By CHRISTINE FERNANDO

CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly called for mask-wearing at protests to be banned and for protesters whose faces are covered to be arrested, with the most recent push following demonstrations in Los Angeles over immigration raids.

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Legal experts told The Associated Press there are a variety of reasons people may want to cover their faces while protesting, including to protect their health, for religious reasons, to avoid government retaliation, to prevent surveillance and doxing, or to protect themselves from tear gas. With legislative action happening across the U.S., they say it’s only a matter of time before the issue returns to the courts.

Protesters, meanwhile, have voiced anger over footage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents covering their faces at immigration raids and masked officers at the Los Angeles protests, calling it a double standard.

Here are some things to know about the debate over face masks:

Legislative efforts target masked protesters

At least 18 states and Washington, D.C., have laws that restrict masks and other face coverings in some way, said Elly Page, senior legal adviser with the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law. Since October 2023, at least 16 bills have been introduced in eight states and Congress to restrict masks at protests, according to the center.

Many of these laws date back to the 1940s and ’50s when many states passed anti-mask laws as a response to the Ku Klux Klan, whose members hid their identities while terrorizing victims. Amid protests against the war in Gaza and the Republican president’s immigration policies, Page said there have been attempts to revive these rarely used laws to target protesters, sometimes inconsistently.

Concerns over masked ICE agents

Trump’s calls to arrest protesters for wearing masks came as federal agents were seen donning masks while conducting raids in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities.

An ICE Special Response Team member stands guard outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, while protesters gather outside to denounce the ICE, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, operations, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Democratic lawmakers in California have introduced legislation aiming to stop federal agents and local police officers from wearing face masks amid concerns that ICE agents were attempting to hide their identities and avoid accountability for potential misconduct during high-profile immigration raids.

The issue also came up at a congressional hearing on June 12, when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, criticized ICE agents wearing masks during raids, saying: “Don’t wear masks. Identify who you are.”

Republican federal officials have maintained that masks protect agents from doxing. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the California bill “despicable.”

Unresolved First Amendment question

Geoffrey Stone, a University of Chicago law professor, said the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that the right to free speech includes the right to speak out anonymously. But he said how it should apply to protesters wearing masks remains “an unresolved First Amendment question.”

Protesters rally during a demonstration in response to a series of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids throughout the country, in Los Angeles, Calif., Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

For Stone, that raises a key question: Why should protesters and ICE agents be subject to different rules?

“The government doesn’t want them to be targeted because they engaged in their responsibilities as ICE agents,” Stone said. “But that’s the same thing as the argument as to why you want demonstrators to wear masks. They want to wear masks so they can do their ‘jobs’ of engaging in free speech properly. The same rationale for the officers wearing masks should apply to the protesters.”

By AAMER MADHANI

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday called for the U.S. and other oil-producing economies to pump more oil as crude prices remain volatile following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

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Trump urged stepped-up production as the White House sharpened its warnings to Iran against closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas shipping lane, in retaliation for the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear program.

“To the Department of Energy: DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!! And I mean NOW!!!” Trump posted on social media. He added, “EVERYONE, KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN. I’M WATCHING! YOU’RE PLAYING RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY. DON’T DO IT!”

The push by Trump comes at an uncertain moment as U.S. embassies and military installations in the Middle East are on high alert for potential retaliation. Global markets are trying to ascertain what lays ahead after the U.S. struck key Iranian nuclear facilities with a barrage of 30,000-pound bunker busting bombs and Tomahawk missiles.

Iran’s parliament has approved cutting off the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane in the Persian Gulf that about 20% of global oil and gas passes through. It’s now up to Iran’s national security council to decide whether to move forward with the idea, which could lead to a spike in the cost of goods and services worldwide.

The price of oil jumped 4% shortly after trading began on Sunday night, but it quickly pared back as the focus shifted from what the U.S. military did to how Iran would react.

Oil futures were flip-flopping in Monday morning trading between gains and losses. They still remain higher than they were before the fighting began a little more than a week ago.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Tehran anew against closing the strait, saying, “the Iranian regime would be foolish to make that decision.”

The State Department has doubled the number of emergency evacuation flights it is providing for American citizens wishing to leave Israel, ordered the departure of nonessential staff from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon. It also is stepping up travel warnings around the Middle East because of concerns Iran will retaliate against U.S. interests in the region.

In an alert sent to all Americans worldwide and posted to its website on Sunday, the State Department warned all U.S. citizens abroad to exercise caution.

The U.S. Embassy in Qatar issued an alert on its website Monday urging American citizens in the energy-rich nation to “shelter in place until further notice,” although Qatar later said the situation was “stable.”

The embassy did not elaborate and did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.

FILE – The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and other warships crosses the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023. (Information Technician Second Class Ruskin Naval/U.S. Navy via AP, file)

Many energy industry analysts are skeptical that Iran would go forward with a full closure of the strait, something that it has threatened to do in the past.

