Tag: perpetual war

As War Rages In Iran, UK MoD Surveys Troops On Wearing Makeup And Nail Polish

While flames engulf Iranian oil depots following U.S. and Israeli strikes, and Iran retaliates with missiles targeting the UAE and Israel, the UK Ministry of Defence has sparked backlash by circulating a survey to troops about relaxing appearance standards. The questionnaire asks if male soldiers should be allowed to wear makeup, nail polish, and longer hair, ridiculously framing it as a push toward “gender-free” policies.

The timing of this clownish behaviour couldn’t be worse. The survey, originating from Army HQ in Andover, proposes uniform rules on hair, jewelry, and even facial aesthetics like fillers and microblading for all genders.

The review builds on recent shifts in UK military policies. In 2024, the Army reversed a long-standing ban on beards. Back in 2019, then-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace floated allowing men to use camouflage-colored makeup. And in 2017, instructions emphasized avoiding gender-specific language like “best man for the job.”

Shadow Defence Minister Mark Francois slammed the initiative, stating, “Upgrading to mascara from camouflage cream is hardly likely to deter Putin.”

An Army spokesman pushed back, clarifying, “As the Chief of the General Staff has said, the Army is focused on enhancing our lethality and fighting readiness. There are no plans to change policy – and this was not an official Army survey.”

This comes against a backdrop of escalating conflict in Iran. U.S. and Israeli forces have conducted devastating strikes on regime oil depots, with reports of “fire rain” over Tehran after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a daytime assault. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, raising fears of UK gas shortages with only days’ reserves left. Iranian drones and missiles have struck Dubai skyscrapers and airports, killing civilians.

In addition, U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly dressed down UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for what he calls a tardy response to the crisis.

In a social media post, Trump dismissed Britain’s offer to send aircraft carriers, writing, “The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”

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Sen. John Kennedy: Trump Had “No Choice” But to Strike Iran

Senator John Kennedy is pushing back against growing criticism from Democrats over President Donald Trump’s recent military strikes against Iran.

During a new interview on Newsmax, Kennedy made the case that Trump’s actions were not the beginning of another endless Middle East conflict—but rather an effort to prevent a far larger and more dangerous war from erupting.

“President Trump did not start a war by entering Iran,” Kennedy said during the interview. “He is trying to stop a war.”

The Louisiana senator explained that intelligence briefings and basic strategic realities point to the same conclusion: Iran’s leadership had no intention of abandoning its nuclear ambitions.

According to Kennedy, Iran’s ruling regime—which he described as religious zealots—was actively rebuilding its military capabilities after previous strikes earlier this year.

“They were not going to ever stop trying to develop a nuclear warhead,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy noted that after the United States bombed Iranian targets in June, the regime quickly began rebuilding its missile arsenal and expanding weapons production.

“They were manufacturing hundreds of missiles a month,” he explained.

Even more concerning, Kennedy said, was Iran’s growing cooperation with global adversaries.

The regime’s strategy, according to the senator, involved working with China and Russia to produce such a massive stockpile of missiles that any attempt to strike Iran would risk triggering a regional catastrophe.

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Attacks on Iran a breach of international law, Swiss defence minister says

The United States and Israel have broken international law with their attacks on Iran, said Swiss Defence Minister Martin Pfister in an interview published on March 8.

He is the latest European leader to raise concerns about the conflict.

Legal experts have said many countries will consider the attacks unjustified under the United Nations Charter, under which member countries must refrain from using force or the threat of force without UN authorisation or unless acting in self-defence.

Mr Pfister, speaking to the SonntagsZeitung newspaper, said: “The Federal Council is of the opinion that the attack on Iran constitutes a violation of international law.

“In our view, it constitutes a violation on the prohibition of violence.” He also called on all sides to halt the fighting to protect the civilian population. The Federal Council is the Swiss Cabinet.

Mr Pfister said he was referring to all the countries not complying with the prohibition on violence, including the US and Israel.

“The Americans and Israel have attacked Iran from the air. In doing so, they, like Iran, violated international law,” he added.

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US will ‘make a ton of money’ from Iran war – senator

The US will control almost a third of the world’s oil and make record profits if it succeeds in toppling the Iranian government, hawkish Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News on Sunday.

Graham made the comments as global oil prices surged past $100 per barrel, which US President Donald Trump dismissed as “a very small price to pay” for the US-Israeli war against Iran, which was launched on February 28.

Graham described the cost of the attacks as the “best money ever spent,” arguing that the purpose is to prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons – which Iran has denied that it intends to do, insisting that its nuclear program is peaceful.

“When this regime goes down, we’re going to have a new Middle East, we are going to make a ton of money. Nobody will threaten the Strait of Hormuz again,” Graham said, adding that the US will install a “friendly” government in Tehran.

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Israeli minister calls for widespread Palestinian emigration to West

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Palestinians to “voluntarily emigrate” to Western countries on Tuesday in response to an op-ed by Likud MK Danny Danon and Yesh Atid MK Ram Ben Barak that was published in the Wall Street Journal and called on Western countries to accept Gazan refugees.

“I welcome the initiative of voluntary relocation of Gazan Arabs to countries worldwide,” Smotrich wrote. “This is the right humanitarian solution for the residents of Gaza and the whole area after 75 years of being poor refugees. The majority of Gaza is fourth and fifth generations to 1948 refugees who, instead of being rehabilitated long ago like hundreds of millions of refugees around the world, were held hostage in Gaza in poverty and overcrowding and were a symbol of the desire to destroy the State of Israel and of the refugees’ return to Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, and Tiberias.”

