Hamas has already pledged to take revenge after the Palestinian militant group’s political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran.
The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh "clearly had the support and foreknowledge of the United States and the United Kingdom," retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official Larry Johnson insisted in an interview with Sputnik.
"I say that because we also have news reports now coming in that the US and UK warships are headed into the Mediterranean. On one of the US ships is probably a Marine Expeditionary Unit," Johnson said.
So the situation "has now escalated tensions in the region beyond what they were, even after the attack on the Iranian consul in April in Beirut," according to him.
Responding to that attack, Iran "sent a very clear message to Israel that in the future, any further provocations like this would be met with force, and now both Hezbollah and Iran have been incited to respond and Israel is calculating that it can withstand the blows," the former CIA intelligence officer added.
"This is extremely dangerous. […] This attack [on Haniyeh] was so blatant that I don't think there will be any restraint on the part of Iran or Hezbollah. I think that this may in fact have been crossing a red line. It is extremely worrisome because this has the hallmarks of being able to spin out of control. And it is, we're now in a situation of wait and see," Johnson stressed.
The remarks come after the Palestinian militant group Hamas confirmed in a statement that Haniyeh was killed in what Hamas said was an Israeli raid on his residence in Tehran after he attended the inauguration of the new Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Haniyeh "passed as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid," Hamas insisted, while the movement’s politburo member Mousa Abu Marzook condemned the assassination as a "cowardly action" that he warned would not go unanswered.
Who Was Ismail Haniyeh?
Hamas has confirmed the death of its politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh, which was killed in what the Palestinian militant group said was an Israeli raid on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Haniyeh was born in a refugee camp near Gaza City in 1962, joining Hamas in the late 1980s during the First Intifada, or uprising.
The 62-year-old served as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority between 2006 and 2007, after Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian legislative elections at the time.
After the establishment of a Hamas-led administration in the Gaza Strip, as a result of Hamas’ spat with rival Fatah faction, Haniyeh served as the leader of the de facto government in Gaza in 2007-2014.
Haniyeh left Gaza in December 2019, living in Turkiye and Qatar, and building up his authority to represent Hamas abroad.
His most notable previous visits included the funeral of Qassem Soleimani, a top commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who was killed by a US drone strike in 2020, and the inauguration of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in 2021.
In April of this year, Israeli airstrikes killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren, with Haniyeh making clear at the time that their deaths would not affect the ceasefire, and the hostage talks that were under way back then.
Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh lived in Qatar [File: Vahid Salemi/AP]
The leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has been assassinated in Iran, officials in the country have said.
Iran’s state television made the announcement of the killing early on Wednesday, and was confirmed by Hamas.
A Revolutionary Guards statement said that Haniyeh and a security guard had been ambushed in their place of residence.
The Guards said what caused the incident was not yet known, but an investigation is underway.
Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in the Iranian capital of Tehran, the Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday.
The agency said Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were "martyred" after their residence in Tehran was targeted.
"With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the combatants of the Resistance Front and the noble nation of Iran, this morning (Wednesday) the residence of Mr. Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred," a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) read.
Iran is investigating the causes of the killing of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard in Tehran, with the results to be announced soon, the Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Earlier on Wednesday, Palestinian movement Hamas said that Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli attack on his residence in Tehran after he took part in the inauguration of Iran's newly elected president.
Palestinian movement Hamas said on Wednesday that the movement’s politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an Israeli attack on his residence in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
"The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas expresses condolences to the sons of our great Palestinian people ... Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement ... was killed as a result of a treacherous Zionist attack on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration ceremony of the new president of Iran," the movement said on Telegram.
Iran's new president Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in on Tuesday.
Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated in Iran’s capital, Tehran, according to a statement from the group that governs Gaza, which blamed Israel for his death.
Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed after the building where they were staying was struck, the statement said, adding that Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday
“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas mourns to our great Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic nation, and to all the free people of the world: Brother, leader, martyr, Mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, who was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran,” Hamas said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also announced Haniyeh’s death.
