The reticence expressed by Democrats about removing President Donald Trump from office — even after he ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and attacked Iran without seeking congressional approval — quickly fell away after his latest threat to Iran.

The president’s Tuesday morning Truth Social post, which threatened “a whole civilization will die tonight” and raised the specter of nuclear war, began a chorus of calls either for Trump’s impeachment or for his removal via the invocation of the 25th Amendment. On Tuesday evening, Trump and Iran announced a two-week ceasefire.

“This is a threat of genocide and merits removal from office. The President’s mental faculties are collapsing and cannot be trusted,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., posted to X on Tuesday. “To every individual in the President’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. That includes carrying out this threat.”

Trump’s ultimatum came ahead of his Tuesday night deadline for Iran to make a deal with the U.S. and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping channel for the world’s oil out of the Persian Gulf.

The chance of Trump being removed from office is low, and his Cabinet members — who would have to play an active role in invoking the 25th Amendment — routinely publicly praise him.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., posted to X after the announcement that he was “glad Trump backed off and is desperately searching for any sort of exit ramp from his ridiculous bluster.”

But the pause may not be enough to forestall calls for removal in Congress, where dozens of Democrats — and a few Republicans — condemned Trump on Tuesday. Several said the ceasefire changes nothing.

“Just because a President announces he’s agreed to a two week ceasefire moments before he threatened to commit war crimes, does not mean he is suddenly fit to serve. #25thAmendment,” posted Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M.

Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., on Monday introduced articles of impeachment, citing Trump’s “serial usurpation of the congressional war power and commission of murder, war crimes and piracy.”

On Tuesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., also advocated for impeachment. “When will it be enough for my Republican colleagues to grow spines and remove him from office?” Omar posted to X.

Others, such as Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., argued that Section 4 of the 25th Amendment — which allows for the involuntary transfer of power if the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet declare the president incapacitated — should be invoked.

“If the United States Congress has any life left in it, every member of Congress and senator must be calling for Trump’s removal today based on the 25th Amendment,” Khanna said in a video posted to X. “He is threatening the entire destruction of a civilization. He is calling Iranians animals.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement late Tuesday that Trump should be removed from office one way or another.

“If the Cabinet is not willing to invoke the 25th Amendment and restore sanity, Republicans must reconvene Congress to end this war.”

The White House criticized the calls for Trump to be removed from office.

“This is pathetic,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in an email. “Democrats have been talking about impeaching President Trump since before he was even sworn into office. The Democrats in Congress are deranged, weak, and ineffective, which is why their approval ratings are at historic lows.”

Just 140 Democrats in December voted to advance a measure from Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, to impeach Trump.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who has at times called for Trump’s impeachment, told CNBC in March that any such effort was off the table for at least as long as Democrats are in the minority in both chambers. And in an election year in which Democrats are trying to hammer Trump and Republicans on affordability, many see impeachment as a losing issue.

“I think when we take control of the House we will consider that,” Waters said.

But neither impeachment nor the use of the 25th Amendment is likely at the moment, with Republicans in control of both chambers and no open revolt within the Trump administration over the Iran war.

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment has never been invoked and would require buy-in from Vice President JD Vance, the Cabinet and eventually two-thirds of Congress if Trump argued he is not incapacitated.

Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former Georgia representative and Trump acolyte-turned-antagonist, called Trump’s post “evil and madness.”

“25TH AMENDMENT!!! Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization,” Greene posted to X.

Elected Republicans began to publicly recoil in the hours after the president’s initial proclamation that he would destroy the Iranian civilization.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, broke sharply with Trump in a social media post on Tuesday, condemning his rhetoric.

“The President’s threat that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ cannot be excused away as an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations with Iran,” Murkowski said. “This type of rhetoric is an affront to the ideals our nation has sought to uphold and promote around the world for nearly 250 years. It undermines our long-standing role as a global beacon of freedom and directly endangers Americans both abroad and at home.”