He went on to say this has bred the hatred for Israel and Jews “upon which the population in Gaza is raised and educated” and led them to believe that the only solution is the destruction of Israel.

“The small area of the Gaza Strip, which doesn’t have any natural resources or independent sources of income, has no chance of independent, economic, and diplomatic existence in such high density long-term,” he went on. “Therefore, the only solution to end the suffering and the pain of Jews and Arabs alike is for countries around the world who truly want what’s good for the refugees to accept them along with support and economic aid from the international community, including the State of Israel.”

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Tragic Update: 7th U.S. Service Member Succumbs to Injuries from Operation Epic Fury

A seventh U.S service member has died during Operation Epic Fury.  The unidentified individual died from his wounds following an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

CENTCOM noted, “Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East. The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1.”

“This is the seventh service member killed in action during Operation Epic Fury. Major combat operations continue. The identity of the fallen warrior will be withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification,” CENTCOM added.

The Gateway Pundit reported on the 4 deaths of Army Reserve Soldiers serving in Kuwait.

The heroes died on March 1, 2026, in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, during an unmanned aircraft system attack.

“All Soldiers were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, Des Moines, Iowa. The incident is under investigation,” the Pentagon said at the time.

The Department of War identified them as:

  • Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida
  • Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska
  • Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota
  • Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa

On Wednesday, the Department of War also announced the identities of two additional casualties.

  • Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Indianola/Waukee, Iowa
  • Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California

On Saturday, President Donald Trump participated in the dignified transfer of the six U.S. service members killed in the Iranian drone strike in Kuwait, at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

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Trump’s Iran War Timeline Extends INDEFINITELY 

The U.S.-Iran conflict, launched as Operation Epic Fury, has seen its expected duration expand without a clear endpoint. 

President Trump’s recent statements indicate an open-ended commitment, diverging from earlier administration assurances of a swift resolution. 

This shift occurs as reports emerge of Iranian migrants gathering at Europe’s Channel coast, using the war to strengthen asylum claims despite questionable timelines of their journeys.

Initial estimates suggested a limited engagement, but that appears to have all changed within the space of less than one week.

Trump confirmed the indefinite nature, stating “I have no time limits on anything. I want to get it done.”

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Israel’s Death Cult Grips the US

The admission this week by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, echoed by Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, that Israel forced Washington’s hand in attacking Iran has rightly caused consternation.

Breathing life into something that would normally be treated as an antisemitic trope, Rubio argued that the Trump administration had been left with no choice but to attack Iran because, had it not, Israel would have launched an attack anyway, exposing U.S. soldiers to retaliation.

Rubio stated: 

“The president made the very wise decision: We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”

Rubio was using the term “preemptively” in a highly irregular and misleading way.

In international law, aggression is an illegal application of force — the “supreme international crime,” according to the 1950 principles set out by the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal. But there is a potential mitigating factor if the attacking state can show it was acting pre-emptively: that is, it was acting to prevent a plausible, immediate and severe threat of attack.

Rubio, however, was not suggesting that the U.S. acted “preemptively” against a threat from Iran. He meant Washington had acted preemptively to stop its ally, Israel, from setting off a chain of military events that would lead to U.S. soldiers being harmed.

Had the Trump administration really been acting preemptively in these circumstances, the U.S. should have attacked Israel, not Iran.

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Iran’s new supreme leader is named as Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba – Iranian TV network reports

Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been appointed Iran‘s new Supreme Leader.  

Mojtaba, 56, Ali Khamenei’s second oldest son, has strong links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and was chosen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts ‘under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards’, according to Iranian opposition outlet Iran International.

Mojtaba is not a high-ranking cleric, has never held office and does not have an official role in the regime. 

But he served in the Iranian armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war and is believed to wield considerable influence behind the scenes. He has been touted as a possible successor to his father for years.

However, he was not included in a list of three senior clerics Ali Khamenei reportedly identified last year. 

And his father is said to have indicated opposition to his candidacy because it would resemble the hereditary rule enacted by the US-backed Shah monarchy before it was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Father-to-son succession is also viewed negatively in the Shiite Muslim clerical establishment in Iran.   

But much of Iran’s top brass has been decimated in the latest conflict and Mojtaba has close ties with the powerful IRGC and the Basij volunteer paramilitary force.

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Israel Air Force strikes Iranian oil facilities, military source says

IDF sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night that the air force has attacked significant oil resources in the Tehran region of Iran.

According to the sources, the oil resources being attacked are directly connected to Iran’s military industrial complex.

It was unclear what distinctions the IDF would make in such attacks regarding differing oil sites, but there was a clear effort by the sources to emphasize the military nature of the sites, which might otherwise be framed as harming Iran’s economic power more broadly, even if a new regime might later take over.

In the past, senior Israeli sources have told the Post that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has in recent years taken over certain portions of the economy, especially in the oil sector.

Iranian opposition reports indicated that as many as 30 sites might be under attack.

This vector of attack on the Islamic regime‘s power is the newest front after prior attacks on air defenses, ballistic missiles, top Iranian leaders, ballistic missile supply chain locations, and regime repression forces.

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