Tag: iran

Did Netanyahu just ask Trump for another war — and get it?

During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump said that he will allow Israel to attack Iran once again to strike its ballistic missiles.

But what exactly does that mean? Will the U.S. be involved in the actual strikes? Will it “limit” its involvement to shooting down Iran’s retaliatory missiles?

If the former, Trump is not just “allowing” Israel to strike; the U.S. will actually be at war with Iran. This would be a betrayal of his promise to his base to keep America out of wars (he has, of course, violated that already).

Moreover, unlike the nuclear program, which incorporates a small number of known facilities, the missile program is spread throughout the country in a large number of hidden facilities, many of them probably unknown to the U.S./Israel.

Thus, Trump will likely not be able to frame this as mere “military action” rather than war. Nor will he likely be able to negotiate with Tehran a limited Iranian response since the missiles are Iran’s last line of defense — the last leg of its deterrence.

Tehran has gone to great lengths to avoid a military confrontation with Washington, but just because it has shown restraint in the past does not mean that it can afford to do so in this scenario. Indeed, given that Iran will be totally exposed without its missiles, it will likely reckon that it has no choice but to strike directly at U.S. targets.

Even if Trump opts to “only” support Israel defensively in yet another Israeli choice of war — which is the position Biden took — it nevertheless incentivizes Israel to restart war, as the U.S. is lessening the cost for Israel to do so.

The cost to the United States is great even in this scenario. Washington depleted 25% of its THAAD interceptors in the course of 12 days this past summer — for Israel’s war of choice, in a region four American Presidents have declared no longer is vital to U.S. national security.

As I wrote last week, every time Trump caves to Netanyahu and agrees to another war, it only prompts Israel to come back to Trump after a few months with another war plan for Americans to give their blood and tax dollars to.

This will go on endlessly until Trump decides to end it.

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Iranian President Says His Regime in a ‘Full-Fledged’ War With America and Its Allies

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that Iran is engaged in what he described as a “full-fledged war” with the America and its allies.

Speaking in an interview published on a website affiliated with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Pezeshkian said Western powers are attempting to prevent Iran from becoming economically and politically self-sufficient.

“In my opinion, we are in a full-fledged war with America, Israel, and Europe,” Pezeshkian said. “They do not want our country to stand on its feet.”

“This war is worse than Iraq’s war against us,” he said, referring to the conflict between the two nations that ended in 1988.

”If one understands it well, this war is far more complex and difficult than that war,” he added.

The remarks come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to Washington for meetings with Trump focused on Iran.

Trump ordered strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites in June, a move that escalated a nearly two-week armed conflict between Iran and Israel, later referred to as the “12 Day War.”

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Report: Netanyahu set to pitch Trump on renewed plans to strike Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly set to pitch President Donald Trump on renewed plans to strike Iran, citing concerns over the country’s efforts to rebuild and expand its ballistic missile program, which was damaged during the Twelve-Day War earlier this year, according to an NBC News report.

In the upcoming meeting, scheduled for December 29th, Netanyahu is expected to discuss concerns about Iran rebuilding the production capabilities of its ballistic missile program and its nuclear enrichment program, both of which were damaged by Israeli and American strikes.

The concerns echo the reasoning behind Israel’s decision to launch preemptive military strikes against Iran in June, targeting its missile production capabilities and nuclear enrichment infrastructure.

The NBC report claimed that Israeli officials stated that Iran’s efforts to rebuild its destroyed air defenses and ballistic missile production infrastructure represent immediate concerns for the Israeli government, prompting Netanyahu to request a meeting with the president.

At the meeting, Netanyahu is reportedly expected to present President Trump with several options, including the possibility of the United States actively participating in or supporting the operation, according to the outlet.

“The nuclear weapons program is very concerning. There’s an attempt to reconstitute. [But] it’s not that immediate,” a source with knowledge of the Israeli government’s thinking told NBC.

“There is no real question after the last conflict that we can gain aerial superiority and can do far more damage to Iran than Iran can do to Israel,” another source added. “But the threat of the missiles is very real, and we weren’t able to prevent them all last time.”

During the Twelve-Day War, Iran launched over 500 ballistic missiles and roughly 1,100 drones at Israel, killing 32 and wounding over 3,000, according to health officials.

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly stated that the “International Atomic Energy Agency and Iranian government corroborated the United States government’s assessment that Operation Midnight Hammer totally obliterated Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”

“As President Trump has said, if Iran pursued a nuclear weapon, that site would be attacked and would be wiped out before they even got close,” she added.

