Tag: iran

They Are Still Lying About Iraq

The lack of shame exhibited by the US government as it lies about Iraqi improvised explosive device (IED) attacks that killed thousands of American service members to justify its new war on Iran is breathtaking. President Trump led off his press conference today, the first since the attacks began Saturday morning, with this lie. Trump’s proxies on cable news, in the newspapers and online have been repeating it non-stop.

The lie is essentially that American soldiers were killed and wounded in Iraq at the orders of the Iranians. That the people responsible for blowing up American vehicles and sending home US soldiers in caskets or without body parts were Iranians, not Iraqis. The reality, of course, is that responsibility for those deaths and mutilations belongs to George W. Bush and every politician, general, government official, journalist, pundit and citizen who supported that war. I put myself into that disgraceful camp as someone who twice went voluntarily to that war.

This lie gets recycled whenever the prospect of war with Iran is present. For example, in 2019, the allegation appeared as the US imposed severe sanctions on Iran and labeled the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist organization (the first time the US government designated a government or a military as a terrorist organization). These actions, following the unilateral abrogation of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran by the US, led to year-long tensions that culminated in the US assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who the American government and press labeled as having “American blood on his hands”, and retaliatory Iranian missile attacks on US forces in Iraq.

To begin with, the majority of US service members killed and wounded in the occupation of Iraq were killed by Sunni resistance groups, NOT Shia resistance groups. Sunni groups accounted for more than 80% of American deaths. These Sunni groups did not receive any support from Iran. These Sunni groups, like the Taliban in Afghanistan, did get a great deal of support from persons and institutions throughout Sunni countries in the Middle East, especially from the Gulf monarchies, Saudi Arabia chief among them. Yet, in Washington, DC’s calculus, these states don’t have the blood on their hands that Iran does, even as 4 out of 5 Americans were killed by Iraqi Sunni groups.

Sunni groups did fight against Shia groups that may have had a relationship with Iran. The Shia groups also fought against each other. Some Shia groups fought against the Americans. The Americans killed and wounded by Shia groups using IEDs were killed and wounded by Iraqis, not Iranians. Yes, there was a small Iranian presence in Iraq, acting as advisors to the Shia groups. However, the Iranian role was dwarfed by organic Iraqi resistance to occupation and sectarian commitments to one side or the other in intra-Iraqi fighting.

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Iranian warship hit by US torpedo was ‘defenceless’, former Indian official claims

An Iranian warship destroyed in a US torpedo strike on Wednesday was “defenceless” after taking part in an international naval exercise as a guest of the Indian navy, a former Indian official has claimed.

Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said in a post on X that “the Iranian ship will not be where it was if we had not invited it to talk [sic] part in our Milan exercise.

“The Iranian naval personnel had paraded before our president,” he added.

The IRIS Dena, described as a destroyer, had taken part in an international naval exercise in India last month and was making its way back to Iran from Visakhapatnam, where the joint exercise ended on 25 February.

According to reports, the rules of the exercise stipulated that no ammunition was allowed on participating ships.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Vijitha Herath, told the country’s parliament that the vessel was sailing outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters on Wednesday when it sent a distress signal at 5:08 am local time.

Sri Lanka responded by sending naval ships and its air force to the endangered vessel. Around 87 bodies and 32 survivors were rescued, with some found to be “seriously injured,” Herath said.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the sinking illustrated that the US-Israeli war on Iran was stretching beyond its borders.

The Iranian ship “thought it was safe in international waters,” but “instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” Hegseth said.

“America is winning, decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” he added.

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Israel’s Mass Murder of Palestinian Children Set Up the Iran School Bombing

On February 28, 2026, the last thing most of the now one hundred and sixty-eight dead elementary schoolgirls saw was a fleet of missiles fired by the US or Israel. Their coloring books were painted red, later retrieved by parents forced to identify their newly dismembered children.