Iran would face the possibility of retaliation against its own shipments and the possibility that the move would upset China, the biggest purchaser of Iranian crude.

The U.S. and allies pressed Russia in the leadup to Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine with threats to its oil industry, and then followed through as many Western oil companies pulled out of the country and the U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions on Russian industry.

But Iran is far less integrated into the global economy than Russia, which was reliant on European markets for its oil and gas exports and still went forward with the invasion despite U.S. warnings.

“There’s been a lot of suggestion as well that this isn’t something that is incredibly likely, and that’s generally attributed to economic interdependence, which I don’t want to suggest doesn’t matter. It absolutely does,” said Colby Connelly, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. Connelly added, “if the 2020s have taught us anything so far, it’s that economic ties don’t always prevent conflict.”

In another development Monday, Leavitt appeared to play down Trump calling into question the future of Iran’s ruling theocracy, seemingly contradicting his administration’s earlier calls on Tehran to resume negotiations and avoid an escalation in fighting.

“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” Trump posted on social media. “MIGA!!!”

Leavitt said Trump’s “posture and our military posture has not changed.”

“The president was just simply raising a question that I think many people around the world are asking,” Leavitt said.

AP writers Stan Choe in New York, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Chris Megerian contributed reporting.

By ISABELLA O’MALLEY and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX

Americans’ support for green energy tax credits and renewable energies like wind and solar power has decreased in recent years, according to a new poll, driven by a softening in support from Democrats and independents.

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that U.S. adults’ support for tax credits for electric vehicles and solar panels has weakened, as well as their enthusiasm for offshore wind farm expansion. While Democrats remain the strongest supporters of these initiatives, the poll reveals signs of growing cynicism within their ranks.

The poll results coincide with sweeping changes President Donald Trump’s Republican administration is making to regulations related to energy and climate change, including slashing the federal workforce in these departments. And although Democrats and independents have weakened their support for some green energy initiatives, there has not been an increase in support for Trump’s energy policies.

The poll found only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults — including only 1 in 10 Democrats and about 2 in 10 independents, along with three-quarters of Republicans — approve of the way Trump is handling climate change, which largely tracks with his overall approval rating.

Democrats and independents drive decline in support for renewable energy credits

About 6 in 10 Democrats, 58%, favor tax credits for purchasing an electric vehicle, down from about 7 in 10 in 2022. Among independents, support declined from 49% in 2022 to 28%. Only one-quarter of Republicans supported this policy in 2022, and that hasn’t changed measurably.

“As far as the pollution goes … the vehicles nowadays put out very little emissions to the air,” said JD Johnson, a 62-year-old Democrat from Meadowview, Virginia, who somewhat opposes tax credits to purchase an electric vehicle. That’s partly because he sees the electric vehicle manufacturing process as energy intensive and believes gasoline-powered vehicles have made improvements with the pollutants they emit.

The decline in favoring solar panel tax credits was across the board rather than being concentrated among Democrats.

“For solar panels, in all honesty, I don’t think they’re that efficient yet,” said Glenn Savage, 78, a left-leaning independent from Rock Hill, South Carolina. “I’d rather see them pour money into research and try to get the solar panels more efficient before they start giving tax breaks to the public. I may be wrong on that, but that’s just my thought.”

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Scientists say transitioning to renewable energies and ditching fossil fuels that release planet-warming emissions are essential to protect the planet. Billions of dollars in project grants for clean technologies awarded during President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration have been canceled by the Trump administration, and the offshore wind sector has been stunted by Trump’s executive order that paused approvals, permits and loans for wind energy projects.

Fewer than half of U.S. adults, 44%, now say that offshore wind farms should be expanded in the U.S., down from 59% in 2022. About half favor expanding solar panel farms, while about two-thirds were in support in 2022.

When people are concerned about the economy and their personal finances, environmental issues are sometimes prioritized less, said Talbot Andrews, an assistant professor in the department of government at Cornell University who was not involved in the poll.

“I think it makes people anxious to think about increased taxes or increased spending on environmental issues when the cost of eggs are going through the roof,” Andrews said.

Low support for Trump’s efforts to expand offshore drilling and coal mining

Trump has championed the expansion of offshore oil drilling, as well as domestic coal production.

Despite a decline in support for expanded renewable energies, the new poll shows that only about one-third of U.S. adults think offshore drilling for oil and natural gas should be expanded in the U.S., and only about one-quarter say this about coal mining.

In both cases, Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to support expanding these energy sources.

Trump has sought to open up national monuments for oil drilling, but more U.S. adults oppose than support auctioning off more public space for oil drilling. Only about one-quarter of U.S. adults favor this, while 4 in 10 are opposed. Republicans are much more likely than independents or Democrats to be in support.

