The United States isbracing for Iran's responseafter President Donald Trump launched punishing strikes on Iranian nuclear energy sites Saturday. It was the first time the U.S. has directly bombed the Islamic Republic. The U.S. struck Iranian nuclear facilities, including the key Fordo site, with 14 GBU-57s, 30,000-pound "bunker buster bombs," according to the U.S. military. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that while the U.S. did not want war, it will "act swiftly and decisively when our people, our partners or our interests are threatened." The few days are of particular concern, according to two defense officials and a senior White House official. It's unclear whether any retaliation would target overseas or domestic locations, or both, the officials said. While Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned of "everlasting consequences," experts say the country has limited options. Iran's capacity to strike is narrower than it once was. H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, told NBC News that Iran still has the power to attack, "but only because Israelis haven't taken out all of their missile launchers." Iran still has around 40% of its launchers, Hellyer said. Iran's proxy network has also been battered by years of attrition with Israel and the U.S. Its most important ally, Hezbollah in Lebanon, has indicated it would not join the fight against Israel. Iran may also lack staunch support from its neighbors — some Gulf nations stopped short of condemning the U.S. attacks on Iran, calling instead for de-escalation. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' cyber capabilities are formidable, and the U.S. considers Iran one of its four major adversaries in cyberspace along with China, North Korea and Russia. While Iran lacks Russia's robust cybercrime syndicates or China's vast teams of sophisticated digital spies, the U.S. has in recent years accused Iranians of working for the IRGC. If Iran conduct retaliatory cyberattacks, they would come in the wake ofseveral rounds of cutsto the Trump administration's top civilian cyber defense agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. CISA's two former directors have both warned that the administration's cuts make U.S. infrastructure more vulnerable to hackers. Follow live updates here. Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. is not at war with Iran, but with Tehran's nuclear weapons program. During an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press," moderator Kristen Welker asked the vice president whether the U.S. was now at war with Iran. "We're not at war with Iran," Vance said. "We're at war with Iran's nuclear program." Vance alsodeclined to confirm with 100% confidencethat the country's nuclear sites had been completely destroyed. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., meanwhile, brushed offconcerns that Trump had acted without authorization from Congress. "Congress can declare war or cut off funding. We can't be the commander in chief. You can't have 535 commander in chiefs," Graham said, referring to the number of representatives and senators. But Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said that the president can act militarily "when there's a clear and imminent threat to U.S. citizens, to the United States, to the homeland." "That wasn't the case here," Kelly said. Flip-flop:Across the country, 20-point margins in counties Republicans were winning at the turn of the centuryhave turned into 50-point marginsor more in recent years. Political competitiveness at the local level is being replaced by landslide loyalty to a single party. Fighting on:After more than three months in ICE detention, Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalilreturned to the New York area,where his harrowing ordeal first began — and vowed to keep speaking out against the war in Gaza. Well, that's "awkward":Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel isconsidering a run for president in 2028, and admits the potential of taking on his friend and ally Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is "going to be awkward." Feminists, religious crusaders and "alpha male" influencers are unlikely allies in the decades-old battle over adult content — andthey're on a winning streak. Anti-porn campaigners have pushed states into implementing online age verification laws, while some politicians are pursuing aggressive bans on explicit content. Culturally, the view that porn is harmful not only to women but increasingly also to men and to the sexual development of young people has made significant inroads. Once viewed as a fringe moral crusade, the war against porn has ballooned into a multipronged, mainstream force over the past decade. Porn industry leaders have acknowledged their ongoing battle with deepfakes, underage content and revenge porn, including Pornhub, which removed millions of unverified videos from its website in 2020 following allegations that the site showed problematic content. Gail Dines, a key figure in the anti-porn movement for over 30 years, said the goal isn't necessarily to ban porn, but argued the industry has "sowed the seeds of its own destruction." It all comes down to this. The NBA Finals. Game 7. The Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy on the line. After a postseason filled with memorable games (and ahandful of wild Indiana Pacers comebacks), the NBA will decide its champion when the Oklahoma City Thunder and star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander host Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers at the Paycom Center. NBC News will be covering Game 7 live from OKC.Follow all the action here. I think their parents did not raise them well enough. Esther Yang, New York City yoga instructor Acast of scandal-plagued candidatesis testing the limits of what New York City voters will forgive, with Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams and Anthony Weiner bringing no shortage of baggage to their political campaigns this year. A shooter at a Michigan church injured one person Sunday before beingshot and killed by a security guard, according to local authorities. A hot-air ballooncaught fire and tumbled from the skyon Saturday in Brazil's southern state of Santa Catarina, killing eight people. At least three peopleare dead in rural North Dakotaafter tornadoes left damage across eastern areas of the state, the Cass County Sheriff's Office said Saturday. The Phoenix Suns are reportedlytrading forward Kevin Durantto the Houston Rockets in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in this week's NBA draft and a slew of future picks. Fred Smith, the FedEx Corp. founder whorevolutionized the express delivery industry, has died, the company said. He was 80. In Indianapolis, which is home to around 30,000 Burmese people, a travel ban and tariffs on goods from Myanmarhave hit local businesses hard. Dozens of people suffered minor injuries when a yacht carrying 352 passengerscrashed into a pier on the Hudson Riverin New York City, authorities said. In the wake of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s move to shake up a key federal vaccine advisory committee, outside medical organizations and independent expertsare considering forming their ownunbiased group.