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Category: War

Trump’s ex-campaign manager is running an Israeli influence operation targeting the MAGA base

Trump’s ex-campaign manager is running an Israeli influence operation targeting the MAGA base

Time reports: After the U.S. and Iran agreed to a ceasefire deal on June 17, a senior U.S. official was monitoring the online reaction when they noticed something surprising. President Donald Trump’s aides had expected his supporters to celebrate the agreement. Instead, online influencers in Trump’s MAGA movement were excoriating it on social media. One shared an Israeli op-ed titled, “You Could Have Been the Greatest President of All—But You Failed.” Several posted the same video of Qatar’s prime minister…

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Trump, not Iran, is the world’s greatest danger. He’s a one-man weapon of mass destruction

Trump, not Iran, is the world’s greatest danger. He’s a one-man weapon of mass destruction

Simon Tisdall writes: Feckless and clueless, Donald Trump is lost in Iran, unable to find a way out of the disastrous war he started. Once again, the US military is pummelling the country and, increasingly, its civilian infrastructure. As before, this unlawful bludgeoning strengthens the resistance of a hardline regime that cares little for its people’s suffering. How often have Trump and Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon’s wildling lord of bones, hailed a bogus victory? The president claimed this week to…

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Jordan becomes a new focus in the U.S.-Iran war

Jordan becomes a new focus in the U.S.-Iran war

The New York Times reports: The Iranian attack that killed two U.S. soldiers and left one service member missing on Friday was the fourth in five days on U.S. forces in Jordan, multiple American officials said. Taken together, the attacks have wounded dozens of U.S. service members and damaged a number of helicopters. The flurry of attacks and the losses they have caused are a sign that Iranian forces not only still have ample missile stocks but have also become…

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Why Rubio wants to ‘dismantle’ the international criminal court

Why Rubio wants to ‘dismantle’ the international criminal court

Kenneth Roth writes: With the pointless war of choice in Iran going poorly, the Trump administration has declared a virtual war on the international criminal court (ICC). Secretary of state, Marco Rubio, vowed on Monday to “dismantle” the court as a supposed threat to US sovereignty. His rationale is laced with sophistry. The administration’s real goal is to secure impunity for war crimes, even those committed on the territory of ICC member states. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed and…

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Iran tells Houthis to close Red Sea gateway if U.S. hits power network, sources say

Iran tells Houthis to close Red Sea gateway if U.S. hits power network, sources say

Reuters reports: Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, posing a potent new threat ​to global energy supplies. The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic’s leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran’s Houthi allies, two senior Iranian ‌sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The…

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JD Vance accuses Israel of ‘manipulating’ U.S. public opinion to prolong Iran war

JD Vance accuses Israel of ‘manipulating’ U.S. public opinion to prolong Iran war

BBC News reports: US Vice-President JD Vance has accused some members of the Israeli government of trying to influence Americans’ opinions to prolong the Iran war. In an interview published on Wednesday, Vance told conservative podcaster Joe Rogan that while he trusts some people within the Israeli government, there are others “who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely”. The Israeli government did not immediately respond to Vance’s comments. White House…

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A forever war in the making

A forever war in the making

Ali Vaez writes: The memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran halted their war and provided a framework for talks over Iran’s nuclear program. Less than a month after it was signed, it has failed, and a document intended to halt a war has instead become a reason for resuming it. The immediate dispute concerns who controls the Strait of Hormuz, but more is at stake. The collapse of even this minimal understanding could remove the last barrier…

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Why Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz after decades of holding back

Why Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz after decades of holding back

By Ben Soodavar, King’s College London US forces have struck hundreds of Iranian targets – including in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas – over three consecutive nights in a bid by the US president, Donald Trump, to regain some modicum of control over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has also inscribed the US as the “guardian” of the vital waterway. He has revived a naval blockade of Iranian ports and briefly demanded a 20% charge on all cargo…

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U.S. to take over Strait of Hormuz, charge 20 percent fee for cargo shipped through, Trump imagines

U.S. to take over Strait of Hormuz, charge 20 percent fee for cargo shipped through, Trump imagines

