CIA Director John Ratcliffe was in Venezuela’s capital of Caracas Thursday to meet with acting President Delcy Rodríguez and other top officials, a U.S. official told Fox News Friday. 

The meeting unfolded about two weeks after the Trump administration carried out a military operation capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. 

A U.S. official told Reuters Ratcliffe met with Rodriguez under the direction of President Donald Trump ‘to deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship.’ 

The two discussed intelligence sharing, economic stability and the need to guarantee that Venezuela is no longer a ‘safe haven for America’s adversaries, especially narco-traffickers,’ Reuters added.

On Wednesday, Trump said he had a call with Rodríguez and later described her as a ‘terrific’ person. 

‘This morning I had a very good call with the Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. We are making tremendous progress, as we help Venezuela stabilize and recover,’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 

‘Many topics were discussed, including Oil, Minerals, Trade and, of course, National Security. This partnership between the United States of America and Venezuela will be a spectacular one FOR ALL. Venezuela will soon be great and prosperous again, perhaps more so than ever before!’ 

The same day, Rodríguez announced her government will continue to release prisoners detained under the rule of Maduro in an initiative she touted as a ‘new political moment,’ according to The Associated Press. 

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancey and Bonny Chu contributed to this report. 

Exiled Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi unveiled Friday a 6-step plan to exert pressure on the regime, which he declared ‘will fall, not if, but when.’ 

‘My brave compatriots still holding the line with their broken bodies but unbreakable will, need your urgent help right now. Make no mistake, however, the Islamic Republic is close to collapse,’ Pahlavi declared.  

‘Ali Khamenei and his thugs know this. That’s why they are lashing out like a wounded animal, desperate to cling to power,’ he continued. ‘The people have not retreated. Their determination has made one thing clear. They are not merely rejecting this regime. They are demanding a credible new path forward. They have called for me to lead.’ 

Pahlavi said he has a comprehensive plan for an orderly transition and asked the international community to do six things, starting with protecting the Iranian people ‘by degrading the regime’s repressive capacity, including targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard leadership and its command-and-control infrastructure.’ 

‘Second, deliver and sustain maximum economic pressure on the regime, block their assets worldwide, target and dismantle their fleet of ghost [oil] tankers,’ he said. 

‘Third, break through the regime’s information blockade by enabling unrestricted internet access. Deploy Starlink and other secure communications tools widely across Iran and conduct cyber operations to disable the regime’s ability to shut down the internet. Fourth, hold the regime accountable by expelling its diplomats from your capitals and pursue legal enforcement actions against those responsible for crimes against humanity,’ Pahlavi continued. 

‘Fifth, demand the immediate release of all political prisoners. Six, prepare for a democratic transition in Iran by committing to recognize a legitimate transitional government when the moment comes,’ he concluded.

Pahlavi’s remarks came as President Donald Trump seemed to remain ambivalent about the possibility of Pahlavi taking over the country if the Islamic regime were to fall. 

‘He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country,’ Trump told Reuters during an interview on Wednesday. ‘And we really aren’t up to that point yet. 

‘I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me,’ he added. 

When Pahlavi was asked Friday by a reporter about how he plans to win Trump over, he said, ‘President Trump has said that it’s up to the Iranian people to decide, and I totally agree.’

‘I’ve always said it’s for the Iranian people to decide. And I think the Iranian people have already demonstrated in great numbers who it is that they want them to lead to this transition,’ he added. ‘So I’m confident that I have the support of my compatriot. And as for the international leaders to assess the fact on the ground and see who is capable of doing that. I believe I can, and I have the Iranian people’s support.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf contributed to this report. 

Vice President JD Vance will not attend the Munich Security Conference in 2026, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The move comes after Vance attended the conference in 2025 and issued some harsh words for European leaders — prompting some backlash from allies on the other side of the pond. 

A source familiar with Vance’s plans confirmed to Fox News Digital that Vance would not participate in the conference in 2026, but no reason was provided for his absence. Bloomberg first reported that Vance would not attend the conference. 

The 2026 conference will be held in February in Munich. 

Vance’s absence comes as he’s publicly been more focused on domestic issues like fraud cases in Minnesota recently, while President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio appear to be spearheading the administration’s foreign policy agenda. 

Meanwhile, Vance in 2025 cautioned that Russia and China don’t pose as great a threat to European nations as the ‘threat from within,’ in regard to issues like censorship and illegal immigration. Likewise, Vance claimed that European voters didn’t endorse opening the ‘floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants.’

‘To many of us on the other side of the Atlantic, it looks more and more like old entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation, who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election,’ Vance said at the 2025 conference, which was held in February. 

European leaders challenged the remarks, and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said shortly after Vance delivered the statement that he perceived the statements as a comparison to ‘conditions in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regimes.’

‘That is unacceptable, and it is not the Europe and not the democracy in which I live and am currently campaigning,’ Pistorius said. 

Meanwhile, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre claimed that Vance was off base on his comments about immigration in Europe.

