Iran is probably the axis power with greatest intent to destroy Israel, destabilize the world order, and undermine the United States. It works by subversion and through countless proxies, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The US recognizes 196 other countries as independent states and has positive diplomatic relations with 193 of them — all but Bhutan, Iran, and North Korea.
We are now in uncharted territory. The American airstrikes against strategic nuclear installations in Iran represent a fundamental change in U.S. policy and may well lead to a wider conflict that could spiral out of control. The risks are huge, but the danger was clear.
In a post on Truth Social, the U.S. president wrote that the strike on Iran “was scheduled for tomorrow” but said it was called off because he and other leaders believe “a deal will be made” with Tehran that “will be very acceptable” to the United States.
According to the 2022 National Defense Strategy, US military priorities include countering China’s military presence in the Indo-Pacific; deterring strategic attacks against the US and allies; defending against evolving threats like cyberattacks and addressing aggression from Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
Second, a growing series of reports is showing that the war has involved more belligerents than we knew about. Reports over the weekend revealed that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has conducted military strikes inside Iran, bombing a refinery in retaliation for Iranian attacks.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday delivered a new warning to Iran’s leadership and said that Tehran must move quickly or “there won’t be anything left,” providing an update on what the administration wants from the regime as a tentative ceasefire continues to hold up.
The bureau said in a statement that Monica Witt served in the military from 1997 to 2008, then worked as a government contractor until 2010. She later defected to Iran in 2013.
Although Iran reached a temporary cease-fire agreement with the U.S., it has refused to fully reopen the strait. Instead, it has imposed excessive “tolls” of up to $2 million per voyage. In doing so, Iran has turned a vital international waterway into a tool of asymmetric deterrence and economic coercion.
Without saying that we can know all of this, because war is the enemy of certainty, a few new realities seem to be emerging. First, the Iranian strength of controlling the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint is turning out to work both ways. Kharg Island, the critical oil production center for the Iranians, is 300 miles north of the strait, inside and above it.
An American airman found himself stuck behind enemy lines on Saturday in the “treacherous mountains of Iran,” after his aircraft was shot down and Iranian forces were closing in, according to the president. But in a daring rescue mission, the CIA managed to pick up his distress signal and fed false information through multiple channels to confuse the enemy, Fox News reported.
The Trump administration has been saying that the Iran war is winding down. Last week there was a ceasefire, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a message of victory. Then Israel attacked Lebanon, which set back the hours-old ceasefire. Vance negotiated for hours with the Iranians in Pakistan, but said they would not accept American red lines.
The disruption in Iran exposes the myriad risks to this food production system. A foreign attack using an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), nuclear bomb, or terror cells could disrupt this finely tuned supply chain far more profoundly than a pandemic.
Despite the heavy aerial and naval bombardment of Iran, the regime in Tehran is still intact, Iran retains control over the Strait of Hormuz, and the Iranian military is still capable of launching attacks against U.S.
The Trump administration’s messaging on America’s military involvement in Iran has been, to put it lightly, a mess. And it’s clear after listening to his remarks about the conflict that Sen.
Since the Iran war began nearly three weeks ago, President Trump has routinely (and accurately) boasted of America’s battlefield dominance. On an almost daily basis, he recounts how Iran’s navy, missile sites, and military infrastructure have been decimated or completely destroyed.
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