Murkowski, a moderate who has clashed with Trump in the past, said “[e]veryone involved — especially the President and Iran’s leaders — must de-escalate their unprecedented saber-rattling before it is too late.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a current Trump ally, broke with the president during a Monday appearance on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast. Johnson said he hoped Trump’s words were “bluster.”

“I do not want to see us start blowing up civilian infrastructure,” Johnson said. “We are not at war with the Iranian people. We are trying to liberate them.”

And Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, in a statement posted to X on Tuesday pushed back on Trump’s rhetoric while stopping short of calling for his removal.

“I do not support the destruction of a ‘whole civilization.’ That is not who we are, and it is not consistent with the principles that have long guided America,” Moran wrote. “I have and will continue to support a strong national defense — one that is focused, disciplined, and firmly rooted in protecting the safety and security of the American people. But, how we protect the lives of the innocent is just as important as how we engage the enemy.”

Rep. Kevin Kiley, a former California Republican recently turned independent, in a post on X said, “The United States does not destroy civilizations.”

“Nor do we threaten to do so as some sort of negotiating tactic. We should all desire a future of freedom, security, and prosperity for the people of Iran,” he said, asserting that Congress “has a responsibility to conduct oversight with respect to ongoing military operations and our obligations under both U.S. law and international agreements to which we are a signatory.”

The U.S. was searching for the crew of an American fighter jet Friday after it was downed in Iran, a U.S. official told MS NOW.

It isn’t clear if the plane was shot down or went down for another reason, MS NOW said. The jet was an F-15, which has two crew members, and the whereabouts of the servicemembers was unknown, according to MS NOW.

The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command didn’t immediately comment.

The New York Times said Iran shot down the fighter jet, citing U.S. and Israeli officials and Iranian state media, though MS NOW said it hadn’t independently verified the reporting.

It appeared to be the first known loss of a U.S. jet in the country since the war in Iran started in late February.

The downing of the jet comes at a delicate time, when the U.S. has showed few signs of slowing its assault on Iran and reports of potential peace talks did not yield a breakthrough. The death toll from the conflict is nearing 5,100 across the Middle East, according to MS NOW.

The war has now gone on for more than a month, suffocating tanker traffic through the critical Strait of Hormuz and threatening supplies of crude oil, fertilizer and other key commodities.

President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post Friday that the U.S. could “easily” open the strait, “TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.”

Trump also threatened late Thursday to escalate attacks on Iranian infrastructure. He said the U.S. “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran,” citing bridges and electric power plants.

In remarks Wednesday, Trump said the U.S. would attack Iran “back to the Stone Ages.”

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants, saying the “New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!” in a Truth Social post.

Trump did not elaborate on what needed to be “done,” but said the U.S. “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran.”

Hours later, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reportedly claimed that a U.S. F-35 fighter jet was shot down over central Iran. Images of the jet were posted on Telegram, with one photo that appeared to show the words “U.S. Air Forces in Europe” on what appeared to be the tail section of a plane.

The U.S. Central Command, which oversees the region, and Iranian authorities did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Trump’s latest threat came a day after a nationwide address in which he said the U.S. military would hit Iran “extremely hard” for the next two or three weeks. He added that the U.S. would “bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong.”

Hours after his speech, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi struck a defiant tone on X, saying that “there was no oil or gas being pumped in the Middle East back then,” referring to Trump’s stone age remarks.

“Are POTUS and Americans who put him in office sure that they want to turn back the clock?” Araghchi said.

Iran has effectively shut tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil route, after the U.S. and Israel attacked the country on Feb. 28.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to send Iran back to the “stone age” as the war entered its second month and the U.S. military build-up in the Middle East showed no signs of slowing.

Despite reports of overtures from the U.S., including ceasefires and a 15-point peace plan to end the war, Iran has publicly contradicted multiple reports about negotiations with the Trump administration on numerous occasions.

Tehran had described the 15-point proposal as “extremely maximalist and unreasonable,” according to an Al Jazeera report on March 25, citing a high-ranking diplomatic source.

