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Syria’s Assad-era reactor configured for nuclear weapons: IAEA

UN watchdog says material now is under IAEA safeguards.

By AP and Reuters, 7 Sep 20267 Sep 2026

Syria’s Assad-era nuclear facility was configured to produce material for possible use in nuclear weapons, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has reported.

The nuclear reactor, which the United Nations nuclear watchdog has been investigating with the cooperation of Syria’s new authorities, would have been able to produce fissile material that could be used for weapons, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told a media conference in Vienna on Monday.

“This is a reactor that is very efficient in the production of ‌fissile ⁠material that could be used directly for the fabrication of nuclear weapons,” he said.

Grossi’s comments came a week after the UN watchdog revealed in a confidential report that it had visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out verification work.

Based on observations at the Deir Az Zor site, the agency said it confirms “that the cooling infrastructure which has now been uncovered is consistent with that of a nuclear reactor”.

The agency added that it would continue to monitor the activities at the site “as the excavation work progresses”………………………

Israel is believed to have its own undeclared atomic weapons programme, which makes it the only nuclear armed country in the Middle East. Israel neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons.

The IAEA has said that the former Syrian authorities had failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities……………………..

The Syrian administration – made up of the group that overthrew Assad in 2024 – notified the agency of its existence in July and invited the nuclear inspectors to investigate. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/7/syrias-assad-era-reactor-configured-for-nuclear-weapons-iaea

September 8, 2026 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Syria | Leave a comment

Is Israel’s Upcoming Election a Point of No Return from Extremism?

H. Scott Prosterman, Informed Comment, 09/04/2026

Israelis will go to the polls on October 27, for one of the most consequential elections in their history. Not unlike the upcoming 2026 midterms in the U.S., it is essentially a referendum on democracy. This is neither a hyperbolic nor dramatic assessment, as PM Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened the legitimacy of Israel’s independent judiciary, and worked to undermine opposition candidates and parties to gthe point of irrelevancy. The parallels to convicted felon Donald Trump’s actions in the U.S. are inescapable, as both leaders have fueled one another’s efforts to remain in office to avoid legal consequences for their numerous criminal activities against their own people.

Netanyahu’s most formidable challengers are former General Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces Gadi Eisenkot of the Yashar (Straight) Party, and the Beyachad (Together) Party, headed by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. Recent polling projects 22 seats each for Yashar and Likud, which is a long way from the 61 seats in the Knesset or parliament necessary to form a government. Herein lies a sticky dilemma: In order to form a government, the winner needs to bring one or more of the Arab parties into their coalition, along with others. Thus far, Yashar’s success at this inclusion works against them with the Israeli far right……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Whoever comes out on top on October 27 will have 28 days to form a government, though a 14-day extension can occur if none is formed. The Knesset has 120 seats to mirror the last Great Assembly of the Second Temple, which also had that number. Israel recaptured the remaining wall (the “Wailing Wall”) of the Second Temple in the 1967 War. At the conclusion of the 1967 War, Foreign Minister Abba Eban allegedly stated that Israel did not intend to keep the territories they won during the war, because they didn’t want the burden of governing a hostile populace. The intent was to use those lands as bargaining chips for future security. After the 1973 War, that sentiment was never heard of again. Every war since then has turned Israel farther into the fringes of the far-far right. This election could be the point of no return. https://www.juancole.com/2026/09/upcoming-election-extremism.html

September 8, 2026 Posted by | Israel, politics | Leave a comment

The Freedom Flotilla Sails Again To Break The Gaza Blockade

THE FREEDOM FLOTILLA SAILS AGAIN
Vessels have begun international port-to-port voyage to Gaza

 Coalition statements, By zohar. September 4, 2026, https://freedomflotilla.org/2026/09/02/ffc-sails-again/

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) today announced that a new international mission to challenge Israel’s illegal and deadly blockade of Gaza is underway.

The violence and torture that Israel inflicted on hundreds of flotilla volunteers this past spring, including severe beatings, repeated tasering, and sexual assault, has not deterred the FFC, just as Israel’s murder of 10 flotilla activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, in 2010 did not stop the movement. If anything, action is needed now more than ever. While much of the world has moved on from Gaza, believing a supposed “ceasefire” has ended the genocide, Israel continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza at will; use its blockade to restrict and manipulate the entry of the food, medicine, and fuel that a besieged population depends on to survive; and deny Palestinians their fundamental right to freedom.

The new mission involves a port-to-port voyage throughout Europe, bringing together human rights advocates, union activists, elected representatives, journalists, medical professionals, and other supporters of Palestinian freedom. In June and July 2026, FFC vessel, Handala II, sailed around Scandinavia, making stops at ports in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Earlier this month, the vessel, Kate, launched from Bristol, UK and has made port calls in Ireland, Germany, and France. Upcoming stops include ports in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, before the flotilla continues on to Gaza. At every stop, the flotilla will stand with local communities to press their own governments to end their complicity in genocide by blocking weapons and energy shipments that arm Israel’s aggression, ending diplomatic and military cooperation, and imposing real sanctions. The journey will build public support and international pressure ahead of the flotilla’s planned attempt to reach Gaza in October 2026.

“The Freedom Flotilla sails again because our governments continue to fail to uphold their obligations,” said Zohar Chamberlain Regev, FFC Steering Committee member. “At every port, we will carry the demand that Palestinians be free to live with dignity. In October, we intend to carry that demand and the solidarity of people around the world to Gaza’s shores.”
Throughout the port-to-port journey, FFC and its local partners will organize public welcomes, community gatherings, media events, and opportunities for supporters to visit the vessels. Details of port calls and public events will be released as arrangements are confirmed.
Since 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has brought together civil-society organizations and grassroots campaigns from around the world to challenge the blockade by sea. Its work continues the precedent established by the Free Gaza Movement, whose vessels began sailing to Gaza in 2008.

