Tag: iran

Corn Belt Politicians Are Using High Gas Prices To Push Even More Carveouts for Ethanol

With the average price of gasoline in the U.S. reaching its highest level since the start of the Iran war, lawmakers are thinking about giving energy producers special treatment to supposedly cut costs at the pump.

As part of the negotiations over the Farm Bill, which is expected to be voted on by the House of Representatives this week, a bipartisan group of Corn Belt lawmakers is proposing a measure to authorize the sale of E15—gasoline with an ethanol content up to 15 percent—year-round. This fuel is typically not allowed to be sold in the summer months because it evaporates easily, which contributes to air pollution and smog. (The Trump administration waived requirements last month to allow for E15 to be sold this summer, citing high gas prices.)

The proposed amendment would also limit blending exemptions for small refineries under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)—the federal law that requires refiners and fuel importers to ensure that a certain percentage of the transportation fuel sold in the U.S. comes from renewable fuels, the most common of which is ethanol. Compliance with the RFS is estimated to cost refineries about $70 million in both 2026 and 2027, according to the energy consulting firm Turner, Mason & Company.  

“At a time when consumers are acutely sensitive to energy prices, this amendment represents a pragmatic solution that balances energy affordability, rural economic strength, and regulatory certainty,” said a coalition of agricultural and energy groups in a support letter for the measure. Additionally, its reforms to RFS exemptions “will help restore transparency and predictability for all parties subject” to that law. 

It doesn’t seem like “all parties” are on board. 

Last week, the National Corn Growers Association published a press release calling out a group of “oil corporations” for attempting to “derail legislation that lowers fuel prices.” 

“There is a tiny minority of major energy corporations – like Delek U.S. Inc., Cenovus Energy, CVR Energy, HF Sinclair, Parr Pacific Holdings and Suncor Energy Inc. – that are masquerading as small refineries to get Renewable Fuel Standard exemptions they don’t need,” said the association’s president, Jed Bower. “Their greedy actions are holding up legislation that would help farmers who are struggling during tough economic times.”

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Trump warns Iran oil infrastructure could ‘explode’ as blockade halts exports

During an appearance on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing,” President Donald Trump asserted that Iran’s oil infrastructure is currently on the brink of a catastrophic failure that could materialize within the next three days.

He attributed this imminent collapse to a U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively halted the nation’s ability to export its primary commodity.

Trump further explained that while Iranian facilities continue to produce oil, the lack of viable export routes has left the surplus with nowhere to go, creating immense physical and logistical pressure on the country’s internal storage and pipeline systems.

“When you have, you know, lines of vast amounts of oil pouring through your system, if for any reason that line is closed because you can’t continue to put it into containers or ships, which has happened to them — they have no ships because of the blockade — what happens is that line explodes from within, both mechanically and in the earth,” the president said.

Trump also warned that if these detrimental failures occur, the country will have to spend vast amounts of time and money rebuilding the impacted infrastructure, and other issues could still linger.

“It’s something that happens where it just explodes. And they say they only have about three days left before that happens. And when it explodes, you can never, regardless, you can never rebuild it the way it was,” Trump said.

Analysts believe that Iran could be forced to shut down its oil fields as early as April 29th due to the blockade, which could also impact the crude production long term.

“In other words, it will always be, if you rebuild it, it’s hard to rebuild it all, but it would only be about 50% of what it is right now,” Trump said, emphasizing that he believes Iran is ‘under pressure’ because of the situation.

Forced to divert its oil to onshore tanks, Tehran is quickly running out of storage, as the tanks are only able to hold so much, since its exports have been halted.

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Report: Iran Using Russian and Chinese Technology to Improve Drone Accuracy

Defense analysts and security officials told The National on Monday that Iran is “relying on Chinese and Russian-made guidance chips” to improve the accuracy of its drone and missile attacks.

“Key to the advance is special computer chips designed for sophisticated navigation systems placed in Iran’s Shahed drones and its ballistic missiles,” the report said.

These chips allow Iran’s drones and ballistic missiles to employ Controlled Reception Pattern Antenna (CRPA) communications, which protect the attack vehicle from electronic jamming.

CRPA is an antenna system that skips rapidly between different frequencies and signal sources to defeat jamming attempts. Combined with refinements to the navigational software of a drone or missile, CRPA antennas help remotely-guided vehicles to operate in dense electronic warfare environments that would be overwhelming for less sophisticated communications systems.

CRPA only works if the remote vehicle has been equipped with very sophisticated electronics to handle inputs from multiple onboard antennas and external transmitters, adjusting on the fly to spoofing and jamming attacks.