“Early this morning, the residence of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran was struck, resulting in his and one of his bodyguards’ martyrdom. The cause is under investigation and will be announced soon,” the IRGC said in a statement.
An Israeli Terrorist attempt to kill Fuad Shukr, commander of Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah, has failed, a source holding a senior position in the movement said on Tuesday.
"The Israeli strikes had been aimed at assassinating commander Fuad Shukr. The assassination attempt has failed," the source said.
At least 17 people, including six children, were injured on Tuesday as a result of the Israeli strike of the Haret Hreik municipality in the Dahieh suburbs south of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed reported, citing its correspondent.
Hezbollah says that Shukr survived the attack and the group has denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams.
Fuad Shukr, who Israel terrorists said was the target of the strike in southern Beirut, has been one of Hezbollah’s leading military figures since it was established more than four decades ago.
Shukr was a friend of the group’s late military commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in Damascus in 2008, Hezbollah sources told the Reuters news agency.
The US-support israel terrorists says Shukr, believed to be in his 60s, played a central role in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 US military personnel and put a bounty of up to $5m on his head.
Also known as Al-Hajj Mohsin, Hezbollah sources said Shukr is a special adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a member of the Shura Council, a decision-making body.
Sources said he became more prominent in Hezbollah after the assassination of Mughniyeh – a shadowy figure remembered in Hezbollah as a military mastermind who was on the US list of most wanted terrorists.
Hezbollah sources said Shukr fought Israeli terrorists troops during Terrorists Israel’s 1982 invasion alongside Mughniyeh and Mustafa Badreddine, another of Hezbollah’s veteran commanders who was killed in Syria in 2016.
Hamas has strongly condemned Israeli Terrorists strike on Beirut's suburb and stated full solidarity with Lebanon.
Lebanese PM Najib Mikati also condemned "the Israeli aggression against the southern suburbs of Beirut", considering it "a link in a series of aggressive operations".
"We put the Israeli aggression before the international community to bear responsibilitiy and oblige Israel to stop its aggression. We will reserve our full right to take all necessary measures that contribute to deterring Israeli aggression," stated Mikati, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the strikes on Lebanon are a gross violation of international law.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday reported the destruction of another Ukraine-operated M1 Abrams tank, and shared drone footage of an artillery strike on the vehicle.
The US-made tank was found to the northwest of the Russian city of Avdeevka in Donetsk People’s Republic and a 152-mm Msta-S self-propelled howitzer was deployed to strike it. The heavy vehicle became stuck in the mud and was unable to drive away, the military said.
The howitzer fired a single Krasnopol guided shell, scoring a direct hit. The tank was destroyed on the spot with all of its occupants, a crew member of the Msta-S said.
Footage shared by the ministry shows the tank stuck with one of its tracks in a ditch, appearing to be an overgrown trench. The Krasnopol shell was guided by an Orlan-30 drone that had been tracking the tank.
Washington pledged a batch of some 31 M1 Abrams tanks and several M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicles – which are based on the same chassis – in January 2023 ahead of the long-hyped yet ultimately disastrous Ukrainian counteroffensive. The tanks made it to Ukraine only in mid-October, when the counteroffensive drive was largely exhausted.
The tanks starred in multiple Ukrainian propaganda videos before making an actual battlefield debut in February this year, when the vehicles were deployed in an effort to stabilize the frontline after the liberation of Avdeevka by the Russian troops. Over a dozen of the tanks have been destroyed since then.
Russian troops liberate Leninskoye community in DPR over past day — top brass
Russia’s Battlegroup Center liberated the settlement of Leninskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.
"Battlegroup Center units liberated the settlement of Leninskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic as a result of active operations and improved their tactical position," the ministry said in a statement.
Russia’s Battlegroup North strikes four Ukrainian brigades over past day
Russia’s Battlegroup North struck four Ukrainian army brigades and inflicted more than 250 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.