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Trump, Netanyahu ‘quietly planned’ Iran war since February: Report

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu jointly coordinated the June war against Iran months prior, while organizing a deception campaign in the media aimed at presenting Washington as opposed to Tel Aviv’s plans against Tehran, sources told the Washington Poston 17 December. 

According to the sources, Netanyahu met Trump in February and gave him four options for how an attack on Iran could happen.

“The Israeli prime minister first showed Trump what the operation would look like if Israel attacked alone. The second option was for Israel to take the lead, with minimal US support. The third was full collaboration between the two allies. The last option was for the US to take the lead,” the report said. 

“Months of stealthy, intensive strategic planning commenced. Trump wanted to give nuclear diplomacy with Iran a chance, but he continued intelligence-sharing and operational planning with Israel,” it added. “The thinking was, if talks fail, we are ready to go.”

Trump said one day before the war started that the US could potentially strike Iran, but that he preferred a diplomatic solution. 

“He and Netanyahu maneuvered to keep the Iranians unprepared for what would happen next,” the sources went on to say. 

Tel Aviv leaked information that Netanyahu’s Strategic Affairs Minister, Ron Dermer, and Mossad chief, David Barnea, would soon meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff.

A round of US–Iran nuclear talks had been scheduled for 15 June. However, Israel launched pre-emptive strikes on military and nuclear facilities in Iran on 13 June, triggering the war.

“Israel had decided to strike, as the US well knew. The planned diplomacy was a ruse, and officials from both countries encouraged media reports of a US–Israeli rift. All the reports that were written about Bibi not being on the same page with Witkoff or Trump were not true. But it was good that this was the general perception, it helped to move on with the planning without many people noticing it,” the sources said. 

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Iran’s Response to Australia’s Bondi Beach Terror Attack Raises Questions

The mass-casualty terror attack targeting a Hanukkah gathering at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was the predictable outcome of a global environment in which antisemitic incitement is normalized, rationalized, and, in some cases, actively encouraged by state actors.

In the hours following the attack, attention has turned to Iran—not because Tehran immediately claimed responsibility, but because of how Iranian officials, state media, and regime-aligned commentators have responded.

Iran’s reaction follows a familiar pattern. There has been no direct praise for the murders.

Instead, Iranian outlets have worked to reframe the attack as an understandable—or even defensible—reaction to the Israel-Hamas war, while redirecting outrage toward Israel and the West.

This strategy allows the regime to distance itself from operational responsibility while sustaining the ideological climate that fuels antisemitic violence worldwide.

Iranian state media coverage was notably clinical on the surface. The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Tehran’s official media, reported the basic facts: a shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration, multiple fatalities, and ongoing investigations by Australian authorities.

Missing, however, was any moral condemnation of the attack or recognition of antisemitism as a motivating factor. Instead, IRNA quickly pivoted, characterizing Israeli reactions as “harsh” and “unprecedented” and situating the massacre within the broader narrative of Gaza.

Iranian coverage repeatedly emphasized claims about civilian deaths in Gaza, citing figures from Hamas-run authorities and presenting them as uncontested fact.

The implication was clear: violence against Jews abroad should be understood through the lens of Israel’s military actions, rather than as terrorism targeting a religious minority.

By embedding the Bondi Beach attack within a Gaza-focused narrative, Iranian media effectively shifted blame from the perpetrators to Jewish collective identity itself.

That narrative was taken further by regime-aligned commentators. Lebanese journalist Hadi Hoteit, who identifies himself as a correspondent for Iran’s state-run Press TV, posted on social media questioning whether the attacker should even be labeled a terrorist.

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Democrat Hank (Guam Might Tip Over) Johnson Agrees With Iran That America is the ‘Great Satan’

You may remember Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson for his famous suggestion that Guam could ‘tip over’ if there are too many people there. He is not exactly known for his intellect.

During a recent appearance on the Dean Obeidallah podcast, Johnson said that America is in fact, the ‘Great Satan’ as it has been called by our enemies. Johnson did not mention Iran specifically, but this is a line they are known for.

How is this idiot still a member of congress? Aren’t the people of Georgia embarrassed by this?

Mediaite has details:

Johnson offered his evaluation of his country after host Dean Obeidallah submitted that President Donald Trump’s strikes on alleged drug runners in the Western Hemisphere were “defining us as some kind of-, like a Putin-esque type of nation.”

“Yeah, we are the world’s No. 1 bully, and we’re using our immense, unrivaled power to rule over those who have less power. And we’re doing it with impunity,” declared Johnson. “And this sends a shocking message to the world that America is indeed the-, what did they used to call? The great hand of Satan, or something like that?

