his usual commitment to making bus transportation in the city free. 

The crowd cheered loudly for Mamdani, whose appearance was not publicized and seemingly not expected from many of the demonstrators.

"That is why we continue to fight for those who power this city as we look to deliver universal child care," Mamdani told the crowd. "Faster buses, cheaper groceries, protecting our neighbors from the cruelty of ice. And yes, working to tax the wealthiest and the most profitable corporations in New York City."

Crowds dispersed following Mamdani’s brief address, but some roads remained closed as demonstrators continued the march, and one ambulance with flashing lights was forced to turn around earlier in the day on the march from Union Square to Washington Square.

When an armed gunman rushed past a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner last weekend, questions immediately began to swirl throughout the country regarding how yet another alleged would-be-assailant was able to get within a stone’s throw of the president of the United States. 

Cole Allen, 31, is facing federal charges of attempting to assassinate the president of the United States, transporting a firearm across state lines and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence after he allegedly ran through a Secret Service checkpoint and opened fire just one floor from where President Donald Trump and several high-level Cabinet officials were attending the gala. 

Authorities have pointed to an alleged manifesto penned by Allen indicating that he intended to target Trump and members of his administration over political grievances. 

As news of the alleged attempted assassination broke, questions quickly began to swirl regarding the United States Secret Service’s security measures amid a time of heightened violence against political leaders.

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"I think the Secret Service’s model worked," Bill Gage, a former Secret Service special agent and executive protection director for the SafeHaven Security Group, told Fox News Digital. 

"But there was definitely a lot of luck involved that Cole Allen wasn’t better trained, wasn’t better prepared," Gage added. 

Within minutes of Trump, Vice President JD Vance and First Lady Melania Trump taking their seats to enjoy the annual festivities, authorities say Allen charged the Washington Hilton hotel checkpoint and fired his weapon, striking a Secret Service agent in their ballistic vest.

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He was subsequently tackled to the ground and taken into custody. 

Miraculously, no one was seriously injured in the chaos, and Trump was rushed off stage as thousands of attendees ducked for cover under their ballroom tables. 

While federal officials — including Trump himself — applauded the Secret Service for agents’ quick-thinking, questions mounted about how an armed individual was able to get so close to the room holding a high volume of Cabinet members and celebrities.

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"Obviously, the first family was not harmed," Bill Stanton, a retired NYPD officer and security expert, told Fox News Digital. "No one was harmed, right? But that was not due to total professionalism. That was due to luck, the ineptness of the assailant and the redundancy – he should never have gotten that close." 

However, Gage suggests the agency’s protocol worked as intended.

"The [Secret Service’s] concept is like rings of security where you have an outer perimeter, an inner perimeter and a middle perimeter," Gage said. "Each one of those is sort of like a concentric circle that overlaps. So if one ring fails, the other one can sort of pick up the slack."

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According to Gage, Saturday’s outer perimeter began with the agency’s magnetometers – where Allen rushed past authorities armed with a shotgun and other weapons. 

"So the attacker, just through sheer surprise and speed, races through the magnetometers," Gage told Fox News Digital. "He gets through that perimeter, he's still not sort of scot-free. He's going to interact with other agents as he's trying to make his way into the ballroom." 

"There would have been agents assigned to the entry door," Gage continued. "There would've been agents inside the event, just inside the door. So, I would say the Secret Service model was a success, because it proved that the sort of overlap worked."

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As details surrounding the alleged assassination attempt began to trickle out, new questions were raised regarding how Allen was allegedly able to check into the hotel the night before and remain undetected, despite having multiple firearms. 

"The urban legend out there is that the Secret Service sort of swoops in days before an event, shuts the hotel down, kicks everybody out and name checks every single person there – and that's just not the reality," Gage said. 

According to Gage, agents must strike a balance between maintaining a strong security posture and allowing public venues – like the Washington Hilton – to continue operating a business.

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"There's deliveries, there's other workers that come and go – the kitchen staff, other employees, the maid staff," Gage said. "There's other people at the hotel that have nothing to do with the event. So the advance agent for the hotel or for the event is getting all these pressures." 

Additionally, the common misconception that the Secret Service is permitted to close off public areas is simply not true, Gage said.