"Battlegroup North units inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 57th mechanized, 82nd air assault, 36th marine infantry and 3rd National Guard brigades in areas near the settlements of Staritsa, Liptsy, Volchansk and Tikhoye in the Kharkov Region. During the last 24-hour period, they repelled seven counterattacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 42nd mechanized, 57th motorized infantry and 92nd assault brigades," the ministry said.
The Ukrainian army’s losses over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 250 personnel, a US-made HMMWV armored vehicle, two pickup trucks, a US-made 155mm M777 howitzer, a 152mm Giatsint-B field gun and a 122mm D-30 howitzer, it specified.
In addition, Russian troops destroyed a Plastun electronic reconnaissance station and a field ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army, the ministry said.
Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicts 500 casualties on Ukrainian army over past day
Russia’s Battlegroup West improved its frontline positions and inflicted roughly 500 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.
"Battlegroup West units improved their forward edge positions and inflicted casualties on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 14th, 67th and 115th mechanized, 3rd assault, 110th and 125th territorial defense brigades near Sinkovka and Tabayevka in the Kharkov Region, Makeyevka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Krasny Liman and Terny in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the ministry said.
The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 500 personnel, a tank, two armored combat vehicles, three pickup trucks, a 155mm Bogdana self-propelled artillery system, a US-made 155mm M198 artillery gun, two 122mm D-30 howitzers and a US-made 105mm M119 artillery system, it specified.
In addition, Russian troops destroyed a Croatian-made RAK-SA-12 multiple rocket launcher, Bukovel-AD and Anklav electronic warfare stations and two field ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, the ministry said.
Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicts 650 casualties on Ukrainian army over past day
Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicted roughly 650 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed three enemy ammunition depots in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.
"Battlegroup South units gained more advantageous positions in active operations and inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 24th, 28th, 32nd and 54th mechanized and 79th air assault brigades in areas near the settlements of Verkhnekamenskoye, Belaya Gora, Chasov Yar, Aleksandro-Shultino, Seversk and Katerinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. They repelled a counterattack by a formation of the Ukrainian army’s 5th assault brigade," the ministry said.
The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 650 personnel, three armored combat vehicles, two motor vehicles, three US-made 155mm M777 howitzers, two US-made 155mm M198 howitzers, two 152mm D-20 howitzers and two US-made 105mm M119 artillery guns, it specified.
In addition, Russian troops destroyed three field ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, it said.
Russia’s Battlegroup Center strikes five Ukrainian army brigades over past day
Russia’s Battlegroup Center struck five Ukrainian army brigades in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.
Battlegroup Center units "inflicted casualties on the Ukrainian army’s 31st, 32nd and 47th mechanized, 1st tank and 68th infantry brigades in areas near the settlements of Toretsk, Zhelannoye, Vozdvizhenka, Sergeyevka, Grodovka, Nikolayevka and Novgorodskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic. They repelled six counterattacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 53rd, 100th, 110th and 151st mechanized, 142nd infantry and 95th air assault brigades," the ministry said.
The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 315 personnel, a tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, six motor vehicles and two 122mm D-30 howitzers, it said.
Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicts over 125 casualties on Ukrainian army in past day
Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicted more than 125 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.
"Battlegroup East units improved their forward edge positions and inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 72nd and 116th mechanized and 58th motorized infantry brigades in areas near the settlements of Vodyanoye, Storozhevoye and Makarovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Gulyaipole in the Zaporozhye Region," the ministry said.
The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 125 personnel, an armored combat vehicle, seven motor vehicles, a British-made 155mm FH70 howitzer and a US-made 155mm M198 howitzer, it specified.
Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr destroys four Ukrainian ammo depots over past day
Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr destroyed four Ukrainian ammunition depots and inflicted roughly 90 casualties on enemy troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.
"Battlegroup Dnepr units inflicted casualties on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 141st infantry, 128th mountain assault and 35th marine infantry brigades in areas near the settlements of Novodanilovka, Lobkovoye and Kamenskoye in the Zaporozhye Region and Tyaginka in the Kherson Region," the ministry said.
