Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has appointed a veteran commander with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the country's new security chief. Ali Akbar Ahmadian, 62, was named on Monday as the new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), replacing Ali Shamkhani, who held the post for close to a decade. Ahmadian takes the reins of the SNSC at a time of rapidly accelerating diplomatic regional efforts facilitated by his predecessor, including the re-establishment of ties with rival Saudi Arabia after a China-brokered agreement in March. Iran's relations with the West, however, remain sour. A landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers remains in limbo, while Iran has been accused of supplying Russia with armed drones for the war in Ukraine and tensions have steadily risen following nationwide protests that erupted across the country in September last year.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. The U.S. Navy sailed its first drone boat through the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies where American sailors often faces tense encounters with Iranian forces. The trip by the L3 Harris Arabian Fox MAST-13, a 41-foot speedboat carrying sensors and cameras, drew the attention of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but took place without incident, said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Two U.S. Coast Guard cutters, the USCGC Charles Moulthrope and USCGC John Scheuerman, accompanied the drone.

National security analyst Dr. Rebecca Grant joins "Fox News Live" to weigh in on what steps President Biden can take to rein in Iranian-backed militia strikes on U.S. bases in Syria. The Iranian regime's recent drone attack on an American base in Syria, which resulted in the murder of a U.S. contractor, has not deterred the Biden administration from pursuing the controversial nuclear pact with Tehran that would dramatically enrich the coffers of the Islamic Republic. The White House remains wedded to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal – that "would allow Tehran to access up to $275 billion in financial benefits during its first year in effect and $1 trillion by 2030." Veteran Iran experts have argued that the JCPOA is no longer tenable because it is riddled with serious defects about deterring Iran's malign behavior, including failing to stop Tehran's ongoing drone attacks against Americans. Iran's regime was caught enriching uranium to 84% purity in February – just 6% short of weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon.

Pro-Iranian forces in Syria have said they have a "long arm" to respond to further United States air strikes on their positions, after tit-for-tat missile and drone attacks in Syria over the last 24 hours. The online statement, released late on Friday and signed by the Iranian Advisory Committee in Syria, said US air strikes had left several of their fighters dead and wounded, without specifying the fighters' nationality. "We have the capability to respond if our centres and forces in Syria are targeted," the statement said. On Friday night, two Syrian opposition activist groups reported a new wave of US air attacks on eastern Syria, which hit positions of Iran-backed militias, after rockets were fired at bases in Syria housing US troops. Several US officials, however, denied that attacks were launched late on Friday.

Nikki Haley, presidential candidate and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., weighs in after President Biden authorized an air strike in response to an Iranian drone that killed an American. The U.S. can no longer take a reactive stance toward Iran after a new Pentagon report revised the total number of troops killed by Iran-backed groups continues to rise, experts told Fox News Digital. "Iran's regional strategy of working through proxies and carve outs is continuing unabated," Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow and Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said. "The open question is, when will the Biden administration ditch tit-for-tat strikes and work to rollback Iran's Shiite militia network in the heartland of the Middle East?" President Biden ordered a series of retaliatory precision airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, reportedly killing eight Iranians, after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps crashed a UAV into a building, killing a U.S. contractor and wounding six other Americans. U.S. intelligence assessed the UAV that crashed into a coalition base, which killed the contractor, was of Iranian origin -- so President Biden authorized the military to retaliate, the Pentagon said.

U.S. CENTCOM Commander General Michael Kurilla told senators Thursday that the Pentagon has seen an "increase recently in the unprofessional and unsafe behavior of the Russian air force." The U.S. military carried out several airstrikes in Syria on Thursday in response to a drone strike Iranian forces conducted earlier in the day on a coalition base that killed one American. The Defense Department said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps crashed a UAV into a building near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time, leaving one U.S. contractor dead. The attack also wounded five U.S. service members and another U.S. contractor. U.S. intelligence assessed the UAV and determined it to be of Iranian origin -- so President Biden authorized the military to retaliate, the Pentagon said.

Fox News contributor Gen. Keith Kellogg on Iran's president claiming former President Trump must be prosecuted for his involvement in the killing of Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani. A woman accused of luring a man to a Las Vegas area hotel and stabbing him in a revenge plot over the U.S. takedown of an Iranian general has been kicked off of a Texas campus where she had enrolled under the radar despite a Nevada judge ordering her house arrest. Officials at the University of Texas at Dallas told Fox News Digital Thursday that Nika Nikoubin was admitted to the school for the spring 2023 semester. "University officials recently became aware that she was charged with a crime and is under the jurisdiction of a Nevada court," the school said. "Because the safety of our campus and our community is of utmost importance, we have removed her from campus. The UT Dallas Police will monitor the student's compliance with the removal order."

Former DHS adviser Charles Marino breaks down the national security risks posed by the U.S. shooting down the third flying object in a week on'Fox News Live.' Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is expected to pay a state visit to China this week at the request of President Xi Jinping, Beijing confirmed Sunday. The visit, scheduled from Tuesday to Thursday, is Raisi's first to China since 2021 and is intended to strengthen ties between the two countries, both U.S. rivals. FILE: In this file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a photo on the sidelines of a meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sept. 16, 2022. Raisi will meet with Xi and their delegations will sign cooperation documents, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA. Meeting with Iranian and Chinese business leaders and Iranian expatriates in China is also part of his itinerary, the report added.

An analysis of satellite images appears to show damage to an Iranian military facility in a drone attack last week, including holes in the building's roof, according to The Associated Press news agency. Cloudy weather had prevented satellite pictures of the site of the facility from showing the effect of the attack on January 28. While Iran has offered no explanation yet of what the facility in the city of Isfahan manufactured, the assault threatened to again raise tensions in the region, with Tehran blaming Israel for the drone attack, a conclusion that was also reached by United States officials. Video taken of the attack showed an explosion at the site after anti-aircraft fire targeted the drones, likely from one of the drones reaching the building's roof. Iran's military has claimed that it shot down two other drones before they reached the site.

An Iranian military facility was hit with a drone strike Jan. 29, 2023. Iran on Thursday blamed Israel for a drone strike that hit a military factory near the city of Isfahan over the weekend and threatened revenge, saying it "reserves its legitimate and inherent right" to respond. Reports surfaced earlier this week citing a U.S. official who attributed the attack to Israel, but Tehran's accusation could prolong what appears to have become a covert war between the Middle Eastern nations. "Early investigations suggest that the Israeli regime was responsible for this attempted act of aggression," Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said in a letter to the United Nations, though he did not cite the evidence Tehran has to back its accusations. Eyewitness footage shows what is said to be the moment of an explosion at a military industry factory in Isfahan, Iran, Jan. 29, 2023, in this still image obtained from a video.