Trump said Wednesday that Iran’s “New Regime President” had asked Washington for a ceasefire, a claim that Tehran has denied. Trump has not specified who the “President” is.

“We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!,” he wrote.

Attacks on power plants could constitute a war crime and violate international law, legal experts said.

In a letter dated Thursday and signed by over 100 law experts, the group said international law prohibits attacks on “objects indispensable to the survival of civilians, and the attacks threatened by Trump, if implemented, could entail war crimes.”

Trump had also earlier said that he could target water desalination plants in Iran.

The Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday called on the United Nations Security Council to take “all necessary measures to ensure the immediate cessation of Iranian aggressions against the Council states.”

The six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — have come under attack from Iranian missiles and drones as the war entered its second month.

The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said that its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by drones early on Friday.

Jassim Albudaiwi, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said that while the bloc does not seek war, Iran had “exceeded all red lines” and described Tehran’s attacks as “treacherous.”

Bahrain, the current rotating president of the Security Council, has led an effort to pass a U.N. resolution to ​authorize “all necessary means” to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

But the proposal reportedly stalled after veto-wielding Security Council members China, Russia and France objected to the draft resolution, which would have authorized military action against Iran.

Wartime propaganda has evolved for the social media age, and Iran is now vying with the U.S. to be the world’s biggest keyboard warrior.

As the real-world bombardment in the Middle East continues and casualties mount, both sides in the month-old war are also firing off ironic, pop-culture-steeped memes on the online battlefield. Iran’s new leaders have quickly assumed an online fighting posture, amping up their memes and pointed attacks on the U.S. and Israel.

“What we’re seeing is not just a war of weapons, but it’s also a war of aesthetics,” said Nancy Snow, a professor and author who studies propaganda. “Whoever controls the meme controls the mood.”

Iran’s prime target is President Donald Trump, with state media and top officials alike relentlessly mocking and amplifying criticisms of the U.S. leader.

Top members of Iran’s parliament, its Revolutionary Guard and even its president, Masoud Pezeshkian, have sought to insult or undermine Trump in their messaging. And they’re using the world’s most popular social media platforms, such as Facebook and X, to get the word out.

Among the most striking examples: a series of seemingly AI-generated videos depicting Iranian military successes against the U.S. and Israel in a Legoesque cartoon art style.

One shows a panicked Trump ordering an airstrike after reviewing the “Epstein File” alongside Satan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Another, a rap diss track, calls Trump a “loser” and accuses him of being Netanyahu’s “puppet” over images of stock market sell-offs, missile strikes and coffins.

Those and other messages out of Iran regularly reference Jeffrey Epstein, the late notorious sex offender and former Trump friend at the center of conspiracy theories that the president launched the Iran war to distract the public from headlines about releases of files related to the Epstein investigation.

The plain intent of Iran’s messaging is not just to project defiance and counter U.S. assessments of Tehran’s military weakness, but also to undermine Trump by homing in on some of his biggest political vulnerabilities.

“Iran is blending grievance with meme culture — mixing Epstein, anti-war sentiment and pop visuals to penetrate fragmented Western audiences,” Snow said.

As for why they’re using Legos to convey their message, it may be because of their universal appeal, said Dan Butler, a political science professor at Washington University in St. Louis who uses the toys in his teaching.

“The same reason it works in education is the reason actors would use it for propaganda: people like Legos and will tune in to watch Lego-based films,” Butler told CNBC in an email.

“In fact if something is violent, using Legos might make people lower their defenses and also be more likely to share the material,” he said.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has melded wartime messaging with internet culture even more literally.

In the early days of the war, official accounts shared videos splicing clips from sports, movies and video games into real footage of military strikes.

The visuals dovetail with the relentlessly bombastic and boastful rhetoric from Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who have repeatedly trumpeted the “obliteration” of Iran’s military while assuring that the U.S. is rapidly nearing its objectives for victory.

