Congress Probes Deadly U.S. Strike on Tehran School as DHS Funding Gap Hits Florida Ports

The Department of Homeland Security remains without approved funding as Congress simultaneously demands answers over a U.S. missile strike that killed approximately 175 people, many of them children, at a girls' school in Tehran on Feb. 28.

A Tomahawk cruise missile fired by U.S. forces struck the school after military targeting systems relied on maps that were roughly a decade out of date. A Pentagon unit responsible for updating such targeting data had been significantly reduced shortly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took office, officials confirmed. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) pressed witnesses at a Thursday hearing on the precise language used to describe the strike, objecting to the word "targeted" in relation to the school.

For Treasure Coast residents, the DHS funding crisis carries immediate implications. The department oversees the Coast Guard's operations along Florida's Atlantic coastline, border security at Port Everglades and Miami International Airport, and federal disaster coordination — all of which depend on uninterrupted appropriations. With hurricane season approaching, any continued lapse in DHS funding risks disrupting FEMA preparedness timelines that Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties rely on for federal disaster grants.

The funding impasse originally centered on immigration enforcement reforms sought by Democrats as a condition for DHS appropriations, including demands tied to ICE operations. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has since left her post, but the legislative standoff continues. Democrats pressing for reform face growing pressure to yield as the funding lapse extends and security anxieties mount following three domestic incidents under investigation as possible targeted attacks in Michigan, Virginia and New York City.

Separately, Jeffrey Epstein's former accountant Richard Kahn — mentioned more than 50,000 times in Justice Department files related to Epstein — testified in a closed-door House Oversight Committee session Wednesday. In a prepared statement, Kahn said he witnessed no criminal abuse and saw no financial documents involving President Trump According to available information,. Congress has not announced a date for resuming open DHS appropriations negotiations.

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