SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the USSF-259 mission from Space Launch Complex 4E(SLC-4E), Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday(Sept. 16), at 0107 UTC, carrying classified payload for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 contract.

Following stage separation, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster, B1097 performed a controlled landing on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship in the Pacific Ocean, about 8 minutes after liftoff. B1097 completed its 13th flight, having previously supported missions including Sentinel-6B, Twilight, NROL-172, Transporter-17, and eight Starlink deployments.

Meanwhile the Falcon 9 upper stage flew a southerly trajectory to deploy its payload into a low Earth orbit inclined roughly 80 degrees from the Equator.

This mission, identified in public documents as TH-1, marks the third recent national security launch for SpaceX procured by SSC, following USSF-366 (launched August 15) and USSF-153 (launched September 10). Previous missions in this series, identified as R1 and R2, each carried 23 satellites.

The President Donald Trump administration is reportedly preparing a $2.8 billion arms sale to Israel for 40,000 heavy 2,000-pound bombs, comprising 20,000 MK-84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, plus 20,000 I-2000 penetrator warheads.

The MK 84 and BLU-117 are among the most destructive non-nuclear conventional munitions in the U.S. arsenal. Defense experts note that while effective against hardened underground infrastructure, their broad blast radius and shrapnel field cause severe collateral damage in densely populated urban environments.

This would be the largest single sale of these munitions to Israel in recent years, funded by U.S. taxpayer military aid. The deal has been informally notified to congressional committees but still requires formal approval from Congress.

This package comes as U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran continue, with fighting stretching across Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and the Gulf.

The Biden administration previously paused transfers of these specific munitions due to concerns over civilian casualties in Gaza and Lebanon, where they have been regularly used by the IDF.

A prior $2.04 billion package approved in 2025 included 35,529 bomb bodies and 4,000 penetrator warheads, with deliveries beginning in 2026.

“All foreign arms sales are moving through the appropriate process. We do not comment on pending sales,” a US offical reportedly said.

U.S. public support for Israel has declined since 2023; a June 2026 Quinnipiac University poll found 66% of Democrats believe the U.S. is too supportive of Israel.

The proposed deal triggered backlash among foreign policy realists and "America First" conservatives, most notably commentator Tucker Carlson.

Critics note the munitions are linked to numerous civilian casualties in Gaza, where more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed according to local health authorities.

The report intensified a widening rift within the conservative coalition between non-interventionist "America First" populist figures—who oppose continuous foreign military aid—and traditional neoconservative supporters of robust defense backing for Israel. Progressive and human rights organizations have similarly denounced the deal, citing the ongoing humanitarian toll and destruction in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

In an X post Tuesday, Carlson criticized the scale, noting the shipment equals 40,000 tons of bombs 7.5 times the tonnage dropped in the largest WWII U.S. air raid on Berlin. He said the MK-84 has a half-mile destruction radius, causes rock to melt and flesh to vaporize within 100 feet, and that the U.S. military generally avoids using it in urban areas due to high civilian death tolls.

Carlson called out key figures overseeing or supporting the weapons sale approval pipeline, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and congressional leadership, questioning why U.S. taxpayer resources continue to fund large-scale foreign warfare rather than domestic priorities.

U.S. Department of Justice on Monday, filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking $61.5 million in cryptocurrency, specifically USDT held in ten TRON addresses, alleging the funds are proceeds from sanctioned Iranian oil sales.

The complaint, filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, targets the digital assets in rem rather than naming any exchange as a defendant.

Prosecutors allege that two Chinese companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, used trading accounts on Binance to launder the illicit funds. These firms allegedly converted fiat payments from Chinese buyers of Iranian crude oil into cryptocurrency.

The $61.5 million targeted in the civil complaint represents a portion of the scheme's active balances. As part of the seizure procedure, stablecoin issuer Tether agreed to freeze and destroy the flagged tokens sitting in the illicit wallets, subsequently re-minting an equivalent value directly to U.S. federal custody.

While the complaint highlights Binance as the platform where the laundering allegedly occurred, Binance is not named as a defendant. The exchange said in a statement it does not permit transactions with sanctioned individuals, is cooperating with law enforcement, and had already frozen the targeted accounts.

"We will continue to cooperate with law enforcement on this matter, and where sanctions or illicit-finance risk is identified, we will always investigate, restrict or freeze accounts where appropriate, offboard users, and report to relevant authorities," Binance said.

The $61.5 million represents only a fraction of a larger network internally dubbed “Entity A,” which prosecutors claim processed over $1.5 billion in illicit oil proceeds through unhosted wallets, an Iranian exchange, and accounts linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The government asserts the money was funneled to the Iranian government, its military components, and the IRGC, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, to finance hostile military actions and terrorist activities against the U.S. and its allies. The FBI and multiple Justice Department units are assisting in the ongoing investigation.

The filing reflects heightened U.S. oversight targeting "shadow fleet" oil exports used by state actors to bypass energy sanctions, with particular focus on off-ramp crypto protocols and unhosted wallet networks. It underscores the U.S. government’s increasing reliance on blockchain analysis to enforce sanctions and disrupt revenue streams for state-sponsored entities.