Of course, I would be remiss not to mention Israel’s cutthroat, merciless attacks on Palestinian children during the Gaza genocide – a campaign that has fostered a climate of impunity among the upper echelons of Israel’s government, who appear to believe they can evade punishment for countless war crimes against innocent children. The estimated death toll of Palestinian children since October 2023 is a staggering 20,000, according to UNICEF. Twenty thousand innocent lives – children punished for the circumstances of their birth, for an identity they did not choose, for a conflict they did not create.

This, sadly, is what we’ve come to expect from modern-day Israel – some of the most heinous war crimes witnessed since the early 2000s. Schools and children are heavily protected under international humanitarian law, yet those protections seemingly never apply to Israel. The strike on this elementary school, filled with wide-eyed children eager to learn, crosses a universal moral boundary – because war does not suspend morality. In a just world, Israel would answer for this inhumane attack. But this world is dark, godless, and depraved.

This comes shortly after the IDF shot a fourteen-year-old Palestinian boy, Jad Jadallah, last winter – as reported by the BBC – and left him to bleed out, even blocking emergency vehicles from reaching him. Anyone could argue that Israel has been intentionally targeting children in its attacks.

Each of the one hundred and sixty-eight schoolgirls (ages 7–12) at Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Elementary School had a future – a family, friends, dreams, creativity, and innocence. Last week, they were pulled from the rubble; their small bodies shattered by missiles that brought nothing but destruction and despair.

The longer Israel and the US are treated as above the law, the more tumultuous the world will become – especially in the Middle East. It is time for real accountability for Israel and Netanyahu before it is too late. This situation has long been volatile, but we are now on a one-way flight to the point of no return – where it becomes acceptable, perhaps even encouraged, to bomb elementary schools, starve children, and put bullets into skulls that should be filled with toys, dreams, and love.

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Donald Trump’s Unjust and Unconstitutional War

Over the past weekend, some apologists for President Donald Trump’s recently ordered attacks on Iran argued that because Trump’s plans call for a quick strike, the attacks do not constitute a war. George Orwell is vindicated yet again.

These apologists believe that calling a war something else means it is not a war, and so moral and constitutional justifications are unnecessary.

No rational observer looking at 2,000-pound bombs being dropped on military targets and thousands of missiles being fired indiscriminately at both civilians and military personnel in Iran can conclude that these events constitute anything but a war.

That recognition triggers a series of analyses — moral, constitutional and legal.

The moral dimension addresses both the causes and the conduct of war.

The standard requirements for a just war are that war is a last resort to avoid truly imminent violence or profound massive injustice. It must be triggered by a legitimate authority, its purpose must be clear and just, and the damage it produces must not outweigh the evil it purports to eliminate. Its conduct must avoid killing non-combatants, and the weapons and tactics used must be proportionate to the war’s objectives.

Just war, of course, prohibits the employment of any weapons that fail to discriminate between combatants and non-combatants.

Trump’s war in Iran fails all these. It was not commenced by a legitimate authority as Congress has not declared war on Iran. The president and his folks have not identified any imminent violence Iran was about to inflict upon the U.S. They have confused the public on the war’s purpose. Is it to force out the current Iranian government or to destroy its offensive weaponry and nuclear capabilities or — the newest condition — to eliminate its navy?

None of these is a just cause as the U.S. has no moral or legal basis for removing a foreign government or emasculating it in the face of its enemies. As for damage, we have seen already the killing of 150 little girls while at a school last weekend and the attacks on a Tehran hospital.

The failure of Trump’s war to comply even minimally with moral standards is also exemplified by the constitutional implications raised by a presidentially initiated war. When James Madison and his colleagues were addressing the war clauses in the Constitution, they were in easy agreement that if the president could both declare war and wage war, he wouldn’t be a president, he’d be prince.