Politico reports: President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. will take over the Strait of Hormuz — and will be reimbursed “at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped” for overseeing one of the world’s most critical oil passageways that has been at the center of the U.S.’s re-escalating war with Iran. “We will become guardians of the strait,” Trump said during an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning. “We’re going to hit [Iran] very hard…

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Aspiring to regional domination, Iran is ready to escalate over Strait of Hormuz

Aspiring to regional domination, Iran is ready to escalate over Strait of Hormuz

Yaroslav Trofimov writes: For the Iranian regime, keeping a chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz has turned out to be more important than the tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief from the Trump administration. That is because Tehran is playing a long game. Iranian officials believe the country has finally emerged as a regional hegemon, after the U.S. and Israel failed to achieve their main goals in the war they unleashed in February. And, as long as Tehran…

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How Trump failed to secure the Strait of Hormuz in his poorly developed ‘deal’ with Iran

How Trump failed to secure the Strait of Hormuz in his poorly developed ‘deal’ with Iran

The New York Times reports: For two months, under a quiet arrangement with the U.S. Navy, commercial tankers turned off their transponders to avoid detection by Iran as they crossed the perilous Strait of Hormuz to carry oil and gas out to the world. The military offered some air cover in case Iran attacked, as naval officers directed the vessels over the radio to hug Oman’s coast, opposite Iran’s shore. That enabled a steady increase in traffic through the strait…

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Iran declares Strait of Hormuz closed as ‘unauthorised’ vessel hit; U.S. launches more strikes

Iran declares Strait of Hormuz closed as ‘unauthorised’ vessel hit; U.S. launches more strikes

Reuters reports: The U.S. military said ​it launched another round of strikes on Iran after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck a container ship traveling through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. A series of attacks ‌between the U.S. and Iran over the past several days led President Donald Trump to declare the end of a ceasefire meant to halt the fighting that the U.S. and Israel began on February 28, though Trump has left the door open to continued…

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Ongoing conflict with Iran amounts to near-total failure in the mission Trump promised

Ongoing conflict with Iran amounts to near-total failure in the mission Trump promised

David Sanger writes: Just two weeks ago, opening the Great American State Fair, President Trump triumphantly declared: “For the first time in 3,000 years, we are going to have peace in the Middle East.” It was typical bravado for Mr. Trump. But the “peace” he was celebrating — the cease-fire with Iran that on Wednesday he declared “over” after less than a month — was already beginning to unravel. The result was perhaps predictable for a 14-paragraph memorandum of understanding…

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Iran, not Trump, is in control of this war

Iran, not Trump, is in control of this war

Tom Nichols writes: If Donald Trump ever had any control over the war he started with Iran, he’s lost it. The Iranians are now setting the terms of this conflict and are routinely humiliating the American president. The “cease-fire” Trump declared last month—a move probably meant to both soothe international markets and avert legislative action from the United States Congress—never really existed, because neither side ever ceased firing. The situation is now back to a kind of slow-motion punch-up: In…

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In rush to provide targets, U.S. commanders ignored warnings about outdated intelligence ahead of strike that hit school in Iran

In rush to provide targets, U.S. commanders ignored warnings about outdated intelligence ahead of strike that hit school in Iran

CNN reports: Senior US military commanders bypassed warnings in critical databases that intelligence about potential targets in Iran was severely out of date and approved some strikes — including one that hit a school, killing nearly 200 children and adults, according to three sources familiar with the decision-making process. Messages indicating the intelligence was based on years-old intelligence that needed to be re-vetted were embedded in a system used for developing targets and required a senior officer to approve adding…

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Global economy, hit by Iran war and inflation, faces sharp slowdown

Global economy, hit by Iran war and inflation, faces sharp slowdown

The New York Times reports: The global economy is set to slow sharply in 2026 after the war with Iran disrupted energy supply chains and triggered a fresh bout of inflation, the International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday. The forecasts reflect the damaging toll from the decision by the United States and Israel to attack Iran this year. Those attacks spurred Iranian retaliation on energy infrastructure in the region, destabilizing a world economy that had already been rocked by the…

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