“The Freedom Flotilla sails again because our governments continue to fail to uphold their obligations,” said Zohar Chamberlain Regev, FFC Steering Committee member. “At every port, we will carry the demand that Palestinians be free to live with dignity. In October, we intend to carry that demand and the solidarity of people around the world to Gaza’s shores.”
Throughout the port-to-port journey, FFC and its local partners will organize public welcomes, community gatherings, media events, and opportunities for supporters to visit the vessels. Details of port calls and public events will be released as arrangements are confirmed.
Since 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has brought together civil-society organizations and grassroots campaigns from around the world to challenge the blockade by sea. Its work continues the precedent established by the Free Gaza Movement, whose vessels began sailing to Gaza in 2008.

September 7, 2026 Posted by | Gaza, politics international | Leave a comment

US and allies push IAEA board to report Iran to UN Security Council, diplomats say

By Francois Murphy and John Irish, September 5, 2026,
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-allies-want-iaea-board-report-iran-un-security-council-diplomats-say-2026-09-04/

  • Summary
  • Board declared Iran in breach in June of last year
  • Israel started bombing its nuclear sites the next day
  • A standoff over access to those sites continues
  • Reporting Iran to the council escalates the clash

VIENNA/PARIS, Sept 4 (Reuters) – The United States, Britain, France and Germany are seeking a resolution by the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s ‌board next week reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council for the first time in 20 years, according to diplomats and the proposed text seen by Reuters.

If passed, the resolution would follow up on one adopted on June 12 of last year declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for not ​fully cooperating with an investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.

Israel started bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities the next ​day, soon joined by the U.S. Iran’s uranium-enrichment plants were destroyed or badly damaged.

Iran has not let ⁠International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors return to the bombed sites since then or verify what remains of its stocks of enriched uranium, ​some of which was enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.

FRESH DIPLOMATIC ESCALATION

A resolution by the IAEA’s 35-nation ​board reporting Iran to the Security Council would also be the culmination of a standoff over IAEA access to those sites, since the board has passed two resolutions in the past year demanding Iran declare its enriched uranium stocks and grant the IAEA full access to verify them.

“(The board) requests the (IAEA) ​Director General to transmit this resolution and the previously adopted resolutions … to all Members of the Agency and to the Security Council ​and the General Assembly of the United Nations,” said the latest resolution draft seen by Reuters.

It also “reiterates its call upon Iran to urgently remedy ‌its non-compliance ⁠with its Safeguards Agreement by taking all steps deemed necessary by the Agency and the Board, so that the Director General can provide the necessary assurances regarding the correctness and completeness of Iran’s declarations”.

The draft has not yet been formally submitted to the board and negotiations over the exact wording are ongoing, diplomats said. Whenever the four powers have submitted a draft resolution on Iran in ​recent years, it has passed.

Concrete action ​by the Security Council against ⁠Iran is unlikely since Tehran’s allies Russia and China are permanent, veto-wielding members.

IAEA CONCERNS OVER ENRICHMENT

Iran has often retaliated following IAEA board resolutions against it by escalating its nuclear activities or scaling back ​cooperation with the IAEA, but its options for both are currently extremely limited.

It is unclear what ​other repercussions there ⁠might be on Tehran’s conflict with the U.S.

As a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has the right to develop nuclear technology, including enrichment, for peaceful purposes. Iran says it would never produce nuclear weapons.

It is, however, the only country to enrich to 60% without making ⁠a bomb. ​The IAEA has said the amount it has enriched to that level is ​of serious concern.

September 7, 2026 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Trump rules out nuclear weapons against Iran, weighs limited Strait of Hormuz strikes


[your]NEWS, Mon, 31 Aug 2026, https://www.sott.net/article/508207-Trump-rules-out-nuclear-weapons-against-Iran-weighs-limited-Strait-of-Hormuz-strikes

President Donald Trump said nuclear weapons are unnecessary because Iran has been “totally defeated militarily,” while his administration considers limited conventional strikes aimed at protecting U.S. forces and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump said Monday that he has ruled out using nuclear weapons against Iran, even as the White House weighs additional conventional military action around the Strait of Hormuz following renewed clashes between U.S. and Iranian forces.

Trump addressed the nuclear question while speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, where he was asked whether he would exclude such an escalation from the ongoing conflict.

“Well, I would never say. That, but the answer is yes, I ruled out.I ruled it out there’s no reason for it.”

The president argued that Iran’s conventional military losses made the use of nuclear weapons unnecessary.

“What a stupid question that is. Actually, here they are. They’re totally defeated militarily. So now I defeat him, and now I should use a nuclear weapon on top of them. What a stupid question.”

Trump’s comments came as his administration considers a different form of escalation focused specifically on protecting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Axios, the president is weighing a resumption of limited strikes following an exchange of gunfire between American and Iranian forces over the weekend.

One U.S. official told the outlet that the contemplated operations would be intended to reduce the threat of Iranian attacks against oil tankers, U.S. Navy vessels and Air Force aircraft operating in the region. The potential strikes would therefore be narrower in scope than a major offensive against Iran and would focus on protecting military assets and commercial navigation through the strategic waterway.

The Strait of Hormuz has become one of the central flashpoints in the U.S.-Iran conflict because of its importance to international oil shipments and the continuing danger posed to vessels operating there. Any sustained Iranian attacks on tankers or U.S. military forces could prompt additional American action even as Trump says the administration sees no reason to consider nuclear weapons.

The White House emphasized that the president continues to retain broad military flexibility:

“The President retains all options at his disposal. The Iranians want to make a deal, but they are always a day late and a dollar short.”

That statement leaves open the possibility of additional conventional strikes while simultaneously suggesting Washington believes negotiations remain possible.

Trump’s position therefore separates two questions surrounding the conflict:

On nuclear weapons, he gave an explicit answer that he had ruled them out and argued Iran’s military condition did not justify such an extraordinary escalation.