Bipartisan support for consumer rebates and home appliance ratings

The Energy Star program that certifies appliances, such as dishwashers and refrigerators, as energy efficient recently appeared in headlines when the EPA made plans to scrap the program. The blue and white logo is well recognized, and experts say the program has long had bipartisan support until recently.

The poll found three-quarters of Democrats support providing consumer rebates for efficient home appliances, compared with 6 in 10 Republicans.

Patrick Buck, 54, from Chicago, describes himself as a liberal Republican and is a fan of the consumer rebates for energy-efficient appliances. “It seems to work in terms of transforming what people have in their houses, because a lot of people have a lot of old appliances and just can’t afford new ones,” he said.

Safe air, water, meat and produce

The poll found only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” confident in the federal government’s ability to ensure the safety of their drinking water, the air they breathe and the meat, poultry, fruits and vegetables they buy in grocery stores.

About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are “somewhat” confident in the federal government’s ability to ensure the safety of each of these, and about 4 in 10 are “not very” or “not at all” confident.

The Trump administration has announced plans to roll back rules and policies related to limiting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, such as rules that limit pollution from power plants and blocking California’s efforts to phase out cars that run on gas. The federal government has also cut staff at the Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency tasked with protecting public health and ensuring food supply safety.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,158 adults was conducted June 5-9, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By SAM MEDNICK

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran’s nuclear program because its archenemy’s furtive efforts to build an atomic weapon are a threat to its existence.

What’s not-so-secret is that for decades Israel has been believed to be the Middle East’s only nation with nuclear weapons, even though its leaders have refused to confirm or deny their existence.

Israel’s ambiguity has enabled it to bolster its deterrence against Iran and other enemies, experts say, without triggering a regional nuclear arms race or inviting preemptive attacks.

Israel is one of just five countries that aren’t party to a global nuclear nonproliferation treaty. That relieves it of international pressure to disarm, or even to allow inspectors to scrutinize its facilities.

Critics in Iran and elsewhere have accused Western countries of hypocrisy for keeping strict tabs on Iran’s nuclear program — which its leaders insist is only for peaceful purposes — while effectively giving Israel’s suspected arsenal a free pass.

On Sunday, the U.S. military struck three nuclear sites in Iran, inserting itself into Israel’s effort to destroy Iran’s program.

Here’s a closer look at Israel’s nuclear program:

A history of nuclear ambiguity

Israel opened its Negev Nuclear Research Center in the remote desert city of Dimona in 1958, under the country’s first leader, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. He believed the tiny fledgling country surrounded by hostile neighbors needed nuclear deterrence as an extra measure of security. Some historians say they were meant to be used only in case of emergency, as a last resort.

After it opened, Israel kept the work at Dimona hidden for a decade, telling United States’ officials it was a textile factory, according to a 2022 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an academic journal.

Relying on plutonium produced at Dimona, Israel has had the ability to fire nuclear warheads since the early 1970s, according to that article, co-authored by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a researcher at the same organization.

Israel’s policy of ambiguity suffered a major setback in 1986, when Dimona’s activities were exposed by a former technician at the site, Mordechai Vanunu. He provided photographs and descriptions of the reactor to The Sunday Times of London.

Vanunu served 18 years in prison for treason, and is not allowed to meet with foreigners or leave the country.

Israel possesses dozens of nuclear warheads, experts say

Experts estimate Israel has between 80 and 200 nuclear warheads, although they say the lower end of that range is more likely.

Israel also has stockpiled as much as 1,110 kilograms (2,425 pounds) of plutonium, potentially enough to make 277 nuclear weapons, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a global security organization. It has six submarines believed to be capable of launching nuclear cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles believed to be capable of launching a nuclear warhead up to 6,500 kilometers (4,000 miles), the organization says.

Germany has supplied all of the submarines to Israel, which are docked in the northern city of Haifa, according to the article by Kristensen and Korda.

Nuclear weapons in the Middle East pose risks

In the Middle East, where conflicts abound, governments are often unstable, and regional alliances are often shifting, nuclear proliferation is particularly dangerous, said Or Rabinowitz, a scholar at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University and a visiting associate professor at Stanford University.

“When nuclear armed states are at war, the world always takes notice because we don’t like it when nuclear arsenals … are available for decision makers,” she said.

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Rabinowitz says Israel’s military leaders could consider deploying a nuclear weapon if they found themselves facing an extreme threat, such as a weapon of mass destruction being used against them.

Three countries other than Israel have refused to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: India, Pakistan and South Sudan. North Korea has withdrawn. Iran has signed the treaty, but it was censured earlier this month, shortly before Israel launched its operation, by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog — a day before Israel attacked — for violating its obligations.

Israel’s policy of ambiguity has helped it evade greater scrutiny, said Susie Snyder at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a group that works to promote adherence to the U.N. treaty.

Its policy has also shined a light on the failure of Western countries to rein in nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, she said.

They “prefer not to be reminded of their own complicity,” she said.