SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the NROL-105 mission at 0439 UTC on January 17), from **Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carrying a classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on a southeast trajectory, with its first stage (B1100) returning safely to Landing Zone 4(LZ-4) at Vandenberg about 7.5 minutes after liftoff, marking the second flight for that booster according to a SpaceX mission description. The launch webcast was ended shortly after landing, a standard practice for classified NRO missions, and no details on the satellite count, orbital parameters, or deployment timeline were disclosed.

NROL-105 marks SpaceX’s first national security launch of 2026 and the 12th overall mission in the NRO’s “proliferated architecture” program—a strategic shift toward deploying hundreds of small, low-cost reconnaissance satellites instead of a few large, expensive ones. This architecture enhances revisit rates, coverage, and resilience, enabling faster intelligence delivery under dynamic global conditions.

"Having hundreds of small satellites on orbit is invaluable to the NRO's mission," NRO Director Chris Scolese said in the NROL-105 press kit, which you can find here.

"They will provide greater revisit rates, increased coverage, more timely delivery of information — and ultimately help us deliver more of what our customers need even faster," he added.

The satellites were developed by SpaceX in partnership with Northrop Grumman, continuing a long-standing collaboration that began with the first proliferated architecture mission, NROL-146, in May 2024.

Saturday's launch underscores SpaceX’s expanding role in national security space operations, complementing its commercial Starlink launches. NROL-105 was SpaceX's seventh mission of 2026. Four of those launches have been devoted to building out the Starlink broadband megaconstellation.

The NROL-105 launch is part of a broader U.S. effort to modernize space-based surveillance amid growing strategic competition, particularly with China’s plans for a 200,000-satellite mega-constellation.

During a recent interview with Rabbi David Wolpe at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, Jonathan Greenblatt, far-left Zionist activist and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said that he is working “behind the scenes” to “take down” what he described as anti-Israel and antisemitic voices on the right, including American journalists and commentators Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, and right-wing activist Nick Fuentes.

"I need people on the right to take down Tucker Carlson—so I’m trying to help [Senator] Ted Cruz,” and “I need people on the right to take down Nick Fuentes—so I’m trying to help people like [pro-Israel Jewish activist] Ben Shapiro,” Greenblatt said.

The ADL CEO called these individuals “disgusting,” “toxic,” and “revolting lunatics,” citing their rhetoric as harmful and dangerous. He labeled Fuentes as an “open, unapologetic racist, homophobe, and more than anything, an anti-Semite,” and criticized President Donald Trump for hosting Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 along with Hip Hop mogul and businessman Ye.

Greenblatt called Fuentes a "Hispanic person" with a "good Jewish name," Joseph.

"Republican senator/presidential candidate working with the anti-white ADL to suppress speech," Carlson said referencing Cruz. "You can see why people begin to wonder about the system we currently have."

Greenblatt also targeted far-left video content creator Hasan Piker, calling him “a revolting person” and suggesting he be nicknamed “Hamas Piker” due to his criticism of Israel, saying he spreads “horrible slanderous things about Jews, about Zionists, about Israel.” He noted Piker’s influence among younger audiences via platforms like Twitch, Steam, YouTube, and Instagram.

The Zionist CEO praised figures like Senator Cruz, Shapiro, pro-Israel zealot Mark Levin, and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson for pushing back against what he calls extremist narratives.

The ADL also revealed it is collaborating with the FBI, training law enforcement, partnering with evangelical churches, and working with tech giants like OpenAI and Meta to train AI systems and combat hate online.

Greenblatt revealed the ADL has "40 analysts working full-time, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day," monitoring extremists and sharing intelligence with the FBI. He emphasized the ADL’s efforts to pressure social media platforms to enforce their terms of service, saying, “We definitely are working a lot to try to get the platforms to kind of enforce their own terms of service so that we can pull down the most offensive hate speech.”

The ADL CEO highlighted the company's training of 20,000 officers yearly and an AI-powered legal network with 50 law firms. He disclosed that the ADL is working with "OpenAI, Alphabet (Google), Anthropic, Meta, Microsoft, and even Alibaba," to train large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini. The ADL is also investing in Wikipedia.