On conventional force, however, the administration continues evaluating whether further strikes are necessary to protect American personnel and commercial shipping.

The possible Strait of Hormuz operation would be designed around those immediate security concerns rather than the use of substantially more destructive weapons. Trump’s remarks also suggest the administration believes Iran has already suffered significant military setbacks but remains capable of threatening ships and aircraft in the region.

That distinction could shape the next phase of U.S. operations, with Washington continuing targeted military action against specific threats while attempting to avoid an escalation to nuclear warfare.

For now, Trump has publicly closed the door on using nuclear weapons against Iran while leaving conventional military options available if Tehran continues threatening U.S. forces or shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

September 6, 2026 Posted by | Iran, USA, weapons and war | 1 Comment

Turkey’s Erdogan signals further nuclear projects with Russia

Turkey is planning to expand its nuclear cooperation with Russia to build
more power plants, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday. The signal
of deepening ties with Russia is likely to raise concerns among Western
allies, who have been worried by Ankara´s closeness to Moscow as the war
in Ukraine rages. Rosatom, a Russian state corporation, is close to
completing the Akkuyu nuclear power station on Turkey´s Mediterranean
coast. Its four reactors are expected to generate around 10% of Turkey´s
electricity when it comes online.

Daily Mail 1st Sept 2026, https://www.dailymail.com/wires/ap/article-16096403/Turkeys-Erdogan-signals-nuclear-projects-Russia.html

September 5, 2026 Posted by | politics international, Turkey | Leave a comment

Syria was building a nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under Assad, UN reports

Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under the
leadership of ousted former President Bashar Assad, according to a U.N.
report seen Tuesday by The Associated Press. Inspectors with the U.N.
nuclear watchdog visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out
verification work that confirmed the existence of a long-suspected nuclear
site, according to the confidential report circulated to member states.

Daily Mail 1st Sept 2026, https://www.dailymail.com/wires/ap/article-16096699/UN-report-finds-Syria-building-nuclear-reactor-Deir-el-Zour-former-President-Assad.html

September 5, 2026 Posted by | politics, Syria | Leave a comment

Israel’s ‘Facts on the Ground’ – razing Gaza and South Lebanon 

by Cathy Peters | Sep 2, 2026, https://michaelwest.com.au/israels-facts-on-the-ground-razing-gaza-and-south-lebanon/

Israel is destroying the evidence in the world’s largest crime scenes – Gaza and South Lebanon. Journalist Cathy Peters investigates the push to obliterate Palestinian lives and identity.

Israel is currently creating new Orwellian ‘facts on the ground’ in Gaza. Millions of tonnes of rubble are being transported out of areas in Gaza that the IDF has closed off behind the Yellow Line Zone.

Key locations of recent and former burial sites and ruins of major urban and agricultural landscapes have been razed in a blatant move to erase not only evidence of war crimes but also evidence of prior Palestinian existence on these lands.

Meanwhile, Drop Site News reported journalist Muhammad Shehada has asked Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to disclose whether Gaza reconstruction funds were “paying Israeli contractors or the Israeli military to remove rubble that may contain human remains and pave roads over potential mass graves”. The Board of Peace has denied it.

Nakba reprise


The Nakba (‘catastrophe’ in Arabic) of 1948 was planned by a group of Jewish Zionist leaders including Israel’s first president, Ben Gurion, seven years prior to the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians from Palestine. 530 towns and villages were depopulated, destroyed and then flattened in 1948.

They had been identified in the “Village Files” project (1940–47) which extensively mapped and gathered intelligence on hundreds of towns and villages. These files were incorporated into the ethnic cleansing Plan Dalet of 1948.

By August that year Ben Gurion had formally laid out a policy for the complete erasure of Palestinian existence in large areas of historic Palestine. This razing ensured that Palestinians once forcibly expelled, would not have anything to return to as refugees.

In subsequent years, the Israeli state and state supported organisations like the Jewish National Fund, planted forests over the sites of former Palestinian villages, greenwashing the colonisation of Palestinian lands to ‘dehistoricise Palestine’ in an attempt to obliterate Palestinian identity and ownership of the land.

Facts on the Ground


‘Facts on the ground’ is a familiar catch cry for illegal Israeli actions – unilateral military and civilian actions led by successive generations of Israeli governments pursuing their goal of ‘Eretz Israel’ (The Land of Israel) through relentless seizure of Palestinian property regardless of any agreements or international laws.

The creation of ‘facts on the ground’ such as the 1948 razing of evidence of Palestinian existence throughout Palestine ‘48 (now Israel) or the masses of illegal Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank have thwarted any legal processes and greatly

“impeded chances for a just peace for Palestinians.“

Israel’s latest ‘facts on the ground’ are the large swathes of flattened land throughout closed off areas in Gaza and South Lebanon. It has obliterated all evidence of habitation and destroyed evidence in the world’s largest crime scenes.

As 2 million Palestinians try to survive in unspeakable conditions herded into just over a third of the land mass of Gaza, IOF (Israel Occupying Forces) and their mercenary contractors are destroying physical evidence of Israel’s war crimes and of prior Palestinian existence throughout some 65% of land now closed off in the Yellow Line Zone controlled by Israeli forces.

Bombed out landscapes with any number of human remains, crumbling structures of homes, municipal buildings, mosques, streets, civil infrastructure and vital agricultural lands are being razed.

Al Jazeera has reported that hundreds of trucks are transporting rubble out of the Gaza Strip into Israel. This is another grave violation of international humanitarian law by Israel and an obstruction of the work the International Court of Justice is doing in relation to the case brought by South Africa against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Destroying, altering, or removing evidence can constitute an offence against the administration of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute. The Genocide Convention cites that along with killing and inflicting severe bodily or mental harm,

“destroying the means of existence for a group, is genocide.“

This week South Africa accused Israel of failing to adhere to the orders imposed by the International Court of Justice in 2024 and filed a dossier to the Court citing that Israel had continued to arbitrarily kill and arrest, torture and imprison Palestinians in Gaza and other violations of the Genocide Convention which include destruction of buildings and infrastructure.