According to The National’s report, the Iranians acquired such chips recently from its patrons in Russia and China and rapidly began upgrading its weapons, which allowed them to perform much better than the missiles and drones Iran launched at Israel in 2024. It also seems likely that Iran enjoyed targeting assistance from Russian satellites and ground stations this time around.

“CRPA allows drones and missiles to filter out jamming signals and lock onto genuine satellite data. That means they can stay on target even in heavily defended airspace. It’s a capability that, until recently, was largely confined to more advanced military powers,” a Western official told The National.

Other analysts pointed to Iran’s lucrative exchange of drone technology with Russia, during which Iran initially supplied Russia with huge numbers of its inexpensive Shahed kamikaze drones to overcome Ukraine’s advantage in drone warfare. The Russians later began building their own versions of the Shahed, with technological improvements, and sent some of the knockoffs back to Iran.

Durham University astrophysics professor Bleddyn Bowen noted that China may also be supplying Iran with access to the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), China’s version of the Global Positioning System (GPS). China’s version of GPS is much more accurate than Russia’s, which is known as Glonass.

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Israel Deployed Iron Dome and Troops to Support UAE Defense Amid Iran Attacks — First Deployment Abroad

Israel quietly deployed its Iron Dome air defense system along with dozens of IDF troops to the United Arab Emirates in the early days of the Iran conflict, according to reporting, marking the first operational use of the system outside Israel and the United States as Tehran unleashed a sustained and intense missile and drone barrage against the Gulf state.

According to reports published Sunday by Axios and The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the deployment early in the conflict following a call with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, directing the Israel Defense Forces to send an Iron Dome battery, interceptors, and several dozen operators to help defend the country as Iran escalated its attacks across the region.

The move represents an unprecedented step in Israeli defense policy, with officials confirming it was the first time an Iron Dome system had been transferred abroad for active use. A senior Israeli official said the UAE became the first country outside Israel and the United States to deploy the system operationally, with another official noting it intercepted dozens of incoming threats.

Iran’s barrage on the UAE was among the most intense of the conflict, with more than 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and over 2,200 drones launched at the country — more than at any other nation, including Israel — with numerous strikes hitting civilian infrastructure, residential areas, and economic hubs in what analysts say reflects Tehran’s effort to pressure U.S.-aligned regional partners.

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Military Disasters and the End of Empire

Writing more than 2,000 years ago, the Greek historian Plutarch gave us an eloquent description of what modern historians now call “micro-militarism.” When an imperial power like Athens then, or America now, is in decline, its leaders often react emotionally by mounting seemingly bold military strikes in hopes of regaining the imperial grandeur that’s slipping through their fingers. Instead of another of the great victories the empire won at its peak of power, however, such military misadventures only serve to accelerate the ongoing decline, erasing whatever aura of imperial majesty remains and revealing instead the moral rot deep inside the ruling elite.

There is mounting historical evidence that America is indeed an empire in steep decline, while President Donald Trump’s war of choice against Iran is becoming the sort of micro-military disaster that helped destroy successive empires over the past 2,500 years — from ancient Athens to medieval Portugal to modern Spain, Great Britain, and now the United States. And at the core of every such ill-fated war-making decision lay a problematic leader, often born into wealth and prestige, whose personal inadequacies reflected and ramified the many irrationalities that make imperial decline such a painful process.

During that demoralizing downward spiral, imperial armies, so lethal in an empire’s ascent, can err by plunging their countries into draining, even disastrous “micro-military” misadventures — psychologically compensatory efforts to salve the loss of imperial power by trying to occupy new territories or display awe-inspiring military might. Although such micro-militarism often chose targets that proved strategically unsustainable, the psychological pressures upon declining empires are so strong that they all too often gamble their prestige on just such misadventures. Not only did such disasters add financial pressures to a fading empire’s many troubles, but in a humiliating fashion, they also invariably exposed its eroding power while exacerbating the destabilizing impact of imperial decline in the capitals of empire (whether Athens, Lisbon, Madrid, London, or Washington, D.C.).

In our moment, when the bombs stop falling and the rubble is finally cleared from the streets of Tehran and Beirut, the impact on U.S. global power of such a de facto defeat will become all too clear — as alliances like NATO atrophy, American hegemony evaporates, legitimacy is lost, global disorder rises, and the world economy suffers.

Let me now turn from the disasters of the present imperial moment to the lessons of history to explore the sort of lasting damage that Donald Trump’s micro-military misadventure in the Middle East might be inflicting on this country’s declining imperium.

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US “Being Humiliated” by Iran’s Leadership, German Chancellor Merz Says

A seemingly ever-widening rift between Europe and Trump’s America is emerging as the war with Iran drags on, exposing not only strategic confusion but growing skepticism among America’s closest allies.

