Fears of a direct and escalating Iran-Israel war are running high. Iran’s national security council threatened Monday to deliver an even “harsher response” if Israel retaliates for attacks over the weekend in which the Iranian military launched hundreds of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles into Israel. The “Supreme National Security Council” in Tehran is saying it otherwise has no further Iranian military action planned against Israel.

The threat, reported in Iranian state media, came as Mr. Biden and other world leaders urged Israel not to retaliate in response to the Iranian attacks that occurred Saturday, less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals. Saturday’s attack marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel. U.S. national security officials counted more than 300 munitions launched by Iran.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, meanwhile, advocated Sunday against the U.S. retaliating against Iran. But the Ohio Republican said that if the Biden administration “fails to step up to the plate and understand that we have an escalating conflict and make it clear to Iran that there are red lines, and that the United States will defend Israel and will not allow Iran to become a [nuclear] weapon state, that we will be in a broader conflict.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un welcomed China’s No. 3 official — Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress — to Pyongyang over the weekend, days after Mr. Biden hosted the leaders of the Philippines and Japan in Washington.

Mr. Kim was photographed embracing his visitor and offering the traditional Chinese-style salute to Mr. Zhao as he drove off after his three-day visit to North Korea. Their talks aimed at “boosting the multi-faceted exchange and cooperation for developing the friendly and cooperative relations dear to the two parties and two countries into more viable ties,” North Korean media reported.

The visit occurred amid Western concerns of an emerging alliance between Beijing, Pyongyang and Moscow. Observers note that Mr. Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin last year at a satellite launch center in Russia’s Far East and anticipate a reciprocal visit by Mr. Putin to Pyongyang in the near future. Moscow last month vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution to renew a panel that oversees sanctions on North Korea. China abstained from the vote.

Republicans aren’t the only ones fighting internally over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 renewal. Liberal activists have unleashed fury on Democrats after party leaders rallied to approve the renewal in a manner that expands the government’s chief snooping authority without any significant new safeguards for Americans’ privacy.

Democrats provided most of the votes as the House renewed Section 702 and, in a separate vote, shot down an attempt to add a requirement for the FBI to obtain warrants before it could snoop through data for Americans’ communications. The votes were stunning reversals from six years ago when Democrats led opposition to FISA and Republicans were the snooping authority’s principal supporters.

FISA has always scrambled usual partisan lines. The most conservative and liberal lawmakers have found common ground in suspicion of the intelligence community and worrying about core constitutional rights. The renewal is likely to be approved by the Senate.

Months after Microsoft discovered Kremlin-backed “Midnight Blizzard” hackers peering into the American software giant’s email system, the U.S. Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published an “Emergency Directive” telling affected federal agencies to reset their system authentication credentials.

The directive, dated April 2 and first reported on by CyberScoop, marks the latest in the “Midnight Blizzard” case. Threat Status has been closely monitoring the case since January, when Microsoft said it had discovered a cyberespionage campaign in which Russian hackers had breached executives’ emails to learn what the Big Tech company knew about the hackers.

Homeland Security reported a slight drop in illegal immigrants trying to sneak across the southern border in March, suggesting the department may have turned a corner in the border chaos that’s reigned since the start of the Biden administration.

The Border Patrol reported catching 137,480 illegal immigrants in March, compared to nearly 250,000 in December, the worst month on record. The Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan reports that the numbers are still higher than any month under Presidents Obama or Trump, but compared to the worst days of Mr. Biden’s tenure, they are substantially better.

U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle set aside their domestic squabbles last week to listen to the advice of one of America’s staunchest allies, notes a commentary by The Times’ Editorial Board that highlights how Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida received a rousing welcome as he offered a strategic framework for defending the international order in an address to Congress.

“Perhaps the gravest threat our nations share in common comes from China, which has escalated its aggressive posture in the Indo-Pacific,” the editorial states. “Seeking access to the rich natural gas and crude oil resources below the ocean floor, Beijing has made belligerent moves to stake claims in international waters. Last month, a Chinese ship attacked a Philippine supply vessel with water cannons, injuring four sailors, in an attempt to move in on territory far from the Chinese mainland.”

Given Japan’s proximity to China, Mr. Kishida is aware of the consequences of neglecting the region’s stability, the Editorial Board writes, emphasizing the success with which the Japanese prime minister reminded U.S. policymakers “that the United States does not take on the heavy burden of defending the international order alone.”