Out of sight, out of mind

There are no peace keepers in Gaza, no Palestinian or international war crimes investigators or journalists and no members of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the body established to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza established by Trump’s Board of Peace and the terms of the ceasefire of October 2025.

They have not yet set foot in Gaza despite the urgent call two weeks ago by the Gaza Government Media Office for them to enter the Strip urgently.

Without any oversight, Israel is creating irreversible facts on the ground and bulldozing not only evidence of its crimes and the bodies of those killed and unaccounted for, but any remaining documentation of individuals’ lives and their ownership of property and land.

Now, not a single landmark or street or tree or building remains in key areas inside the Yellow Line Zone occupied by the IOF and its supported civilian militias outposts.

The BBC produced this forensic satellite analysis of the widespread destruction of towns and cities in Gaza back in July 2025 and all reports indicate that this destruction is continuing apace with the removal of rubble into Israel now a key feature.

Gaza. BBC satellite investigation – [on original]

Not only is the genocide and continued military blockade in Gaza denying any rights or recourse to justice for the living but this erasure is denying Palestinians the right to identify and bury their dead, and to recover any of their heritage in these areas in Gaza which goes back thousands of years.

Testimonies from Gaza


Michael West Media has received reports from Palestinians on the ground in Gaza.

Ahmed is a graduate of one of the best universities in Gaza. He lost his family and home east of Gaza City early in the genocide, and now lives alone in a damaged apartment in Gaza City. Previously he took shelter in a primary school near his home, but the IDF occupied it and has now cleared its ruins. He speaks frequently with Australian friends.

“The IDF and the pro-Israel militia have been killing people trying to cross the yellow line to try salvage personal possessions from the ruins of their homes. Now all the Israeli-controlled zone is being flattened, with rubble and bodies removed to Israel. This means no one can see where their streets or homes or shops or farms were. Families cannot properly honour their dead.

“Historic buildings and the Commonwealth war cemetery, near my old home, have been bulldozed. Friends being evacuated via the Israeli Karem Abu Salem checkpoint, have said all of the land in Rafah has been

“levelled, except for the Israeli and allied militia bases.”

“The levelling is not just for unrestricted military operations by Israel, but shows they want to eradicate Palestinian presence from eastern, southern and northern Gaza permanently.

On the Palestinian side of the yellow line, Israel is doing what it can, by controlling what supplies enter and who sells them, and by bombing local police, to encourage internal conflict, for instance between the big families.”

Tarek, the brother of a Palestinian Australian, is unable to get a visa out of Gaza.

“The situation in Gaza is extremely desperate with people struggling to access basic necessities such as food, safe drinking water, shelter, health care, and medicines. Overcrowded tents and poor sanitation have led to a significant spread of rodents, insects, and diseases in shelters and streets.

“At the same time, shortages of medicines and limited access to health services are putting vulnerable patients, particularly those with chronic conditions, at serious risk.”


Tarek’s comments on the bulldozing and removal of rubble from Gaza reinforce reports from EuroMed Monitor and Al Jazeera on what is happening behind the Yellow Line Zone, hidden from sight as Israel creates its facts on the ground now in Gaza.

“I have heard about the extensive bulldozing and destruction of areas behind the so-called yellow line, including the removal of rubble. I am familiar with some of these areas because some of my friends and colleagues used to live there.

“Large parts of these residential areas have been destroyed or heavily damaged, leaving families displaced and unable to return to their homes. The scale of the destruction has resulted in the loss of homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods, making the possibility of returning to normal life increasingly difficult.

“We do not deserve this. The lack of strong action from the international community feels like a profound abandonment and

“a great failure toward the people of Gaza.”

Ahmed lives in Sydney and has lost many family members. He is in regular contact with a family survivor in desperate conditions in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis city in southern Gaza where many thousands of displaced Palestinians living in tents have been facing acute water shortages and extreme heat for months.

“The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. There’s a renewed blockade of medical supplies and essential food supplies. Clean water has been incredibly scarce and food supplies are becoming more and more limited.

“Dangerous rodents and harmful insects have infested the displacement camps along the coasts of Khan Younis (Al Mawasi area) and residents suspect that to be intentionally spread by the IOF because they are of types that they have never seen in the Strip before.

“Moreover, the burning heat waves this summer have been dangerously paralysing and detrimental especially for newborns, small children, and the injured who have not been able to be evacuated overseas for medical attention.

“The genocide may have slowed down to avert the global attention away from Gaza, but our beloved Gaza Strip has been shrinking, and has evidently become a laboratory for the IOF necropolitics where they get to test all types of

physical, mental and psychological weapons

they continuously develop to suppress the population, as they intentionally keep the gates to the Gaza death camp securely locked.

Razing South Lebanon

Last week the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called for “an end to [Israeli] attacks directed against, or indiscriminately affecting, civilians and civilian objects in Lebanon” and noted “reports that entire villages in southern Lebanon have been rendered uninhabitable, with homes, schools, healthcare facilities, water and electricity infrastructure, places of worship and agricultural land destroyed by strikes and demolitions.”

Since March this year, Israel indiscriminately attacked Lebanon and enforced mass displacement orders particularly throughout Southern Lebanon resulting in 1 million people forcibly displaced from 189 towns and villages in just one week.

The Lebanese public research institute, the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) has estimated that almost 85,000 housing units have been damaged or destroyed in the south.

Additionally Israel sprayed what laboratory tests confirmed was glyphosate at very high levels over prime agricultural land destroying the chance of farmers to continue to work their lands.

