Ex-Navy SEAL Convicted of Explosives Plot at Protest

January 14, 2026

Summary

Gregory Vandenberg was convicted of attempting to use explosives against police at a 2023 protest in San Diego, federal prosecutors said.

A federal jury has convicted former Navy SEAL Gregory Vandenberg of transporting fireworks across state lines with intent to harm law enforcement at a 2023 protest in San Diego, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Vandenberg, 49, was found guilty Monday after a five-day trial in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was ordered held in custody pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Vandenberg planned to travel from El Paso, Texas, to California to use fireworks as weapons at the June 14 “No Kings” protest. He was arrested June 13 while sleeping in his car at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

Authorities said he had purchased six large mortar fireworks and 72 M-150 firecrackers at a travel center in New Mexico, telling a store clerk he intended to use them against police. He also claimed prior experience with explosives from serving in special operations forces, according to prosecutors.

Investigators recovered text messages and images from Vandenberg’s phone, which they said expressed political anger and included a Taliban flag as a home screen image. FBI agents testified that his vehicle contained items with anti-Israel slogans and neo-Nazi symbols, including a flag affiliated with the Caucasian Front.

Prosecutors said Vandenberg wore a shirt displaying the word “Amalek,” which he told the store clerk meant “destroyer of Jews.” The clerk contacted authorities, providing Vandenberg’s license plate number.

At the time of his arrest, Vandenberg was unemployed and living in his car. He told FBI agents he was traveling for work and visiting friends in Phoenix, according to court testimony.

He was convicted of transporting explosives with intent to kill, injure or intimidate, and of attempting to bring prohibited fireworks into California. A phone message left Tuesday seeking comment from defense attorney Russell Dean Clark was not immediately returned.

“People in this country are free to hold their own beliefs and to express them peacefully,” Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison said in a statement. “What they are not free to do is use explosives to threaten or terrorize others. Vandenberg intended to turn explosives into a tool of intimidation.”

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Full story +

Oil rose to a three-week high above $110 a barrel in London as traders awaited the U.S. response to an Iranian proposal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump convened a meeting to discuss Iran’s proposal, but maintained “red lines” for any deal, including preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

A ceasefire has broadly held since early April, but Iranian and U.S. blockades have reduced daily transits through the strait to near zero. The disruption has curbed flows of crude, natural gas, and oil products, pushing up energy prices and raising inflation concerns.

Iranian media said Sunday that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would tell Pakistan, which is mediating peace talks, that the conflict could end if the U.S. lifts its naval blockade, agrees to a new legal framework for traffic through the strait, and guarantees there will be no future military action against Iran.

Trump and his national security team are skeptical of the proposal but will continue talks, and the White House is likely to offer a response and counterproposals in the coming days.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Fox News interview aired Monday that Iran appeared to want to retain control of Hormuz, which he said was unacceptable to the U.S. Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moved through the waterway.

Two Iran-linked oil tankers interdicted by U.S. forces near Sri Lanka last week appeared to have stopped heading west in the Indian Ocean and turned around. The U.S. cordon on shipping to and from Iranian ports began April 13 and has turned away dozens of vessels.