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"Is it theoretically possible that the Secret Service comes in and shuts down a thousand-person hotel or a thousand-room hotel the day before? Yeah, theoretically it's possible," Gage told Fox News Digital. "But logistically, it's not possible. Financially, it's not possible." 

In light of a third assassination attempt against Trump, Gage emphasizes the duty of the president to be reachable by the people he represents, as some are calling for Trump to cease all public outings.

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"I think the office of the presidency, our elected leaders in our free democracy, have to get out there and meet with constituents," Gage told Fox News Digital. "They have to shake hands, pose for photographs and give speeches. They have to be seen all over the country."

Instead, Gage believes the Secret Service will simply increase their security posture.

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"You're going to see much more intrusive actions by the Secret Service on these public venues," Gage said. "I can see the Secret Service, after Saturday, really inconveniencing the hotel and really inconveniencing the guests, and being very intrusive into the day-to-day operations of the hotels to have a sort of bigger security footprint there." 

Allen remains in custody as he faces three federal charges stemming from the alleged assassination attempt, with authorities indicating he will likely be slapped with additional counts.

As the investigation into how an armed gunman was able to make it so close to Trump continues to unfold, Gage is applauding the Secret Service for ensuring there were no casualties Saturday night. 

"The Secret Service is made up of incredibly dedicated men and women who join the agency to protect the office of the presidency," he said. "The agency is made up of incredibly talented humans that are dedicated and spend long hours on their feet, away from their families – and it's even more incredibly stressful now."

Fox News Digital reached out to the Secret Service.

Royce Keys’ backstory has been well-chronicled as he made his way to SmackDown.

The 6-foot-1, East Palo Alto, California, native started out grinding on the independent scene and worked his way up to All Elite Wrestling when his mother suffered a shocking fatal overdose in 2021. He kept pushing and kept working, knowing that his grandparents and the spirit of his mother was still with him as he made his WWE debut in 2026.

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"I like to say I was born to be a professional wrestler and born to be in this business as a sports entertainer," he told Fox News Digital. "So my grandparents moved from Mississippi to San Francisco and they lived right across the street from the Cow Palace. … I grew up hearing about ‘High Chief’ Peter Maivia, Ray Stevens, Pat Patterson, Kenji Shibuya, Pepper Gomez and so ever since I can remember anything, wrestling was one of my first memories. It’s brought a lot of joy, happiness and success to my life."

Keys made his debut with the company as a surprise entrant in the men’s Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia. He eliminated one opponent before he was eliminated himself.

He said walking through the curtain was an experience like any other.

"For me, it was it was a huge test of new audience, new style, being so far away from home, I didn’t know what to expect. Probably one of the handful of times I’ve been nervous in my life," he recalled. "But once I got to walk down that aisle, everything felt so natural, getting in the ring and just being there. All eyes on me so. It was definitely rewarding. You ever get that feeling like you were meant to do something? I had that feeling then."

Keys was off-screen for a bit as he worked to get his feet underneath him in a WWE ring.

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After working a few dark matches, Keys defeated Berto in his first SmackDown appearance. He then appeared in and won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the night before WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas.

He said he’s bringing a certain X-factor that makes him standout among other big men on the roster.

"I think intensity, intimidation, fear, you know, when I am in the ring, I tend to get straight to the point. I believe the certain things I do in the ring, not only to the people in the arenas kinda go, ‘Ohh,’ they feel it but people at home feel that as well through their TV screens," he said. "It’s just a lot of domination. I think my life, everything that I’ve been through in my life has set me up for this point and I intend to be that monster, or I like to say, as we say in the hood, I’d like to be that ‘monstar’ that’s going to change, help or elevate the game."

Keys said he will be bringing the pain to his opponents as he looks to get into the title picture – whether it’s the Undisputed WWE Championship or the United States Championship.

"I think all of the above," he told Fox News Digital. "I have one motto that I’ve been living by since I was a kid and that was being taught by the OGs and a lot of the guys out here (in the Bay Area) – I take everything I want. Anything I want to take or I see, I’m gonna take it whether it’s championships, or whether it’s hurting people, whether it’s dominating the SmackDown brand and dominating who else wants to come over, going to another brand and dominating over there. My life has put me in this position and everything that I’ve went through in my life has put me to this point and I don’t think there’s anybody that could stop me."

Keys will be a mainstay on the SmackDown roster every Friday night.