Human Rights Watch has documented numerous instances of Israel’s illegal use of white phosphorus in populated areas of South Lebanon since 2023

n April this year, BBC Verify assembled data on the destruction in Lebanon based on satellite maps showing the complete razing of towns and villages in the south in line with Defence Minister Katz’s order of March 22nd to “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes” and key infrastructure

based on the “model in Gaza”.

As quoted in the Lighthouse Report and co published with the Financial Times in August, Kristine Beckerle, a deputy director at Amnesty International stated that “It’s an extensive, long-lasting and organised attack on the people of southern Lebanon … “If you raze everything to the ground, critical infrastructure and healthcare, if you scorch the earth, you are creating effective wastelands that are unliveable and making it very difficult for people to return to southern Lebanon.”

These are Israel’s facts on the ground in Lebanon.

Israel justifies its actions in Gaza and Lebanon as self-defence but the systematic erasure of life and the means to life has never been about self defence. There will never be any justification for the industrial slaughter and collective punishment in Gaza and Lebanon and the razing of their lands where generations of existence has been wiped off the map.

Cathy Peters

Cathy Peters is a former ABC RN producer/executive producer and Greens councillor on the former Marrickville Council. She also worked for a state Greens MP and is a long-time advocate for Palestinian rights. In 2014, she co-founded PSNA / BDS Australia. She has Jewish heritage, has travelled and volunteered in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

September 4, 2026 Posted by | Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

We Investigated The Board Of Peace. The Corruption We Found Will Shock You

7 Aug 2026Jared Kushner has a scheme to profit off world peace — and Gaza is the testing ground. There’s a web of private equity billionaires with ties to Israel and shadowy corporate armies who stand to profit off never-ending conflict. We investigated Trump’s Board of Peace.

September 3, 2026 Posted by | Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Walt Zlotow – Some inconvenient truths about Trump’s Iran war


Walt Zlotow  West Suburban Peace Coalition  Glen Ellyn IL , 31 Aug 2026, https://theaimn.net/some-inconvenient-truths-about-trumps-iran-war/

The US lost the war within the first 3 days when the US, Israeli attack and assassination of Iranian leader Ali Khomenei did not collapse the Iranian regime

Bombing Iran for 39 days was a catastrophic military failure. Iran’s retaliatory defense decimated all 20 US Gulf State bases inflicting over 750 US casualties including 18 dead.

Running out of both offensive and defensive missiles, Trump blinked first and called for a ceasefire on April 8, war day 40. 

The June 17th signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was essentially a US surrender document. 

Realizing the MOU signaled his defeat, Trump simply ignored it, implemented a blockade and resumed periodic bombing. Both utterly failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to resume the critical flow of oil to prevent worldwide economic calamity.

Having been sucker punched with bombs twice by Trump during negotiations, Iran has signaled it will never negotiate with Trump during his remaining 2 years, 5 months in office. 

Trump’s statements that Iran is negotiating surrender on Trump’s terms, the Strait is open, and will become US territory, the blockade is a resounding success, the oil is flowing, are so detached from reality one must ponder Trump’s sanity. 

Refusal to capitulate is spreading the war within the region to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, West Bank, Iraq, Syria, possibly even Turkey v. Israel.

If Trump’s last gasp is to utterly destroy Iranian infrastructure, Iran will retaliate and destroy the entire Gulf States oil infrastructure and possibly Israel’s infrastructure as well. 

Unlike for the US, Trump’s war is an existential threat to Iran’s existence. They have been preparing for the US, Israeli tag team war machine to destroy them for decades. They are and will prevail regardless of the cost. 

Israel will do whatever is necessary to keep Trump in the war to destroy Iran. Trump’s only way out is to sever ties with Israel and capitulate to Iran’s sensible terms. Given Trump’s history, the chances of that are nil. Removing Republican control of Congress in 9 weeks may be only chance for America to avoid economic collapse.

But only if a Democratic Congress has the wisdom, decency and good sense to end the most self destructive war in America’s 251 years. 

September 3, 2026 Posted by | Iran, Israel, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

‘Bloodthirsty Psychopath’ Ben-Gvir Touts 2 Viewing Booths at Gallows for Palestinians

. The legislation changes the rules governing Israeli military courts in the illegally occupied West Bank so that the death penalty effectively applies only to Palestinians who kill Israelis.

Far-right Knesset members, including Ben-Gvir, wore noose-shaped lapel pins to show their support for the legislation. Ben-Gvir also handed out sweets to Knesset colleagues after the bill passed its first reading.

The vice president of the European Parliament condemned what she described as “a horrific spectacle that turns the death penalty into a show.”

by Brett Wilkins | Aug 21, 2026

Still drawing international censure for his genocidal call to kill dozens of Gazans daily, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir faced fresh condemnation Thursday after visiting the construction site of a gallows where Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis are set to be hanged to death, with select Israelis gathering as spectators.

Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Jewish Power party, posted a video to social media in which he gloats about the construction of gallows, which is being built in an undisclosed location in central Israel.

“I promised to worsen the conditions of terrorists in prisons – we kept it,” Ben-Gvir says in the video. “I promised to pass the Death Penalty for Terrorists law – we did. And now the death row and hanging facility are also starting to take shape.”

The law to which Ben-Gvir referred was passed in March by the Knesset – Israel’s parliament – and took effect the following month. The legislation changes the rules governing Israeli military courts in the illegally occupied West Bank so that the death penalty effectively applies only to Palestinians who kill Israelis.

Far-right Knesset members, including Ben-Gvir, wore noose-shaped lapel pins to show their support for the legislation. Ben-Gvir also handed out sweets to Knesset colleagues after the bill passed its first reading.

Ben-Gvir said the execution site would include viewing booths where victims’ families could watch executions, describing this as something customary in various countries and specifically citing the United States as an example.