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Iran’s Geography – Mountain Fortress And Deserts

When analysts talk about Iran, they too often reduce it to politics, nukes, or ideology. But any real understanding of the strategic challenge must begin with geography. Iran is not Iraq; it is not Afghanistan. It is a vast land mass defined by mountain ranges that have shaped its history, defense, and resistance to outside powers for millennia.

Iran covers roughly 1.65 million square kilometers, making it more thanthree times the size of Iraq and significantly larger than Afghanistan. Its internal geography isn’t open plains, but a series of rugged, interconnected mountain systems with high interior basins and plateaus wedged between them. The two dominant ranges, the Zagros in the west and the Alborz in the north, surround the country’s heartland, rise above 3,000 meters, and in places top 4,000 meters, creating what military theorists have called a mountain fortress

Afghanistan is frequently cited as the quintessential “graveyard of empires,” and its Hindu Kush mountains create an extraordinarily hostile combat environment. But even Afghanistan’s mountains are more accessible valleys and corridors. Iran’s mountains differ in scale and in their relationship to population centers. Iran’s population is concentrated in mountainous basins, not distant from the terrain that conceals them. Cities like Tehran, nestled under the Alborz, and countless towns embedded in the Zagros foothills, are naturally insulated. This gives defenders the ability to move, regroup, and conceal logistics under terrain that challenges air and ground surveillance.

Contrast that with Iraq, where the terrain quickly transitions to flat plains like the Tigris-Euphrates basin, which historically have facilitated rapid warfare. Iraq’s internal highlands exist, but they are limited and do not envelop critical centers. That is why during the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion, coalition forces could maneuver long distances rapidly. In Iran, such maneuver corridors are constrained by elevation, narrow passes, and terrain that favors defensive preparations and ambush.

Terrain matters because it dictates strategy. In Afghanistan, invaders struggled precisely because the rugged landscape broke lines of communication and allowed insurgents to melt into valleys and mountainsides. Iran’s mountains are broader and more extensive, giving defenders even more strategic options: natural choke points, deep interior lines of retreat, and countless niches for irregular or asymmetric resistance. Iran’s military planners understand this well, which is why defensive tunnel networks and surface-to-air missile sites have been deployed to exploit the topography.

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Great Nations Do Not Fight Endless Wars

“Great nations do not fight endless wars,” Donald Trump said during his campaign when highlighting his “Americas First” message. Trump explicitly promised to maintain peace and keep American troops out of foreign wars. American blood has been shed in the Middle East once more amid Operation Epic Fury. Could this escalating war cause MAGA to fracture?

“We are not going to war with Iran. We are going to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump once said. I’ve mentioned that I was particularly impressed with Donald Trump after visiting Mar-a-Lago. He was the first politician to voice genuine concern over American lives lost fighting endless wars. “After 19 years, it is time for them to police their own country. Bring our soldiers back home but closely watch what is going on and strike with a thunder like never before, if necessary!” he posted in 2020. Trump later vowed to bring our troops home by Christmas of that year.

The man who once remorsefully spoke of dreading watching mothers mourning their sons and daughters has been compromised, infiltrated by the neocons. He admitted that the US should have never been in Iraq or Afghanistan. He did not troops in Syria. Trump clearly acknowledged that the Middle East has endless generations of feuding and rivalry that cannot be stopped. “Peace in the Middle East” cannot be attained through warfare, and truthfully, it simply cannot be attained because of the deep rooted ideology that has been passed on throughout thousands of years.

The neocons fantasized of a 6-week war in Iraq back in 2003, but US troops remained on the ground until December 2011. The strike on Iran is expected to last “four to give weeks,” according to Washington officials who say they are on a “clear, decisive mission.” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said it will take “some time” but “not years…not an endless war.”

Americans voted for peace and nationalism after four years of globalist policies. Trump has shot himself in the foot. Exactly on target with the ECM, 2026 is emerging as a major geopolitical turning point. The model has been warning that this year would mark a shift into a broader phase of instability. What we are witnessing is not is cyclical.