It will be intriguing to see who steps up to the challenge and which wrestlers will fall to his powerful force.

Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, is cracking down with a new "guest code of conduct" targeting a surge in ride disruptions.

The changes, outlined in a recent operations briefing and detailed by the "Mickey Visit" blog, are aimed at improving reliability across increasingly complex attractions.

Guest behavior accounted for 13% of ride shutdowns in fiscal year 2025 — up from a 10% historical average — prompting new regulations, according to Natalie Katzka, director of attractions engineering services at Disneyland, who spoke at the briefing.

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One of the rules getting a lot of attention? It's a phone policy nicknamed "Stow it, Don’t Show it" — as the "Disney Fanatic" blog reported.

Cast members conduct visual checks and will not dispatch ride vehicles if a phone is visible, according to the same source.

"Handheld filming is no longer permitted on these high-motion rides. … Phones must be fully secured in a bag or pocket before boarding," Katzka said.

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The rule is being enforced on high-motion or technologically sensitive attractions like Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and the Incredicoaster, the "Inside the Magic" blog said.

Disneyland officials told Fox News Digital the company is always evaluating regulations to find ways to enhance the guest experience and create a safe environment for all visitors.

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Select attractions may have posted signage with rules in their boarding area, and guests are asked to listen to cast members’ instructions, the officials said.

The crackdown extends to other loose items, including oversized insulated drinkware. 

The so-called "Stanley ban" targets large metal tumblers, which officials say pose storage and safety risks, according to Inside the Magic.

Disneyland introduced dedicated storage solutions like ride-side shelves and expanded locker use, while also adding more water refill stations, according to the "Mickey Visit" blog.

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"Loose articles," said Katzka, include anything from phones and hats to water bottles and backpacks, all of which can trigger emergency stops if they fall from a moving vehicle or interfere with sensors.

She also noted that behaviors like standing during a ride or extending arms beyond restraints have become problematic.

Enforcement is tightening at park entry points, too. 

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Disneyland has expanded a ban on selfie sticks to include any telescoping devices or gimbals. Security has been instructed to turn guests away rather than issue warnings, multiple blogs reported.

Bag checks at Disneyland have become more intensive, with security teams conducting deeper inspections for restricted items, according to several blogs.

The April update also marks the official rollout of facial recognition entry gates, replacing the long-standing photo verification system, Disney officials said.

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The goal is to facilitate re-entry into the parks and help prevent fraud, Disneyland officials said.

The technology converts a guest’s face into a numerical biometric signature for park entry, which Disney says is deleted within 30 days unless required for fraud investigations.

For the first time, guests can opt out via designated manual-entry lanes, according to the "Mickey Visit" blog.

Disney fans descended on Reddit to react to the limited cell-phone ban.

"Their entire ecosystem … requires you to use your phone for everything. This is laughable," a Reddit user said about the phone ban on specific rides.

Another quipped, "Disney makes everything as app-based as possible … then complains about people being glued to their phones."

EXCLUSIVE: A surge in online claims warning of famine in Gaza is gaining traction across social media and international outlets, but newly surfaced data reviewed by Fox News Digital from the United Nations (U.N.), the Board of Peace and the Israeli military tells a sharply different story. 

The figures were shared at a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), a forum that coordinates international aid to the Palestinians, by the Board of Peace and described as based on reporting from the U.N.

Children aged 6 to 59 months admitted for acute malnutrition treatment rose from 2,807 cases in January 2025 to a peak of 17,384 in August 2025 before declining steadily to 3,043 in March 2026, an approximately 83% drop, according to the data. 

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The figures challenge a rapidly spreading narrative that Gaza is facing widespread famine, a claim gaining traction across global media and shaping international pressure on Israel.

The dataset also indicates that most remaining cases are now classified as "moderate" or linked to chronic medical and genetic conditions requiring sustained support.

Separate figures presented at the same meeting, collected by the Board of Peace, show a sharp increase in humanitarian aid delivery following the establishment of the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in October 2025. The U.S.-led, multinational hub, located in Israel, is designed to manage post-war Gaza stabilization. 

The Civil-Military Coordination Center oversees aid delivery, monitors a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, and coordinates efforts with 60 nations and organizations.