“Terrorists deserve only one thing – death by hanging,” said Ben-Gvir, who in 2007 was convicted by an Israeli court of inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization, whose leader he has openly honored.

Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, urged “effective international action” in response to Ben-Gvir’s comments. Al-Zaghari told Anadolu that the minister’s visit to the gallows site was part of the “continued determination of the Israeli occupation system” to codify incitement against Palestinians.

Leftist Israeli Knesset lawmaker Ofer Cassif excoriated Ben-Gvir’s actions.

“This criminal thug – a sympathizer of murderers of Palestinians, a supporter of terror, and a pathological racist – is also hopelessly infantile,” Cassif told The New Arab on Wednesday. “Soon we will oust him from the government, and next, throw him behind bars.”

European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno accused Ben-Gvir of staging “a horrific spectacle that turns the death penalty into a show.”

The liberal US pro-Israel group J Street asked on X, “Are we supposed to believe, as some in the Jewish establishment would like us to, that Ben-Gvir’s words somehow tell us nothing about the country he helps govern?”

“He is Israel’s national security minister, and he is now celebrating a facility built to execute Palestinians while Jewish extremists are excluded from the law,” the group added. “As the old saying goes: When someone tells you who they are, believe them. When a government gives someone this much power, we have to reckon honestly with the agenda they are pushing.”

Ben-Gvir – who is under sanctions and banned from countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank – was still being denounced on Wednesday for advocating the daily mass killing of Palestinians, including civilians, in Gaza amid a nearly three-year war that United Nations experts, human rights groups, a South Africa-led case currently before the International Court of Justice, and many others call a genocide.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, said Wednesday – which was World Humanitarian Day – that Ben-Gvir’s “remarks are appalling, they’re outrageous, they’re dehumanizing, they’re dangerous, and we condemn them unequivocally.”

A spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday in Berlin that Merz “strongly condemns Minister Ben-Gvir’s inhumane statements, which violate international law – they are unacceptable.”

“As the occupying power, Israel must treat Palestinians with dignity, protect their property, and ensure public administration and humanitarian aid,” the spokesperson added.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called Ben-Gvir’s remarks “unbearable and inhumane,” adding that “further sanctions could be imposed, and all options are on the table.”

In the United States, actor and activist Mark Ruffalo said Thursday on Bluesky that “Ben-Gvir is a bloodthirsty psychopath, war criminal, and one of Israel’s beloved genocidal leaders.”

“America and the world should be sanctioning, divesting, and boycotting Israel in every way until this apartheid regime falls,” he added.

The law to which Ben-Gvir referred was passed in March by the Knesset – Israel’s parliament – and took effect the following month. The legislation changes the rules governing Israeli military courts in the illegally occupied West Bank so that the death penalty effectivelyapplies only to Palestinianswho kill Israelis.

Far-right Knesset members, including Ben-Gvir, wore noose-shaped lapel pins to show their support for the legislation. Ben-Gvir also handed out sweets to Knesset colleagues after the bill passed its first reading.

Ben-Gvir said the execution site would include viewing boothswhere victims’ families could watch executions, describing this as something customary in various countries and specifically citing the United States as an example.

“Terrorists deserve only one thing – death by hanging,” said Ben-Gvir, who in 2007 wasconvictedby an Israeli court of inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization, whose leader he has openly honored.

Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, urged “effective international action” in response to Ben-Gvir’s comments. Al-Zaghari told Anadolu that the minister’s visit to the gallows site was part of the “continued determination of the Israeli occupation system” to codify incitement against Palestinians.

Leftist Israeli Knesset lawmaker Ofer Cassif excoriated Ben-Gvir’s actions. Cassif toldThe New Arab on Wednesday:

September 3, 2026 Posted by | Israel, Legal | Leave a comment

125 countries legally bound to arrest Netanyahu as ICC warrant looms over Israeli PM: Report

Wednesday, 26 August 2026, https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2026/08/26/775092/125-countries-bound-to-arrest-Netanyahu-as-ICC-warrant-shadows-Israeli-PM–Hebrew-media

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a sweeping international travel restriction, with 125 countries legally bound by their membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest him if he enters their territory, according to a report.

Netanyahu “cannot visit today in 125 countries,” including major Western states that are among Israel’s closest allies and trading partners, the Hebrew edition of the Times of Israel, Zman Yisrael, reported on Monday.

The Israeli outlet said that the countries include France, Britain, Germany and Canada.

The restriction stems from an arrest warrant issued by the ICC in November 2024 against Netanyahu over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza which has killed at least 73,000 Palestinians, and wounded more than 17,000 others since it was waged in October 2023.

The Hague-based court holds Netanyahu responsible for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.

The practical impact has already been visible in Netanyahu’s foreign travel, with his aircraft taking alternative routes to avoid the airspace of ICC member states.

Netanyahu has avoided events in countries where the warrant could be enforced, including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, because Switzerland is an ICC member state, the report noted.

Since the warrant took effect, Netanyahu has visited only one ICC member state where the warrant applies, Hungary in April 2025.

The report said that the restriction is not merely a diplomatic inconvenience, writing that “if Netanyahu cannot visit most countries in the world, including most Western powers, it is impossible to see this as ‘a superior international standing’ — but rather international isolation.”

Netanyahu can technically travel to around 70 countries that are not members of the ICC, but the majority have no diplomatic relations with Israel or have strained ties with the regime.

Meanwhile, Washington has stepped up its pressure campaign against the ICC since the court issued the warrant, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the administration of US President Donald Trump was working to “dismantle” the tribunal.

The US has imposed sanctions on ICC officials involved in the Israel investigation and pressed the court’s member states to withdraw from the institution.

September 1, 2026 Posted by | Israel, Legal | Leave a comment

The West Bank’s Ultra-Apartheid (and the Collusive International Silence)

These statements no longer reflect a “lunatic fringe,” as often portrayed by the media in the West. They reflect the brutal repression of Palestinians that’s now the new normal.