The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 90 personnel, three motor vehicles, a 122mm D-30 howitzer, an Anklav-N electronic warfare station and four field ammunition depots, it specified.
Russian troops wipe out Ukrainian Mars-L radar station over past day
Russian troops destroyed a Ukrainian Mars-L radar station over the past day, the ministry reported.
"Operational/tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groups of forces destroyed a Mars-L aerial reconnaissance radar station and struck massed enemy manpower and military equipment in 137 areas," the ministry said.
Russian air defenses destroy US-made Patriot missile, 45 Ukrainian UAVs over past day
Russian air defense forces shot down a US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile and 45 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the past day, the ministry reported.
"Air defense capabilities shot down seven US-made HIMARS rockets, a missile of a US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system and 45 unmanned aerial vehicles," the ministry said.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 631 Ukrainian warplanes, 278 helicopters, 28,692 unmanned aerial vehicles, 556 surface-to-air missile systems, 16,725 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,393 multiple rocket launchers, 12,567 field artillery guns and mortars and 24,201 special military motor vehicles since the start of the special military operation, the ministry reported.
Patrick Kunz poured out his heart to an OnlyFans porn star then realized he was talking to strangers. REUTERS/Michaela Stache
By ANDREW R.C. MARSHALL, JASON SZEP and LINDA SO
Many top porn stars on OnlyFans hire ‘chatters’ to impersonate them online and entice subscribers into splurging on explicit content. These impostors aren’t formally affiliated with OnlyFans but have brought it riches – and new legal threats. Some subscribers say the deception amounts to fraud. One shares his story of betrayal.
When Patrick Kunz began chatting with a porn star on OnlyFans in April 2022, he couldn’t believe his luck. Nikki was a blonde Hungarian bombshell who resembled his first girlfriend.
Soon, using the social media site’s messaging function, he was chatting with Nikki about everything from their sexual fantasies to their shared love of cats. Kunz, who is 42 and works for an insurance company in Germany, paid her hundreds of dollars to make sex videos just for him, and thousands more in tips.
He fell deeply in love, he said. Nikki said she loved him, too.
Then Kunz started noticing strange things. She seemed to forget subjects they’d already discussed – a recipe for overnight oats, a picture of her own cats. He started asking questions.
“Who are you?” wrote Kunz, who allowed Reuters to read his OnlyFans chats with Nikki.
“What do you meann, babyyy?” came the reply. “It’s meee!☹️”
Kunz slowly realized he was chatting to more than one person. “I fell for her,” he said, “but I’m not stupid.” He was beguiled, he said, by an illusion of intimacy created by a “fraudulent” system.
OnlyFans is a porn-driven, subscription-based website where content creators and their followers can develop what it calls “authentic relationships” by messaging each other. But many popular OnlyFans creators, including porn stars earning millions of dollars through the website, outsource the task of messaging their subscribers to paid impersonators known as “chatters.” It is their job to coax subscribers into tipping the creators and buying more porn.
The presence of chatters on OnlyFans has been documented before, often as a quirky if dubious byproduct of the platform’s runaway success. But a Reuters investigation found they play an essential supporting role in OnlyFans’ business, sustaining a fundamental deception that both hooks and harms loyal customers and brings legal risks to the platform.
OnlyFans doesn’t employ chatters or even acknowledge their existence. Still, they form part of a largely unregulated global ecosystem that has evolved alongside the company’s explosive growth. They are often hired by agencies that manage many top OnlyFans content creators, sometimes referred to as models. All three – agencies, creators and chatters – share the same goal: to persuade subscribers to spend as much money as possible on the models’ accounts.
The deception has been lucrative, helping to generate sensational profits for OnlyFans. The company takes 20% of its creators’ earnings, a cut worth almost $1.1 billion in revenue in 2022 alone. But the use of chatters undermines OnlyFans’ promise of direct connections between creators and subscribers, while exposing often intimate details that subscribers believe to be private. And it potentially places the company in violation of U.S. or European consumer protection and data privacy laws, six legal experts said.