But the White House officials involved in creating the videos say they have proven effective in drawing attention and connecting with young people. One of them told Politico the efforts are meant to tout U.S. troops’ heroic work “in a way that captivates an audience.”

The White House told CNBC it intends to stick with its messaging strategy.

“The legacy media wants us to apologize for highlighting the United States Military’s incredible success, but the White House will continue showcasing the many examples of Iran’s ballistic missiles, production facilities, and dreams of owning a nuclear weapon being destroyed in real time,” spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.

On the latter metric, the strategy has been a success: Four videos posted on the official White House X account on March 5 and 6 have garnered nearly 100 million impressions as of April 1.

Iran’s goal isn’t to convince or corral its own people — who are reportedly facing extended internet outages — but rather to craft a “response offensive” to undermine the U.S. globally, Stahl said.

“There’s a lot of erosion with regard to potential [U.S.] ally support for this war, and these messages from Iran are playing right into that.”

It’s not all memes and trolling. Iranian officials are also homing in on the war’s destabilizing impact on the global economy and energy prices.

On Monday morning, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. is “in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran.”

The S&P 500 ended the trading day lower while oil prices continued to rise.

Ghalibaf on Tuesday shared a CNN article on Americans struggling with the war-induced spike in U.S. gas prices.

“Sad, but this is what happens when your leaders put others ahead of hard-working and ordinary Americans. It’s not America First anymore … it’s Israel First,” he wrote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday backed a two-track plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security, paving the way to fund the Transportation Security Administration in the near-term while punting debate over the agency’s more controversial immigration enforcement functions. 

The announcement amounts to a reversion back to the bill the Senate passed last week that would have funded all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. Democrats have called for changes to immigration enforcement practices before funding those sub-agencies.

Initial DHS funding for most of the department would be followed by a second measure using a Senate procedure known as budget reconciliation for ICE And CBP, the Republican leaders said Wednesday in a joint statement. Used only for spending-related measures, that process allows the Senate to approve with a simple minority, as opposed to the 60-votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

“In the coming days, Republicans in the Senate and House will be following through on the President’s directive by fully funding the entire Department of Homeland Security on two parallel tracks: through the appropriations process and through the reconciliation process,” Thune and Johnson said in the statement.

Congress is in the first week of a two-week recess and is not due to return until April 13. DHS has been shut down since February, after federal agents killed to U.S. citizens in Minneapolis as part of an immigration crackdown. Democrats have refused to fund the agency until changes to DHS’s immigration enforcement policies are implemented.

Thune and Johnson’s joint statement came after the House GOP revolted on Friday and killed the Senate plan.

Rather than take a vote on the Senate DHS bill that advanced early Friday morning, Johnson announced a plan to pass a stopgap spending measure that would fund all of the agency at its current levels through May 22. That continuing resolution passed 213-203, with three Democrats joining all Republicans in support.

Johnson’s strategy guaranteed the extension of the shutdown that had disrupted air travel across the country, as unpaid TSA agents called out of work and quit in large numbers, ramping up pressure on lawmakers to reach an agreement ahead of heavy travel for the Passover and Easter holidays in early April.

But Congress got some cover from President Donald Trump, who announced last week he would draw from unspent funds from the 2025 Republican tax and spending package, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to pay TSA agents. Those agents began to receive paychecks, and the lines at airport security appeared to ease this week.

Trump earlier Wednesday appeared to back a two-track approach in a post to Truth Social, calling on Congress to get bill to his desk by June 1 using the budget reconciliation process.

“(W)e are going forward to fund our incredible ICE Agents and Border Patrol through a process that doesn’t need Radical Left Democrat votes, and bypasses the Senate Filibuster (which should be repealed, IMMEDIATELY!), working in close conjunction with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune,” Trump posted. “We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us.”

The consensus from Republican leaders could signal the end of the partial government shutdown, but budget reconciliation can be a long and arduous process.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has said he has already begun work on reconciliation and would strive to meet the June 1 deadline.