What began as a show of force has increasingly come to resemble a costly stalemate—one that critics, of whom there is no shortage, argue lacks both clarity and direction. At the center of the latest criticism leveled at the direction of Trump is German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has sharply questioned his administration’s handling of the conflict.

Speaking publicly to students in Germany, Merz, who leads the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), warned that the United States appears to have entered the war without a viable endgame. “The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy,” he said.

“An entire nation [the United States] is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards,” the German Chancellor said, adding that he “hopes that this ends as quickly as possible.”

Merz’s comments reflect a broader unease across Europe, where leaders are now grappling with the economic fallout of a conflict they did not initiate. Energy prices have surged, supply chains have tightened, and the costs are being passed directly to European taxpayers.

Additionally, such language signals a dramatic shift from earlier European support for the campaign. While some leaders initially aligned with Trump’s stated objectives, the prolonged conflict and lack of measurable progress have eroded that backing.

It’s worth noting that Merz was one of the liberal-globalist EU leaders that initially baked Trump’s moves in the Middle East. The disruption of the Strait of Hormuz has proven particularly damaging. As one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, its partial closure has driven oil prices above $100 per barrel, intensifying inflation across already fragile European economies.

Merz did not mince words about the consequences. The war, he said, is “costing us a great deal of money,” underscoring the growing frustration among European leaders who feel sidelined in decisions with global repercussions.

At the same time, diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict appear increasingly chaotic. Planned negotiations between American and Iranian officials have repeatedly stalled, including a high-profile meeting in Islamabad that was abruptly abandoned.

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US and Israel Claimed to Be Fighting for Iranian Minorities — While Bombing Them

Iranians of all stripes have been affected by the U.S.-Israeli war on their country, and the civilian cost of the conflict has yet to be fully understood. The United Nations Development Programme has raised the alarm about the “development in reverse” pushing more than 32 million people back into poverty globally, and economists have warned that 10 to 12 million Iranians, representing nearly half of the country’s workforce, are now on the brink of unemployment.

But the effect of the U.S.-Israeli aggression on Iran’s religious minorities has received comparatively little attention. Beset by years of neglect and underrepresentation at home, faith groups are now coming to grips with the cruelty of war and the devastation it has inflicted on their vulnerable institutions and houses of worship.

In Tehran, U.S.-Israeli airstrikes damaged two major churches, St. Nicholas Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Mary, drawing condemnation from Tehran’s Christian communities. Although there have not been many updates on the status of the Church of Saint Mary, St. Nicholas Church, which is a major Russian cultural site in Iran, was reportedly closed on Easter due to the extent of the damages.

One day before the U.S.-Iran ceasefire went into effect on April 8, a 68-year-old synagogue in the Iranian capital was damaged in airstrikes for which the Israeli military claimed responsibility. The Israeli military said it was trying to target a military commander living nearby and regretted the destruction, which it referred to as “collateral damage.”

The attack put further strain on Iranian Jews as they navigate the challenges of a war waged by the United States and Israel under the pretenses of bringing liberation to the country. Iranian Jewish politicians and community leaders have been vocal in criticizing the attacks targeting houses of worship and civilian sites.

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Iran war throttles global fluoride supply, impacting US waterworks

Fluoride is becoming harder to source as the war in Iran places more strain on global supply chains, leading some local governments to reduce their own use of the widely used cavity-fighting agent. Two major water supply systems in Maryland, which serve the Baltimore and suburban D.C. areas, announced this month they would be temporarily reducing the concentration of fluoride, citing the conflict in the Middle East as the cause of a wider national shortage. A Pennsylvania town halted fluoridation for at least a few weeks, also citing the war.

According to chemical suppliers and trade groups, the shortage was brought on by a confluence of supply chain disruptions as well as higher transportation costs resulting from the conflict in the Middle East.

“Some of the suppliers around the nation have either taken their supply offline or severely shortened it, or it’s gone into other streams, like not to municipal streams. And there’s only a few fluoride manufacturers in the nation,” said Emily Horne, a spokesperson for Pencco, which has supplied the Baltimore-area waterworks.

Lowering the concentration from the federally recommended 0.7 mg/L to 0.4 mg/L, the city’s Department of Public Works said this decision was brought on by “broader national supply chain disruptions, driven in part by ongoing conflict in the Middle East.” The war in Iran and the associated standoff in the Strait of Hormuz have impacted U.S. fluoride levels, as Israel is one of the major global suppliers of the chemical used in water systems, fluorosilicic acid.

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Ruthless Taxation And The Hyperstate: How Germany Profits From Crisis

The Hormuz crisis offers us a profound insight into the real power structures in Germany. Nothing seems able to convince the Berlin monolith to partially shield its citizens from the consequences at gas stations through tax cuts.