31 August 2026 AIMN Editorial, By Dr Dan Steinbock

Gaza showed the genocidal face of Israel’s expulsive strategy. In the West Bank, the same objective is realized with incremental escalation. The ultimate goal is the same – the final expulsion of the Palestinians.

Today, the West Bank is a nightmare of vicious settlement expansion, land seizure, economic strangulation, settler violence and forced displacement.

With the collusion of the Israeli military and police, the Israeli-occupied territories are effectively ruled by the Messianic far-right settlers who see their mob-like racist pogroms of Palestinians as a divine step to Final Redemption.

The ongoing year has accelerated the process from settlement expansion toward territorial consolidation and displacement. The scale is stark.

Displacement becomes systematic

By August 10, the UN reported 76 Palestinians killed in the West Bank, including 18 children; about 3,800 Palestinians had been displaced during 2026 through settler violence, demolitions and evictions, nearly half children.

More than 1,430 settler incidents had been recorded, affecting roughly 260 Palestinian communities.

The crucial point is not simply Jewish settler violence but its geographical and economic function. Settler attacks increasingly target homes, agricultural land, livestock, water and electricity infrastructure.

In a recent podcast, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right extremist who believes in Jewish racial supremacy, urged Israelis to kill “30 to 40” Palestinians in Gaza every night. He also supports aggressive, lethal actions against Palestinians in the West Bank, applying a similarly hardline approach through legislative, judicial, and security policies.

These statements no longer reflect a “lunatic fringe,” as often portrayed by the media in the West. They reflect the brutal repression of Palestinians that’s now the new normal. OCHA reports that displacement caused by demolitions, settler violence and access restrictions has averaged 17 Palestinians a day in 2026; twice the average of the preceding three years.

Since 2023, 127 communities have experienced full or partial displacement; 47 have been completely emptied.

The economic damage compounds the demographic pressure. UNCTAD estimates that West Bank GDP contracted 17% in 2024, while cumulative unrealized Palestinian GDP from occupation-related restrictions between 2000–24 reached $170.8 billion – about 17 times 2024 West Bank GDP.

The settlement economy in Area C and East Jerusalem, by contrast, generated an estimated $53 billion in 2024.

Great conjuncture

Right before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, I warned about an impending war, as the status quo was approaching a boiling point in Gaza. After all, it was the 50-year anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.

In The Fall of Israel (2024), I used the term great conjuncture to refer to structural forces that account for a series of cumulative disasters in the Middle East, starting with the waves of Palestinian expulsions since the 1940s.

Second, it refers to the aggressive expansion of the Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. The rise of the Messianic far-right has fostered settler militarization accelerating anti-Arab pogroms in the West Bank, which is being annexed into Israel.

Third, the great conjuncture is fueled by a half century of failed American diplomacy in the Middle East. The Fall of Israel showed how the US-Israeli ties moved from hedging and choosing sides to partnership and eventually a symbiosis. These are not ties that bind, but ties that blind. They account for 50 years of military destabilization in the region and U.S. complicity to genocidal atrocities, even ecocide – both in Gaza and Lebanon.

Finally, instead of fostering peace in the region, America’s massive military aid to Israel has amplified Israel’s parallel securitization degrading its economy, politics and military. Washington has provided at least $22 billion in direct military aid to Israel, alongside up to $12 billion spent on related U.S. military operations in the region, since October 7, 2023. From Gaza and beyond, Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinians and Palestinian children.

These four structural forces feed on each other forming a vicious cycle, thereby intensifying and broadening regional escalation. When I extended the argument into a book, these views were still seen largely as marginal. Today, things have dramatically changed. Even the bipartisan consensus over the U.S.-Israel ties has collapsed.

But this erosion came only after Gaza has been obliterated and ethnic cleansing escalates in the West Bank with the tacit blessing of the international community.

Ethnic cleansing from Gaza to the West Bank

In the Israeli occupied territories, ethnic expulsion has not been an accidental by-product but a recurring political mechanism. From Labor’s post-1967 Allon Plan through the Likud era and the Messianic far right, its logic has been cumulative as it has sought to

  • acquire territory;
  • fragment Palestinian space;
  • make Palestinian economic and social life increasingly unviable;
  • if massacres don’t suffice, use genocidal atrocities;
  • expand Jewish civilian presence;
  • and eventually convert temporary occupation into permanent sovereignty.

The objective is not simply “security,” nor even the exploitation of Palestinian labor, but the Judaization of territory and prevention of a sovereign Palestine.

The Palestinian expulsions are intimately linked to both ideology and political economy. Land, subsidized settlements, real estate and state resources create constituencies that benefit materially from Palestinian dispossession.

Gaza became the extreme version: bombardment, destruction of housing and infrastructure, displacement and proposals for population “transfer” created conditions in which Palestinians were physically removed and territory becomes available for redevelopment or settlement.

In the West Bank, the mechanism used to be more incremental: settlement outposts, land seizures, demolition orders, restrictions on building and movement, settler violence and pressure on herding communities.

In the absence of international penalties, sanctions and blockades, settlers have been dramatically emboldened. They avoid one spectacular expulsion but seek to make the remaining Palestinian communities progressively untenable.

Their goal is the “Judaization” of Palestine – death by a thousands cuts………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. https://theaimn.net/the-west-banks-ultra-apartheid-and-the-collusive-international-silence/

September 1, 2026 Posted by | Atrocities, Israel | Leave a comment

Can the Israeli military be trusted to investigate itself? Evidence shows genuine accountability is rare

Shannon Bosch, Associate Professor (Law), Edith Cowan University, August 20, 2026, https://theconversation.com/can-the-israeli-military-be-trusted-to-investigate-itself-evidence-shows-genuine-accountability-is-rare-290142

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it’s an “outrage” the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have decided not to open a criminal investigation into the Israeli strikes that killed an Australian aid worker, Zomi Frankcom, and six of her colleagues in Gaza in April 2024. He added:

It falls far short of the accountability that we expect and consistently called for on behalf of Australia.