I mean, America under the Trump regime is demonstrating that that moniker was entirely accurate. The Great Satan, that’s what we have become in this country when we can start killing people with impunity. It’s really shocking to the conscience, and it’s an affront to our basic humanity. No longer can Americans say that we are exceptional.”

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Iran’s Executions Reach Decade High

Iranian authorities have executed over 1,000 people between January and September 2025, the highest number of yearly death penalties conducted in Iran that Amnesty International has recorded in at least 15 years.

As Statista’s Tristan Gaudiat shows in the chart below, within less than nine months, the number of people executed by the regime has already surpassed last year’s grim total of 972 executions.

These figures are likely low estimates due to the Iranian authorities not publishing such data publicly.

According to Amnesty, the Iranian regime has increased its use of the death penalty since the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement uprising, as a tool of state repression and to crush dissent.

In 2025, the authorities have further intensified executions in the aftermath of the escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran, under the guise of national security.

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Incoming: Millions of Water Refugees from Iran

Tehran is at risk of becoming uninhabitable due to a severe drought that has led to a severe water shortage. The drought has been the catalyst to expose decades of government mismanagement that caused Iran’s water supply to run dry. Now, the government is prepared to issue a city-wide evacuation notice in Tehran if the situation worsens.

Rain will not be sufficient to fill the dry reservoir, which was brought about by government mismanagement—farmers protested against the government in 2018 when water levels were low. Protests erupted in 2021 in the southern Khuzestan province as the people blamed the government for water mismanagement. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) controls construction over the main, poorly planned dam, which has resulted in dry rivers and wetlands. Salinity of the water supply has led to a loss of fertile agricultural land. For example, the Govtvand Damn on the Karun River caused saltwater to destroy nearby land over a decade ago, and the situation has not been resolved.

Over 75% of Iran’s land is experiencing groundwater depletion. IRGC-controlled industries receive water as a first priority, and this is used for everything from agriculture to crypto mining. Rural areas are the last to receive water, as it is carefully regulated and rationed by the government. The government has built several new dams with no concern for the ecological implications of diverting water. It is well-known that the nation uses outdated agricultural practices that often require a vast amount of water.

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Iran begins cloud-seeding operations as severe drought bites

The Iranian authorities have launched cloud-seeding operations to induce rainfall as the country 

faces its worst drought in decades, state media reported.

“Today, a cloud-seeding flight was conducted in the Urmia Lake basin for the first time in the current water year (which begins in September),” the official Irna news agency said late on Nov 15.

Urmia, in the north-west, is Iran’s largest lake, but has largely dried out and turned into a vast salt bed due to drought.

Irna added that further operations would be carried out in the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan.

Cloud seeding involves spraying particles such as silver iodide and salt into clouds from aircraft to trigger rain.

In 2024, Iran announced it had developed its own technology for the practice.

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Iran Tells UN It Holds US Responsible for Israeli Bombing Campaign That Killed Over 1,000

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has sent a letter to top UN officials calling for the US to be held accountable for Israel’s attacks on Iran during the 12-Day War, which killed more than 1,000 people, including senior military officials, nuclear scientists, and many civilians.

In the letter, Aragchi cited Trump’s recent comments about how he was “in charge” of the Israeli attacks. “Israel attacked first. That attack was very, very powerful. I was very much in charge of that,” Trump told reporters on November 6. “When Israel attacked Iran first, that was a great day for Israel because that attack did more damage than the rest of them put together.”

Aragchi said the attacks on Iran violated international law and called for compensation. “The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its full and unimpeachable right to pursue, through all available legal means, the establishment of accountability for the responsible States and individuals and to secure compensation for the damages sustained,” he wrote.

The only direct airstrikes that the US launched during the war were the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, but the US supported the Israeli attacks by refueling Israeli jets throughout the 12 days, according to reports in Israeli media. The Trump administration also engaged in a deception campaign aimed at keeping Iran off guard before the initial Israeli attack.

Israel conducted its first airstrikes on Iran on June 13, two days before the US and Iran were scheduled to hold another round of nuclear negotiations. Hours before the initial bombing started, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he was committed to a “diplomatic solution” with Iran.

According to Iran’s Foundation for Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, at least 1,100 people were killed in Iran during the bombing campaign, including 132 women and 45 children. The US-funded Washington-based NGO Human Rights Activists in Iran, which is very critical of the Iranian government, has said that it identified 436 civilians and 435 members of Iran’s security forces who were killed. According to Israeli figures, 28 people were killed in Israel by Iranian missile attacks, all but one of them being civilians.

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