It is now unavoidable that the Iran shock will translate into an inflation driver, working its way through economic value chains into consumer prices. These developments almost force a reduction of the tax burden on households and the middle class. It may sound strange to climate socialists, but wealth is created exclusively in the private sector, and certainly not in the state bureaucracy, which is currently profiting from the price surge at gas stations at the expense of citizens and enjoying a small special economic boost.

In March alone, the Finance Minister collected roughly half a billion euros more at gas stations. That makes him the winner of the crisis.

To dispel the impression of a secret profiteer, Klingbeil points to the generally precarious budget situation. In fact, his hands are essentially tied: the Merz-Klingbeil duo is driving the country’s public debt through the roof. Klingbeil is the skywalker among European debt makers. He has begun a catch-up race to place Germany in the top tier of debt states alongside neighboring France, Italy, and Spain. The German public debt ratio currently stands at 63 percent, but the debt spiral is accelerating. This figure will rise dramatically in the coming years.

Anybody should now be clear: The debt party of a state that burns its citizens’ capital in reckless fashion, whether in Ukraine or through the redistribution mechanism of the green transformation, must end. The state is an overfed glutton, extracting ever-higher tax revenues while sinking deeper into the debt spiral.

Yet the burden does not rest solely on debt. The state’s hyperactivity drains scarce resources from the private capital market, raises credit costs, and drives genuinely productive investments abroad. The damage has accumulated for years and is being made worse by the energy cost crisis.

One can only imagine the relief that the private sector needs to restart the prosperity engine and compensate for the ever-growing damage caused by the state bureaucracy. Germany’s plight urgently calls for reforms and an end to the failed eco-socialist transformation project.

In Germany, however, things are a little different. Economic rationality does not dominate. In the land of climate doomsayers and would-be world improvers, as former Economics Minister Robert Habeck once said, „all in“ — and all levers were set towards eco-socialism.

In fact: over 50 billion euros are pumped annually by the German state through the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) into the green wonder economy, which during the Hormuz crisis proved not to solve problems but rather to be their obvious cause.

The green wonder economy is leaving deep wounds in public budgets, whose deficits are spiraling out of control – in this year alone, another 180 to 190 billion euros of new debt will likely be recorded. https://www.tichyseinblick.de/daili-es-sentials/staatsverschuldung-rekord/

No one in Berlin is thinking about tax cuts anymore, regardless of how media artists around Chancellor Friedrich Merz try to pacify the public.

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The Bloody Awful Waste of War

Iran’s forensics chief said nearly 3,400 people had been killed in the country since U.S.-Israeli strikes began Feb. 28. Almost 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, 32 have been killed in Gulf states, and 23 have died in Israel. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed, and two more died of noncombat causes.

I happen to believe Iranian lives are as valuable and precious as American lives. What gives the U.S. and Israeli governments the right to inflict such disproportionate casualties on Iran, on Lebanon, on Gaza? (I know: might makes right.) If you include the Palestinians, more than 100,000 people, and probably closer to 200,000, have been killed in the latest Israeli/U.S. wars, with the United States providing most of the deadly weaponry.

Speaking of weaponry, the liberal New York Times had an article last week lamenting the heavy expenditure of costly precision weaponry (like Tomahawk cruise missiles) by the U.S. since the beginning of the Iran War. Nowhere in the article was there a complaint about the death toll, nor was there much of a complaint about the cost. No – what the liberal New York Times was concerned about was how quickly the U.S. could replenish its stockpile of weaponry so it could be prepared for a future war against peer threats like China and Russia.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Since the Iran war began in late February, the United States has burned through around 1,100 of its long-range stealth cruise missiles built for a war with China, close to the total number remaining in the US stockpile. The military has fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, roughly 10 times the number it currently buys each year.

The Pentagon used more than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles in the war, at more than $4 million a pop, and more than 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS ground-based missiles, leaving inventories worrisomely low, according to internal Defense Department estimates and congressional officials.

The Iran war has significantly drained much of the US military’s global supply of munitions, and forced the Pentagon to rush bombs, missiles and other hardware to the Middle East from commands in Asia and Europe. The drawdowns have left these regional commands less ready to confront potential adversaries such as Russia and China, and it has forced the United States to find ways to scale up production to address the depletions, Trump administration and congressional officials say.

Again, if you read the article, nothing is said about morality. Nothing is said about death and dying and the bloody awfulness of war. The article simply says the U.S. has used a lot of very expensive missiles that we MUST replace if we’re to be prepared to wage more wars in the near future.

There’s not even a hint here that maybe America could be at peace – even in the most distant future. Apparently, America must always remain locked and loaded for a war with China, or Russia, or some other country and combination of countries, even as all this is couched as defending the homeland.

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