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The ‘Empire of Lies’ Comes for Iran

Benjamin Franklin said it best: “There never was a good war, or a bad peace.”

Now that war is again underway – the third attack on Iran in two years – people of healthy human consciousness must pray that the destruction and carnage is limited.

Yet the trajectory appears to be grim.

Wars often progress in unexpected ways. The Persian Gulf region is a tangled spaghetti plate of interests including economic, religious, cultural, and geopolitical. None of our politicians have proved capable of comprehending those interests and foreseeing the consequences of their elective wars. President George W. Bush was stunningly uninformed about the existence of Sunni and Shia factions when he invaded Iraq, a war that inadvertently empowered Iran. Officials who assured us that they knew where the phantom Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were, were quite wrong. Just as they were wrong when they foolishly assured us that the war would last “six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.”

Similarly, as many quipped after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Washington took twenty years, trillions of dollars, and four presidents to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.

Nor can it be allowed to slip down the memory hole that only a year ago the Deep State installed Ahmed al-Sharaa, the terrorist head chopper formerly known as al-Julani, as the president of Syria. It must not be forgotten that until recently al-Sharaa carried a $10 million dollar bounty on his head placed by the U.S. government. He was a State Department “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” But now the new president of Syria, having been sanitized and empowered by the Deep State, is fêted by Donald Trump in the Oval Office.   

The U.S. global military empire – the Empire of Lies – is capable of exerting force, but utterly incapable of understanding the consequences of its regime change wars.

That is but one reason that the Constitution, often cited but seldom adhered to, lodged warmaking authority with the people’s representatives. The Founders knew from historical precedent that heads of states and executive branches have a propensity to make needless war. Thus they provided that the people who pay for it with their lives, limbs, and prosperity, would make the decision to go to war. Those decisions are to be made through their elected representatives who become more judicious about engaging in needless wars since they know they can be held accountable for their judgement and their votes.

No one – I repeat, no one – knows how events will unfold from here. Already President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are talking about the prospect of American soldiers – “boot on the ground” – in Iran, while Israel has clearly threatened the use of nuclear weapons. As reports, spin jobs, and chest-thumping proceed, the proverbial wisdom that the first casualty of war is the truth should be borne in mind. Despite the escalation that we are seeing, people of healthy human consciousness must pray that the destruction and carnage is limited. Our voices must be heard and echo throughout the marbled palaces of Washington.

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Article 5 Looming: NATO Shoots Down Iranian Ballistic Missile Fired At Turkey

There’s looming fear that Trump’s Operation Epic Fury is fast spinning into a broader regional war, even a possible WW3 scenario – though large powers like Russia and China are expected to remain on the sidelines. 

Illustrating this potential, on Wednesday a ballistic missile launched from Iran and tracked across Iraqi and Syrian airspace before heading toward Turkish territory was shot down by NATO air defenses, according to Turkey’s Defense Ministry.

NATO Article 5 potential? Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth was quick to downplay the issue, saying in a fresh briefing: “On the matter with Turkey, I’ll have to get back to you on exactly what the intercept looked like,” before adding, “We’re aware of that particular engagement, although no sense that it would trigger anything like Article 5.”  

In a sharply worded statement Wednesday, the Turkey’s Defense Ministry laid out, “A ballistic munition launched from Iran, which was detected passing through Iraqi and Syrian airspace and heading towards Turkish airspace, was engaged in a timely manner by NATO air and missile defense assets stationed in the eastern Mediterranean and rendered inactive.”

No casualties have been reported in the highly alarming incident, though Ankara stressed it “reserves the right to respond” to any hostile act, and urged all sides to show restraint. 

Turkey has reportedly summoned the Iranian ambassador, while Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan lodged a formal protest with FM Abbas Araghchi, warning that “any steps that could further widen the conflict must be avoided,” according to Reuters.

Naturally, NATO quickly lined up behind Ankara, with a command statement condemning Iran’s “targeting of Turkey” while declaring the alliance “stands firmly with all Allies, including Turkiye.”