The figures show weekly truck deliveries into Gaza rose from approximately 1,300 to 4,200, while the percentage of trucks diverted en route dropped from roughly 90% to just 1% post-Civil-Military Coordination Center. 

The number of people reached with food assistance increased from about 400,000 before Civil-Military Coordination Center was established to approximately 2.1 million post-Civil-Military Coordination Center. 

And yet, April has seen a spike in messaging alleging "engineered starvation" in Gaza, according to HonestReporting, a U.S.-based pro-Israel media watchdog, with the narrative spreading from Hamas-linked channels to mainstream platforms in a matter of days. 

"On April 13, our team began seeing posts about soda and Nutella entering Gaza at the same time that Doctors Without Borders accused Israel of trying to ‘destroy the conditions of life,’" said Jacki Alexander, CEO of HonestReporting. "We used our proprietary AI tool to identify whether this was part of a broader pattern, and that analysis formed the basis of our memo."

"Since then, we’ve seen continued use of famine-related language across social media and ideologically aligned outlets," Alexander said. "Content claiming mass starvation has reached millions of views, and the narrative has expanded to include allegations about blocked medical supplies."

The HonestReporting report said the messaging quickly escalated, with viral posts claiming bakeries were shutting down, food supplies were critically low and an "entire generation" of children faced irreversible harm. The narrative, claimed the report, was further reinforced by coverage in outlets including Drop Site News, Middle East Eye, Mondoweiss and Al Jazeera English.

"Hamas understands that its best leverage exists in the information war," Alexander said. 

"That’s why we developed these tools — to document narrative warfare and create a blueprint to dismantle it," Alexander told Fox News Digital. 

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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies nonprofit, said that "What we’re seeing is a recurring pattern in this conflict where the humanitarian narrative is being weaponized."

Goldberg argued that the timing of the famine claims is tied to growing pressure on Hamas to disarm and to broader diplomatic efforts involving the United States, Arab states, and international partners.

"One of those weapons is trying to resurrect a narrative of famine," he said.

Hamas is seeking to "undermine" a coalition involved in shaping Gaza’s post-war future, according to Goldberg, and prevent consensus around next steps. 

"Hamas is the isolated party, and they do not want to disarm," he said.

Goldberg said that, unlike earlier stages of the war, the current environment makes it harder for such claims to take hold. 

"You now have months of ceasefire, and the U.N. and other partners have been directly involved in the humanitarian effort," he said.

"They all have the data … and they are all in a position where there’s a brick wall Hamas is going to find for its disinformation tactics," he added.

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"What worked against just Israel a year ago cannot work as well against an entire coalition," Goldberg said.

A senior Israeli military official told Fox News Digital that during the ceasefire, humanitarian throughput into Gaza averaged roughly 600 trucks per day, far above what the official said U.N. planning models estimated was required to meet baseline food needs.

"According to the U.N., it’s somewhere between 115 to 130 trucks a day," the official said, while emphasizing that recent aid levels have significantly exceeded that threshold.

The official said that despite temporary disruptions during the Iran conflict, crossings quickly reopened and aid volumes returned to high levels, arguing that current famine allegations are "completely false."

"It’s impossible with the amount of aid that is going in," the official said. "There is no shortage of food in the Gaza Strip for an extended period."

Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) similarly told Fox News Digital that Israel’s defense establishment believes Hamas is attempting to exploit global attention shifting toward Iran and Lebanon by pushing renewed humanitarian collapse narratives about Gaza.

Hamas has repeatedly sought throughout the war to portray "a deliberately false narrative of the collapse of the humanitarian system" in Gaza in order to increase international pressure on Israel and shape negotiations, sccording to COGAT. 

A security official said Hamas intensifies such campaigns whenever diplomatic pressure rises.

"Hamas is trying to stall for time and is using all means to maintain its grip on power," the official said. "Whenever negotiations over an agreement take place, Hamas intensifies false campaigns about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip in order to secure international support through fabricated crises."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the United Nations and the World Food Programme for comment. 

After two months of conflict, neither a deadly bombing campaign nor a blockade on Iranian exports has forced Tehran to make the concessions the Trump administration is seeking.

The campaign has intensified in recent weeks, targeting Iran’s oil exports and financial networks while a naval blockade has disrupted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global energy flows. U.S. officials argue the combination of military pressure and economic isolation is intended to weaken Iran’s capabilities and force it back to the negotiating table on more favorable terms.