All anti-Semitism complaints are scanned by "AI systems" to identify potential litigation opportunities, which are then forwarded to a network of "50,000 lawyers," Greenblatt revealed.

The ADL is also apparently partnering with the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference to develop "Sunday school curriculum" for Hispanic evangelical churches, an attempt, critics say, to spread pro-Israel propaganda in Hispanic Christian communities.

Since the Jewish state's genocidal war in Gaza, there has been an increase in anti-Israel sentiment among traditionally pro-Israel White Evangelical Christians and conservatives in America.

According to Greenblatt, the ADL has abandoned the term "anti-Semitism" in favor of "Jew hatred" after research showed the public misinterpreted "end Jew hatred" as meaning "Jews are the ones hating."

Clips of the event went viral, Friday, prompting Sinai Temple to remove the video from YouTube. Critics argue the ADL’s actions reflect a "backdoor" strategy to silence dissent and criticisms of Israel, especially from right-wing figures, while simultaneously positioning itself as a neutral antisemitism watchdog.

Iranian officials have accused Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, of inciting and organizing recent riots in Iran, claiming that "trained terrorist groups" from abroad, including "Mossad agents," are leading the violent protests.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated this during a recent interview on Fox News, calling the protests a "terrorist war" and asserting that the unrest was orchestrated by foreign powers, particularly the U.S. and Israel. He denied any plans for executions, stating, “Hanging is out of the question,” and labeled death toll figures as part of a “misinformation campaign” by the media aimed at provoking President Trump into bombing Iran. 

Trump has repeatedly threatened “very strong action” if Iran executes detained protesters, calling it a “very strong” response that could include military intervention. Trump claimed, Wednesday, he had been told by “important sources” that the killing of protesters had stopped and that executions would not proceed.

The U.S. president later told reporters that “help is on the way” for Iranians and urged them to “take over your institutions.” Trump also announced a 25% tariff on any country trading with Iran, escalating economic pressure. His administration has reportedly considered military strikes, cyber-attacks, and boosting anti-government voices online after Iranian authorities reportedly jammed 80% of illegal Starlink signal in the country, and confiscated Starlink terminals.

The riots, which Israeli media reported was hijacked and exploited by the Mossad, began on December 28, 2025 -- shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with Trump in Mar-a-Lago -- initially sparked by a sharp devaluation of the Iranian rial and inflation reaching 40%, which caused severe price hikes for basic goods.

University students joined, Israeli agents mostly Indians and Afghanis quickly hijacked the movement which spread nationwide, with calls for political change and support for exiled unpopular Israeli-backed liberal Prince Reza Pahlavi.

Riots reportedly spread to 187 cities and all 31 provinces, with over 600 rioters and security personnel dead, private properties and mosques torched and more than 8,000 arrested.

In response to the riots, Iranian authorities have used water cannons, rubber bullets, and live ammunition. It has become difficult to confirm the authenticity of videos of the riots posted on social media.

To combat Mossad and CIA infiltration of their networks, Iran has imposed a nationwide internet blackout since January 8, restricting communication and making verification of stories out of Iran difficult. The state media this week, broadcast live video of millions of Iranians rallying against the riots and in support of government crackdown on the violence.

Iran’s judiciary has vowed “swift and harsh” punishment, with the attorney general declaring rioters “enemies of God.” Meanwhile, G7 nations have threatened additional sanctions, and the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet to discuss the crisis.

The U.S. has begun evacuating personnel from Qatar, and several European countries have advised citizens to leave Iran. Despite the tensions, Iran has reopened its airspace, and Trump said he will “watch and see” before deciding on military action. Leaders of Gulf Arab nations reportedly asked the U.S. president to hold on any military airstrikes, fearing regional conflagration.

Critics online, have slammed Trump for trying to involve the U.S. into "another war for Israel" in the Middle East. Iran, they argue, is not a threat to the U.S, and that only "Netanyahu's vision of Greater Israel," is served by toppling the current Iranian leadership and creating chaos in the region which is against American interests.