‘He speaks as though we are not focused on immigration in Europe,’ Gahr Støre said. ‘I mean, this is the big theme in every country, that we want to have control of our borders.’

Fox News Digital reached out to conference officials for comment on Vance’s absence and has not yet received a reply. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

UNRWA officials urged congressional staffers to oppose a potential Trump administration move to designate the U.N. agency as a foreign terrorist organization, and discussed UNRWA’s ongoing operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including cash-based assistance, during a Dec. 17 briefing, Fox News Digital has learned.

The video conference was organized by UNRWA USA, the American nonprofit that supports the agency through advocacy and fundraising. UNRWA USA Executive Director Mara Kronenfeld opened the briefing by saying the goal was to make clear that UNRWA ‘is still on the ground’ in Gaza and the West Bank despite what she described as ‘the Netanyahu government’s insidious efforts to systematically prevent UNRWA from continuing its life-saving humanitarian work.’

During the meeting, briefers also raised reports that the U.S. government was considering designating UNRWA as a foreign terrorist organization and discussed with congressional offices what steps could be taken to ‘help prevent that and support UNRWA in its critical work,’ according to meeting details reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Bill Deere, UNRWA’s director in Washington, said ‘press reports appear to be true’ that the administration was considering a foreign terrorist organization designation for the agency.

‘This would be unprecedented for a U.N. agency to consider this. It is certainly unwarranted,’ Deere said, asserting that ‘four separate independent investigations’ dispute Israel’s allegations regarding UNRWA’s workforce. 

Deere urged congressional offices to respond forcefully.

‘You can loudly express your displeasure,’ Deere said, arguing that the ramifications would extend beyond UNRWA and set a precedent affecting the broader U.N. system.

‘If they go ahead and do this, our recourse with regard to this is limited,’ he said, adding that one step that could be taken is that ‘Congress can override the designation.’

The meeting featured UNRWA field leadership describing conditions and operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

Sam Rose, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, told participants that international staff were not entering Gaza because of the Israeli Knesset legislation, and that operations were being managed remotely.

Rose said that despite claims that UNRWA has been blocked, the agency’s services in Gaza haven’t stopped for a single day, pointing to primary healthcare, education, water and sanitation work, shelter operations and the use of UNRWA facilities as emergency shelters.

Rose also described the agency’s ability to operate programs that do not rely on immediate supply deliveries.

‘Cash assistance and job creation programs are also able to continue,’ he said and added, ‘we’re able to operate at scale.’

Roland Friedrich, introduced as director of UNRWA affairs in the West Bank, described UNRWA’s scale in the territory, including education, healthcare and assistance programs. He said UNRWA provides support to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, including aid that ‘can be cash assistance,’ along with other forms such as food vouchers and social protection payments.

Friedrich also described ‘cash for rent’ assistance for displaced people, and argued that UNRWA’s presence plays a stabilizing role across multiple countries in the region.

The officials also discussed workarounds that allow UNRWA to keep operating under restrictions.

Rose said UNRWA was still able to receive fuel and that certain coordination occurred through third parties, describing indirect engagement involving U.N. channels. He said fuel could run power generators and water pumps and emphasized the importance of keeping basic services running.

On aid flows, Rose said Israel was reporting truck numbers that reached 600 per day, and he said he did not have reason to doubt the overall count. At the same time, he argued that the mix of goods entering had shifted, with commercial supplies playing a larger role while certain humanitarian items remained restricted for U.N. agencies. He described what he called a two-tier system, where some items blocked from U.N. use could enter through private channels.

Beyond the operational discussion, the briefing included explicit advocacy aimed at congressional offices.

Kronenfeld urged participants to support legislation described in the meeting as the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act of 2025, and she thanked offices already backing efforts to restore U.S. funding, describing the United States as historically UNRWA’s largest donor before the funding halt in 2024.

UNRWA USA did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital. UNRWA also did not respond.

William Deere, director of the UNRWA Representative Office in Washington, D.C., provided the following statement in response to a request for comment from Fox News Digital:

‘UNRWA participates in briefings hosted by the UNRWA USA National Committee and attended by bicameral groups of Republican and Democratic staff from Capitol Hill, as well as think tanks and nongovernmental organizations. Briefings like these are important opportunities for the Agency to respond to the government of Israel’s ongoing disinformation campaign suggesting that UNRWA is no longer actively working in Gaza. Quite the opposite is true. Every day, UNRWA staff are delivering critical services in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In fact, in a recent letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, UNRWA thanked President Trump for negotiating the ceasefire, which allows the world to turn to Gaza’s future.’

Deere added: ‘In Gaza, UNRWA medical personnel deliver 40 percent of primary healthcare and play a critical role in distributing water, promoting public health through immunization campaigns, pest control, nutrition screenings, and the disposal of solid waste. UNRWA is also leading the way in Gaza education, stepping up its ‘back to learning’ program, with almost 70,000 children now accessing the Agency’s in-person learning activities. The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is also a challenging area in which to work, especially given the various laws approved by the Israeli Knesset, and policymakers are always interested to hear the impacts of these laws firsthand from our experts.’