While the U.S. has killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of top military and political figures, the regime itself remains intact. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was selected to succeed him, and leadership remains firmly hardline.

Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East negotiator and fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, said the administration may have misjudged the type of negotiating partner it would face.

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"Trump was looking for an Iranian Delcy Rodriguez," he told Fox News Digital. "More likely, he's going to end up with an Iranian Kim Jong Un."

He expressed doubt that any decisive victory was possible while the current Iranian regime remained in power.

"And we do not have the capacity to remove the regime."

The standoff increasingly has become a test of whether U.S. pressure can be converted into political concessions — or whether it is instead being diluted through workarounds, institutional resilience and competing constraints.

So far, analysts say, Iran has proven more capable of absorbing and rerouting pressure than Washington has been able to translate it into durable gains.

On Monday, Iran floated a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for relief from the blockade, while deferring negotiations on more contentious issues.

But analysts caution that such proposals do not address the core dispute and may not even mean the same thing to both sides.

"What the Iranians mean by opening the straits, and what Trump means, may be two different sorts of things," Miller said.

At the center of the standoff is Iran’s nuclear program, where the gap between the two sides remains wide. The Trump administration has pushed for Iran to eliminate its uranium enrichment capability entirely, while Iran insists that enrichment is a sovereign right and non-negotiable — leaving little room for compromise.

That divide continues to block a broader agreement, even as both sides explore more limited steps to reduce immediate tensions.

US 'LOCKED AND LOADED' TO DESTROY IRAN’S 'CROWN JEWEL' 'IF WE WANT,' TRUMP WARNS

"It’s almost unimaginable that this administration and the Iranian leadership are willing to make the kinds of concessions that would allow this administration to walk away with a win," Miller said.

"Iranians are willing to give concessions, but Trump is looking for capitulation," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft think tank. "And you can't get a country to capitulate unless you have defeated them."

Instead of folding under pressure, Iran largely has responded by adapting. 

Despite the blockade, Iran has continued to move at least some oil through workaround methods, including sanctioned vessels, smaller ports and alternative routing strategies, even as overall exports have come under strain.

Those efforts have expanded in recent weeks. Reports indicate Iran is exploring overland shipments, including potential rail exports to China, while vessels have increasingly rerouted through Iranian territorial waters or controlled shipping corridors to bypass restrictions.

"The United States successfully closes off one avenue for them, and slowly but surely they are finding workarounds," Parsi said.

The financial impact of the campaign has been significant, even if uneven. Estimates vary, but some analysts put Iran’s potential losses from the blockade at roughly $400 million per day, largely driven by disrupted oil exports and reduced access to hard currency.

At the same time, Iran has not been fully cut off. The country has continued to generate billions in oil revenue in recent months, underscoring both the scale of the pressure and its limits.

While a sustained drop in oil revenue would strain the government’s official budget and force cuts to public spending, the country’s most powerful institution, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, operates through its own economic networks, including smuggling routes and cross-border trade.

That allows key parts of the regime to continue functioning even under heavy sanctions, meaning economic pain often falls unevenly — hitting civilians before it weakens the state’s coercive apparatus.

Even attempts to directly destabilize Iran’s leadership have not fundamentally altered that dynamic. U.S. and Israeli operations earlier in the conflict killed Khamenei along with dozens of senior military and political figures.

Yet the regime has remained intact, with power consolidating among remaining political and security elites aligned with hardline positions.

How long Iran can sustain that posture remains uncertain. Miller said a prolonged blockade could eventually force a breaking point — but only if Washington is willing to maintain it.

"If the administration is prepared for six months to keep up this blockade, I think they could probably break the Iranian economy," Miller said.

But he cautioned that such timelines are difficult to predict and that even U.S. intelligence lacks a clear picture of when economic pressure might translate into political concessions.

That uncertainty raises a broader question about the sustainability of the strategy. While Iran’s leadership may be willing to absorb significant economic pain, the U.S. faces its own constraints, including potential strain on military resources and growing risks to global energy markets.

"There are no midterms. There are no primaries. There are no sell-by dates for Iran," Miller said. "And Trump has a sell-by date."

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. 

For now, both sides appear to be waiting for the other to lose the political will to sustain the standoff, with global energy markets caught in the middle.