“Our deterrence and defence posture remains strong across all domains, including when it comes to air and missile defense,” the NATO statement said.

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Air Freight Rates To Spike As Iran War Escalates

The war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on Saturday is already disrupting air cargo traffic in the Middle East, a key freight corridor between Asia and Europe where two of the world’s largest cargo airlines are based, and raising the potential for a rise in air freight rates. 

Airlines are suspending flights, rerouting traffic around the conflict zone and unable to use key transload hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar because of retaliatory missile attacks by Iran. More scheduling changes are anticipated in the days ahead. 

Longer routes require more fuel, reducing the amount of cargo aircraft can carry so as not to exceed weight limits. Some airlines are expected to add refueling stops.

“We are expecting some potentially significant move in rates, especially Asia-Europe, if the situation continues with large-scale flight cancellations,” said Neil Wilson, editor of global price reporting agency TAC Index, said in an email exchange.

FedEx has suspended flights to and from Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

“The safety and well-being of our team members is our highest priority. As a result, pickup and delivery services in Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and United Arab Emirates have been temporarily suspended until further notice. Shipments to and from other markets throughout the region may experience extended transit times,” the company said in a service alert. “We are closely monitoring the situation and will resume services as soon as it is safe to do so.”

UPS has not announced any operational changes, but said in a statement provided to FreightWaves, “We are closely monitoring this fluid situation and using established contingency plans to manage our operations safely and efficiently.”

Qatar Airways, which operates 29 Boeing 777 freighter aircraft and carries huge volumes of cargo on widebody passenger planes, has temporarily halted flights to, and from, Doha due to the closure of Qatar’s airspace. Qatar Airways Cargo offers shippers 13 tons of capacity per day.The airline warned customers to expect flight delays once the airspace re-opens and it resumes operations there. In the meantime, tendered cargo is being held at its hub and other stations around the world. 

Emirates Skycargo, the fourth-largest cargo airline by traffic, has similarly suspended flights through Dubai. It operates nearly a dozen Boeing 777 freighters and leases several crewed Boeing 747-400s from third-party carriers. The United Arab Emirates has closed its airspace and Dubai International Airport sustained minor damage to a passenger concourse from an Iranian attack, according to news accounts from the region.

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Pentagon Releases Names of Fifth and Sixth US Service Members Killed in Action in Operation Epic Fury

March 3rd, The Gateway Pundit reported on the 4 deaths of Army Reserve Soldiers serving in Kuwait.  It has just been released that there is one more confirmed death and one unconfirmed death.

This evening, The Department of War announced the death of an Army Reserve Soldier who was supporting Operation Epic Fury. 

Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa, died on March 1, 2026, in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, during an unmanned aircraft system attack. The Soldier was assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, Des Moines, Iowa. The incident is under investigation. 

The Department of War also announced that another Army Reserve Soldier who was supporting Operation Epic Fury is believed to be another casualty. 

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, Calif., was at the scene of the incident on March 1, 2026, in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, and is believed to be the individual who perished at the scene.  Positive identification of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marzan will be completed by the medical examiner.  The Soldier was assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, Des Moines, Iowa. 

Press Release from The Department of War

UPDATE: The Department of War has announced the identity of a 5th U.S. Army Reserve soldier who died March 1st while supporting Operation Epic Fury. The soldiers, who were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, Des Moines, Iowa, died in Kuwait at the Port of Shuaiba, during an unmanned aircraft system attack. The incident is under investigation.

The updated list of the deceased is:

(newly released) Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, of Waukee, Iowa

Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida

Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska

Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of Des Moines, Iowa

Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, a resident of Waukee, Iowa, commissioned in the Army Reserve as a Signal Corps Officer in 2012. He deployed to Kuwait in 2019.

O’Brien’s awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Army Superior Unit Award, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Army Service Ribbon, and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” Device.

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