“This bill will focus on ensuring ICE and other vital functions of homeland security, as well as the U.S. military and efforts to increase voter integrity, are Democrat-resistance proof. I will be working closely with @POTUS and his team in writing this bill,” Graham posted to X on March 26.

But Congress will have to do the hard work of deciding which GOP priorities make it into the final package. Lawmakers have floated a grab bag of proposals that extend well beyond funding for ICE and border patrol, including supplemental funds for the Iran war and a Trump-backed voter identification and noncitizen voting bill. If more things get added, it could complicate the chances of the Senate parliamentarian allowing a simple-majority vote to approve a measure.

“In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited,” Thune and Johnson wrote Wednesday.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has confidentially filed for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission, sources told CNBC’s David Faber, bringing Elon Musk’s rocket company one step closer to what’s expected to be a record public offering.

Bloomberg was first to report on SpaceX’s confidential filing, citing people familiar with the matter, and adding that the company could seek a valuation of $1.75 trillion, with a listing around June.

Founded by Musk in 2002 to develop and operate reusable rockets, SpaceX has turned into NASA’s biggest launch partner after the agency ended its space shuttle program in 2011. The company merged with Musk’s xAI in February, creating a combined entity that he valued at the time at $1.25 trillion.

When SpaceX eventually lists, Musk will become the first person to helm two separate trillion-dollar publicly traded companies. Musk is the world’s richest person, with a net worth of close to $840 billion, according to Forbes. Tesla, which Musk has counted on for the vast majority of his liquid wealth, has a market cap of around $1.4 trillion.

A confidential filing allows companies to submit their financials to the SEC for regulatory review before revealing them to the public and prospective investors. SpaceX will have to release a public filing at least 15 days before its IPO road show.

While SpaceX still has numerous hurdles to clear to reach the public market, the offering — assuming it does happen — will be packed with superlatives. With the company reportedly looking to raise up to $75 billion, it would be more than three times the size of the biggest U.S. IPO to date. China’s Alibaba raised $22 billion in 2014, putting it ahead of Visa, which raised close to $18 billion in 2008.

SpaceX has received over $24.4 billion from its work with the federal government since 2008, according to FedScout, which researches federal spending and government contracts. That includes contracts from NASA, the Air Force and Space Force, among others agencies.

Reena Aggarwal, a professor of finance at Georgetown and an IPO expert, said that even with all hype around Musk and SpaceX, the company still needs a receptive public market. Stocks have been volatile of late due largely to the U.S.-Iran war and spiking oil prices. The Nasdaq is coming off its steepest weekly drop in nearly a year.

“You can have a great company, with great fundamentals and a lot of investor interest — and an IPO can still flop if the markets have turned south, if there’s too much volatility in the market,” Aggarwal said. Hopefully the current geopolitical situations will have cooled down by June and there will be less uncertainty.”

WATCH: SpaceX has filed confidentially for IPO

Hello, this is Holly Ellyatt writing to you from London. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

Global markets will be on tenterhooks today after the White House said that U.S. President Donald Trump will deliver an address “to the nation to provide an important update on Iran” late on Wednesday evening.

The U.S. and Israel’s military operation against Iran is just over a month old but there’s a clear sense that war fatigue could be creeping in at the top, with Trump reportedly telling aides that he was willing to end the war without reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking of which, the president on Tuesday again lambasted European allies for not getting involved in the U.S.’ war, telling the U.K. and France to “Go get your own oil” from the Iran-blocked maritime passage.

Pace yourselves if you want to listen in to President Trump’s address on Wednesday giving an update on the Iran war — it’s set to take place at 9 p.m. ET — that’s 2 a.m. on Thursday London time.

“We leave because there’s no reason for us to do this,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’ll be ‌leaving very soon.” He also seemed to dismiss the idea of having to reach a negotiated settlement to end the war, signaling that the U.S. could just declare victory and end hostilities.

