Music: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook — ‘Intoxicated’
Trita Parsi: Iran’s regime won’t fall. It was built for this
Iran’s strategy isn’t to defeat the US militarily. Trita Parsi argues that it’s to make the cost high enough, fast enough, to collapse domestic support before Iran loses. With MAGA turning against the war, oil markets destabilizing, and both parties alarmed by talk of ground troops, Trump urgently needs a face-saving exit. Plus, Parsi believes that Iran’s revolutionary system was built to withstand exactly this kind of pressure.
Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces, officials say
The Washington Post reports: Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East, the first indication that another major U.S. adversary is participating — even indirectly — in the war, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence. The assistance, which has not been previously reported, signals that the rapidly expanding conflict now features one of America’s chief nuclear-armed competitors with exquisite intelligence capabilities. Since the war began Saturday, Russia has passed Iran the…
Qatar energy minister warns war will force Gulf to halt energy exports within weeks, report
Reuters reports: Qatar expects all Gulf energy producers to shut down exports within weeks if the Iran conflict continues and drives oil to $150 a barrel, the country’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday. Qatar halted its production of liquefied natural gas on Monday, as Iran continued to strike Gulf countries in retaliation for Israeli and U.S. attacks. The country’s LNG production is equivalent to about 20% of global supply and plays…
The U.S. could lose the Gulf
Marc Lynch writes: Iran’s bombardment of its Gulf neighbors has inexorably dragged them into a war that they had desperately hoped to avoid. The potential entry of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia into direct war alongside Israel and the United States represents the first full-scale manifestation of America’s ambitions for the Middle Eastern order it has overseen for decades. Washington has always dreamed of Arab-Israeli cooperation against Iran without resolving the Palestinian issue. Here it is. It…
Why Europeans must stand up to Trump’s illegal war in Iran
Ellie Geranmayeh and Julien Barnes-Dacey write: Europeans had weeks of notice that US president Donald Trump was about to trigger a war in the Middle East. The conflict is now wreaking carnage in the world’s most energy-rich region on an hourly basis, increasing the direct costs to Europeans and boosting Russia’s war coffers. But Europe’s collective response has been, at best, a fiasco—and at worst, strategic lunacy. Europe on the sidelines Instead of looking for ways to press Trump to…
Warrior ethos? U.S. sank Iranian naval ship off Sri Lanka, knowing it was unarmed
The New Republic reports: The U.S. Navy’s attack on an Iranian frigate, the IRIS Dena, on Wednesday was the first time an American submarine has sunk an enemy ship since World War II. But the Dena may not have been armed because it was returning from an international exercise in the Indian Ocean, and the U.S. Navy likely knew it because it was taking part in the same exercise. Both the United States and Iran were taking part in the…
Mexistentialism embraces uncertainty
Carlos Alberto Sánchez writes: I recently spent an evening trying to convince my father not to go back to Michoacán. I told him it wasn’t a good time. He reminded me that he’s been a naturalised US citizen since the George H W Bush administration. I reported what I’ve seen on the news: people with decades of US residency, with Green Cards and outstanding civic engagement, are being deported, and the rationale seems to have something to do with previous acts of criminality, like…
Music: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook — ‘My Heart, My Life’
America Second, Israel First
Andreas Kluth writes: It was bad enough that Donald Trump hasn’t been able to explain clearly why he yet again felt he had to attack Iran, and why now. His national security advisor and secretary of state, Marco Rubio, then inadvertently made everything worse by implying that the president wasn’t so much leading — in the spirit of America First and Peace through Strength — as following. Worse yet, Trump seemed to be following a foreign power, Israel. Accidentally, Rubio…
Trump’s war on Iran poses threat to American farmers
Wired reports: Global oil and gas prices have skyrocketed following the US attack on Iran last weekend. But another key global supply chain is also at risk, one that may directly impact American farmers who have already been squeezed for months by tariff wars. The conflict in the Middle East is choking global supplies of fertilizer right before the crucial spring planting season. “This literally could not be happening at a worse time,” says Josh Linville, the vice president of…
Analysis indicates elementary school was hit by U.S. strikes
The New York Times reports: The Feb. 28 strike that hit an elementary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab is the deadliest known episode of civilian casualties since the United States and Israel attacked Iran — and no side has yet taken responsibility. But a body of evidence assembled by The New York Times — including newly released satellite imagery, social media posts and verified videos — indicates the school building was severely damaged by a precision strike…
Sen. Richard Blumenthal pushes to investigate Noem for perjury
The New York Times reports: Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said on Thursday evening that he would press for a perjury investigation into Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary whom President Trump fired hours earlier. Mr. Blumenthal said that he would call for the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate whether Ms. Noem had lied under oath during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, when she said that Corey Lewandowski, one of her top advisers, did not approve contracts…
‘See you at Nuremberg 2.0’: Sen Ron Wyden issues blistering statement on Kristi Noem’s firing
KGW8 reports: Oregon’s U.S. Senator Ron Wyden posted a scathing statement on social media minutes after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was fired from her position: “Turns out lawlessness is not a winning strategy. See you at Nuremberg 2.0” Noem was fired from her position on Thursday as criticism mounted over the administration’s handling of its immigration policies and disaster response. Trump said Noem will be out of the Department of Homeland Security’s top role at the end of March….
Judge’s order makes clear that all companies that paid illegal Trump tariffs get refunds
Jordan Rubin writes: The Supreme Court was clear last month when it ruled that President Donald Trump’s tariffs issued under an emergency federal law were illegal. But the high court left open the question and process of refunds, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh complaining in dissent that the majority “says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the Government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers.” A federal judge’s order on Wednesday set…
An assertive Supreme Court turns to curbing state courts
The New York Times reports: When the Supreme Court issued an emergency order this week that protected the congressional district of a New York Republican, it intervened in a voting rights dispute, pre-empting the state’s highest court before it had a chance to act. Since President Trump returned to the White House, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has shown a willingness to short-circuit lower-court proceedings with a slew of emergency rulings in federal cases. But this was a rare instance…