“If you’re telling customers that you’re giving them one thing, but instead giving them something else, then that seems like a paradigm case of a deceptive business practice,” said Brian Berkey, associate professor of legal studies and business ethics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
The Reuters findings are based on interviews with dozens of chatters, models, and their agents, along with documents such as instruction guides for chatters and sex-industry research. Reuters also examined the services promoted by more than 160 agencies that manage some of OnlyFans’ most profitable creators.
An OnlyFans spokesperson said the company “provides creators with a platform to monetize their content and engage with their fan base. OnlyFans is not affiliated with and does not endorse any third party or agency.”
But OnlyFans knows or should know about creators’ use of impostors and has profited handsomely from the deception, alleges a class-action lawsuit filed in August 2023 in U.S. District Court in Illinois. OnlyFans “lines its pockets by allowing the misconduct of its most successful creators,” says the suit, which seeks more than $5 million in damages. It is one of two separate actions filed on behalf of people allegedly duped by OnlyFans chatters posing as models.
Consumer protection experts said chatters hired to impersonate OnlyFans creators could violate a U.S. law enforced by the Federal Trade Commission that prohibits companies from misleading consumers. If found in breach of the law, OnlyFans could face millions of dollars in fines or be forced to refund millions of dollars paid by subscribers.
OnlyFans didn’t respond to most of Reuters’ questions about chatters, but a company spokesperson said: “As independent content creators, each creator is empowered to manage their own business as long as it is in keeping with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy.”
Responding to the Illinois lawsuit in a court filing, Fenix International, OnlyFans’ British parent company, said the platform’s terms of service make clear that creators are legally responsible for transactions with subscribers. Fenix said it bears no responsibility and its role is limited to “providing the OnlyFans platform and storing content.” It also said OnlyFans is immune from U.S. lawsuits due to a federal law that exempts websites from liability for users’ activity.
Founded in 2016, OnlyFans has 3.2 million creators, who typically earn money by charging monthly subscriptions of between $4.99 and $50 each. An even bigger money-spinner for creators is direct messages: They can ask fans for tips that sometimes total thousands of dollars and persuade subscribers to buy extra porn tailored to their fantasies.
“This is where the real money comes from,” says Bogdan Dumitrescu, who runs the Romanian branch of U.S. agency Adult Media Promotion, which manages dozens of OnlyFans models and chatters. OnlyFans’ cut from tips and payments for custom-made porn accounted for slightly more revenue than subscriptions in 2022, according to its most recent corporate filings.
Agencies proliferated during the isolating shutdowns of the coronavirus pandemic. They typically sign up young women with the purpose of turning them into top OnlyFans models. Some agencies charge a flat fee, but most work on commission, taking 20% to 80% of a model’s total earnings. Many of these models, assisted by chatters, are now among the big earners on the site.
Reuters spoke with 15 chatters who said creators and agencies instruct them to perpetuate the fiction that they’re OnlyFans porn stars. They described how they target lovelorn or sex-starved men and use deflection, gaslighting and other tactics to deal with subscribers who question their identity. Many chatters operate from the Philippines, low-wage countries in Europe and parts of the U.S.
“We’re creating a fantasy world for these men,” said Maica Versoza, 30, who runs a chatting operation with her husband in the Philippines city of Bacolod. She said the key is to build a relationship with subscribers and “make them feel wanted.”
A male chatter, Ani Akpan, said he has worked for four agencies and impersonated “countless” female OnlyFans models, coaxing even reluctant spenders into parting with thousands of dollars. “The best thing is to just tell the person to spoil you more,” said the 32-year-old Nigerian, a former soccer coach who now lives in the Philippines.
OnlyFans’ website says the company rigorously vets creators’ identities and forbids “misleading or deceptive conduct.” But it says nothing about vetting the agencies and chatters who can have a huge emotional and financial impact on subscribers like Kunz. The OnlyFans spokesperson wouldn’t confirm or deny the existence of chatters on the platform.