Global markets certainly like the idea of the war ending sooner rather than later: Asia-Pacific markets rebounded overnight while European bourses look set to rally at the open on Wednesday. U.S. stock futures also ticked higher on hopes that Trump is looking for an off-ramp to the war, which has sent global energy prices rocketing. Crude oil prices once again extended gains overnight.

We’ll have to wait and see what the president says later, but he’ll be mindful that this war has never had much support from U.S. voters and the majority want him to focus on domestic matters — ‘America First,’ remember?

Speaking of voting, the president signed an executive order on Tuesday cracking down on mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in November. The move did not go down well with voting-rights advocates, who warned it could disenfranchise millions of Americans.

It’s April Fool’s Day, so watch out for any news that seems too outlandish – I know, it’s getting harder these days.

— Holly Ellyatt

Oracle cutting thousands in latest layoff round as company continues to ramp AI spending

European defense tech startups are ramping up commercial discussions with Middle East governments since the Iran war, company execs told CNBC. Another CEO said interest from Gulf states was “skyrocketing” as they race to bolster measures to counter drone and missile attacks.

Iran has targeted its neighbors since a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation began at the end of February, with more than 3,000 drones and missiles having been fired on the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, according to data compiled by think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

European startups that develop defense technology, in particular drone and missile interceptors, told CNBC they were increasingly talking with and receiving approaches from Gulf states to supply their militaries. Others are ramping up hiring in the region as they look to meet the demand for their systems.

Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that the company was in talks to raise new funding at more than a $1 billion valuation.

UK-based startup Valarian, which builds digital infrastructure for sensitive use cases including those in defense, didn’t have defense contracts with Gulf states before the Iran war but has seen commercial discussions with them increase since the conflict began, CEO Max Buchan told CNBC.

Uforce has seen interest from Gulf states in its defense tech “skyrocket” since the beginning of the Iran war, CEO Oleg Rogynskyy told CNBC. Uforce is developing several defense technologies, including counter-uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), maritime and strike drones and battlefield software.

“We’re having a ton of inbound interest,” he said. “Gulf states are coming to us to figure out how to do large-scale, unmanned operations.” That included intercept, de-mining, strike, future convoy and escort and patrol operations at sea, Rogynskyy added.

Uforce has been providing defence tech for Ukrainian operations in the Black Sea, he told CNBC, adding that the lessons from that war “are directly applicable to what is happening in Iran, both from an operational, tactical and strategic perspective.”

“We are looking at the very similar mine and missile-based sea denial from the Iran side, to how Russia prevented Ukrainian grain from being exported, initially.”

Uforce, which raised $50 million at a valuation above $1 billion earlier this month, is now looking to hire a team permanently based in the Middle East, because of the demand caused by the Iran war. The company currently has a Ukrainian delegation in the region, but aims to recruit five to 10 employees in the next few weeks, Rogynskyy told CNBC.

Frankenburg is also looking to build out a Middle East-based team. The startup didn’t have any employees in the region before the war, but is now looking to hire there “significantly,” CEO Salm told CNBC. While the Middle East has been a focus of Frankenburg since the company’s inception in 2024, hiring plans have been accelerated because of the Iran war, he said.

Defense tech startups in Europe have raised record sums in recent years as global geopolitical tensions have risen. The sector picked up $1.8 billion in 2025, according to deal-counting platform Dealroom, nearly three times the previous highest yearly figure, and has already raised $854 million so far in 2026.

The U.K. and Germany have emerged as key hubs of this wave of new defense companies, with France and Ukraine also developing increasingly well-funded startups.

The U.S. Army is investigating the apparent flyby of that military branch’s Apache helicopters over the weekend at the Nashville, Tennessee, home of singer Kid Rock, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, an Army spokesman said Monday.

On Saturday, Kid Rock posted videos on his X account showing two helicopters hovering and flying close to his home, as he pointed at them, pumped his fist in appreciation and saluted while standing next to a pool, a miniature Statue of Liberty and a sign above his head that said, “Southern White House.”