Chatters have access to intimate material fans sometimes share – from naked photos and descriptions of sexual fantasies to details about their jobs and families, and even their real names.
OnlyFans’ website says it is “committed to protecting the personal data” of its users. But it doesn’t mention that subscriber information can be spread far and wide with chatters and agencies.
“You have this expectation of privacy and confidentiality that you think is there and it’s not,” said Robert Carey, a Phoenix-based lawyer who on July 29 also filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in central California. His suit targeted OnlyFans and nine agencies for what it called “chatter scams.”
“You might be talking about your wife, your girlfriend, your loneliness. Stuff that’s embarrassing,” he said. “That information is going all over the place and you have no idea.”
OnlyFans could not immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
To some subscribers, OnlyFans provides a remedy for the loneliness of the online age. The company claims to offer something more meaningful than the free porn that saturates the internet: a chance to interact with its creators for companionship and even intimacy. In a TEDx talk in 2023, CEO Keily Blair described OnlyFans as a “real community based on a real two-way connection” between creators and users.
Kunz, however, said the people who impersonated the woman of his dreams left him so devastated that he had to seek therapy and take time off work.
“We had a really close relationship,” he told Reuters. “I trusted her.” He even tattooed her birthdate over his heart – “at least what I believe is her birthdate.”
Angry and hurt, Kunz embarked upon a mission. He sought to reconnect with Nikki, who he still had feelings for, and confront OnlyFans about the deceptive use of chatters.
Along the way, something unexpected happened: He became a chatter himself.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has accused SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk of trying to disrupt peace and stability in the South American country.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela on Sunday declared Maduro the winner of the country’s presidential election, announcing that with 80% of ballots counted, he had secured more than 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for his main rival, Edmundo Gonzales.
Supporters of Western-backed Gonzalez have taken to the streets following the release of the official results, claiming that the vote was rigged.
Musk, who owns social media platform X (formerly Twitter), took to it on Monday to accuse Maduro of “major election fraud.”
The Venezuelan president responded to the claims by challenging the billionaire to a fight, during an address he made on national television.
“Social media creates a virtual reality, and who controls the virtual reality? Our new archenemy, the famous Elon Musk,” Maduro stated, pointing to a cellphone.
He then accused Musk of seeking to come “with his rockets and an army to invade Venezuela” but did not elaborate on the claim.
“At least you showed your face, because we knew that you were behind everything,” Maduro claimed. “With your money, with your satellites. It is the representation of fascist ideology in the world.”
The Venezuelan president went on, challenging Musk “Do you want to fight? Let’s do it ... I’m ready. I’m not afraid of you, Elon Musk. Let’s fight, wherever you want.”
BREAKING ALERT 🚨 VENEZUELA 🇻🇪 Venezuela President Maduro accuses Elon Musk of election interference‼️
"Social media creates a virtual reality, and who controls the virtual reality? Our new archenemy, the famous Elon Musk"
Musk, in response, shared the video of Maduro’s speech on X, with a caption in Spanish that translates as “The donkey knows more than Maduro.”
This is the worst sentence from Elon Musk that insults an elected president, that's what Jews are like, they have no ethics of manners and no life values that fulfill the expectations of humanity like Zionist Jews, Jewish terrorists.
It’s not the first case of Musk’s confrontation with senior foreign officials. In April, the businessman clashed with a Supreme Court justice in Brazil over free speech, as well as far-right accounts and misinformation on X.
Illegitimate Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who very likely won reelection through fraud, is declaring war on Elon Musk, whom he calls his "arch-enemy." He claims Elon Musk wants to invade Venezuela with his space rockets. pic.twitter.com/4t1GkKhimz
Maduro will be serving a third consecutive six-year term, having first taken office in 2013 following the death of President Hugo Chavez. In his victory speech, Maduro mocked the opposition, which, he said, “cries fraud” at every election. The Venezuelan president said his reelection would bring peace and stability.