“This is a level of respect that s— for brains Governor of California will never know,” the singer wrote in one post, referring to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a staunch Democratic critic of Trump. “God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her.”

“The Army is aware of a video circulating online that appears to show AH 64 Apache helicopters operating in the vicinity of a private residence in the Nashville area,” Army Spokesman Maj. Montrell Russell said in an emailed statement to CNBC.

“Army aviators must adhere to strict safety standards, professionalism, and established flight regulations. An administrative review is underway to assess the mission and verify compliance with regulations and airspace requirements,” Russell said.

The spokesman added, “Appropriate action will be taken if any violations are found. Until the review is complete, there will be no further comment.”

The X posts by Kid Rock were made on the same day as anti-Trump “No Kings” demonstrations were held around the United States.

Newsom’s X account in February mocked Kid Rock for a video showing him and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. working out together shirtless.

A federal judge in San Francisco granted Anthropic’s request for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against the Trump administration. 

Judge Rita Lin issued the ruling on Thursday, two days after lawyers for the artificial intelligence startup and the U.S. government appeared in court for a hearing. Anthropic sued the administration to try to reverse its blacklisting by the Pentagon and President Donald Trump’s directive banning federal agencies from using its Claude models.

Anthropic sought the injunction to pause those actions and prevent further monetary and reputational harm as the case unfolds. The order bars the Trump administration from implementing, applying or enforcing the president’s directive, and hampers the Pentagon’s efforts to designate Anthropic as a threat to U.S. national security. 

“Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government’s contracting position is classic illegal First Amendment retaliation,” Lin wrote in the order. A final verdict in the case could still be months away. 

During Tuesday’s hearing, Lin pressed the government’s lawyers about why Anthropic was blacklisted. Her language in Thursday’s order was even sharper.

“Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government,” she wrote.

Following the ruling, Anthropic said it’s “grateful to the court for moving swiftly.”

“While this case was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers, and our partners, our focus remains on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe, reliable AI,” the company said in a statement.  

Anthropic’s suit earlier this month followed a dramatic couple weeks in Washington D.C., between the Department of Defense and one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

In a post on X in late February, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Anthropic a so-called supply chain risk, meaning that use of the company’s technology purportedly threatens U.S. national security. In early March, the DOD officially notified Anthropic about the designation via a letter.

Anthropic is the first American company to publicly be named a supply chain risk, as the designation has historically been reserved for foreign adversaries. The label requires Defense contractors, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Palantir, to certify that they do not use Claude in their work with the military. 

The Trump administration relied on two distinct designations – 10 U.S.C. § 3252 and 41 U.S.C. § 4713 – to justify the action, and they have to be challenged in two separate courts. Because of that, Anthropic has filed another lawsuit for a formal review of the Defense Department’s determination in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. 

Shortly before Hegseth declared Anthropic a supply chain risk, President Donald Trump wrote a Truth Social post ordering federal agencies to “immediately cease” all use of Anthropic’s technology. He said there would be a six-month phase-out period for agencies like the DOD.

“WE will decide the fate of our Country — NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about,” Trump wrote.

The Trump administration’s actions surprised many officials in Washington who had come to admire and rely on Anthropic’s technology. The company was the first to deploy its models across the DOD’s classified networks, and it was championed for its ability to integrate with existing Defense contractors like Palantir. 

Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon in July, but as the company began negotiating Claude’s deployment on the DOD’s GenAI.mil AI platform in September, talks stalled.

The DOD wanted Anthropic to grant the Pentagon unfettered access to its models across all lawful purposes, while Anthropic wanted assurance that its technology would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance. 

The two failed to reach an agreement, and now, the dispute will be settled in court. 

“Everyone, including Anthropic, agrees that the Department of [Defense] is free to stop using Claude and look for a more permissive AI vendor,” Lin said during the hearing Tuesday. “I don’t see that as being what this case is about. I see the question in this case as being a very different one, which is whether the government violated the law.

WATCH: Anthropic vs. Pentagon hearing