International law is clear: states are obligated to investigate alleged war crimes committed by their nationals or armed forces, or on their territory. And, if it’s appropriate, they are obligated to prosecute the suspects.

To this end, military and civilian leaders must report suspected breaches of the law up the chain of command to ensure prompt, independent and impartial investigations are carried out.

On Wednesday, the IDF published the findings of an internal investigation into five incidents in Gaza since the war began in October 2023.

Two incidents were deemed to raise “reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct”. The IDF ordered the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division, the primary investigative unit within the IDF, to open criminal probes into them. They are:

The killing of Hind Rajab, January 2024: The IDF acknowledged that soldiers opened fire on a vehicle carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and her family as they fled Gaza City. In addition, the IDF said “a shell was fired toward” an ambulance trying to reach the car, killing two paramedics.

The killings of Palestinian rescue workers, March 2025: The review also referred the killings of 15 Palestinians in southern Gaza – some of whom it recognised as paramedics and medical personnel – to criminal investigators.

It said Israeli troops fired on three vehicles, which were later identified as ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle.

Forensic Architecture, a research group at the University of London, alleges the military tried to cover up the killings by crushing and burying the medics’ vehicles.

The IDF investigators did not recommend further investigations into three other incidents, including:

The strikes on the World Central Kitchen convoy, April 2024: In addition to Frankcom, three British nationals, a Palestinian, a Pole and a dual US-Canadian citizen were killed when the IDF mistakenly identified their vehicles as carrying Hamas operatives.

The investigation found serious operational failures in the soldiers’ actions. Two commanders were stripped of their ranks and three officers were reprimanded. However, the review did not find “reasonable suspicion” of criminal conduct.

The other two incidents related to the killings of four employees of Médecins Sans Frontières in 2023 and 2024.

How often are Israeli soldiers prosecuted?

Statistically, very few complaints against IDF personnel result in investigations or criminal convictions.

The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din analysed complaints made to the IDF in 2019–20 and found 72% were closed without criminal investigation and just 2% led to prosecutions.

Another investigation of 52 Israeli military probes between 2023 and 2025 found 88% were either still under review or had been closed. Only one case had led to a prison sentence for an Israeli soldier.

What are the concerns with the IDF investigating itself?

Human Rights Watch has expressed serious concerns with IDF investigations into incidents involving Palestinian civilians. The group says they are “not impartial, thorough or timely”.

Cases often take months or years to navigate the IDF investigative process). Critics say this undermines the cases and diminishes the prospects for prosecutions.

Human Rights Watch reports that initial investigations largely rely on soldiers’ own accounts. The military advocate general, who advises the IDF during military operations, subsequently determines whether conduct should be criminally investigated or prosecuted.

Critics also argue that investigators frequently fail to contact readily available Palestinian witnesses, lack Arabic-speaking investigators, and rely heavily on Israeli NGOs to locate witnesses and obtain evidence.

Palestinian witnesses are often reluctant to cooperate in investigations because of fears of arrest, retaliation or mistreatment.

The military insists investigations are slowed by the difficulties of ensuring due process for its personnel in an active combat zone.

But rights groups say that by the time detectives are authorised to investigate, physical evidence is often long gone, the scenes have been compromised, and witnesses’ memories have faded.

That said, war crimes are not subject to any statutory limitation, meaning prosecutions can occur decades after an alleged offence.

What happens next in these cases?

The Hind Rajab and paramedic cases will now be transferred to military police for formal criminal investigations. They will collect forensic evidence, review communications logs and interrogate the soldiers and commanders involved.

Once complete, the investigation will be handed back to the military advocate general, who will decide whether to issue criminal indictments.

Structural legal barriers suggest, however, that the cases may not go anywhere.

Under Israeli military law, the legality of conduct in war must be assessed based on what a “reasonable commander” knew (or should have known) at the split-second the trigger was pulled. Did they honestly believe they were firing at a legitimate target?

Unless prosecutors can prove explicit intent to murder civilians, cases are often downgraded to “negligence” or closed entirely.

Lengthy proceedings can also create difficulties for eventual prosecution. As evidence becomes unavailable or less reliable over time, defence lawyers may argue that continued proceedings would prejudice their clients’ rights to a fair trial.

In some cases, concerns such as these can lead to reduced charges, plea agreements or the withdrawal of an indictment.

What other options exist?

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is designed to be a “court of last resort”. This means it only steps in if a nation is “unwilling or unable” to genuinely carry out investigations of suspected war crimes.

Israel has long argued that its investigative procedures in cases such as these are both credible and independent.

However, international observers and groups like the Hind Rajab Foundation maintain these internal probes function primarily as a public relations shield rather than a pathway to genuine accountability for wrongdoing.

As Human Rights Watch has put it: “a system that overwhelmingly closes cases without accountability, years after the fact, and only in response to sustained international pressure, is not justice, it’s a whitewash”.

Cases like these could also be investigated and tried in other countries’ courts under what’s known in international law as universal jurisdiction.

This allows domestic courts to launch prosecutions, even when the countries have no link to the perpetrator, victim, national interest or territory where the incidents occurred.

These prosecutions can be supported by UN-appointed independent international commissions of inquiry. These fact-finding bodies collect evidence, interview witnesses and compile exhaustive archives of offences in war zones.

While these UN panels do not hold trials, their formalised, verified evidence files are designed to be handed over to foreign prosecutors or future tribunals.

August 31, 2026 Posted by | Israel, Legal | Leave a comment

US treasury chief claims Washington ‘unlikely to restart’ large-scale hostilities against Iran

Bessent said that illegal US sanctions are a replacement for a war of aggression that has failed to break Tehran

News Desk, AUG 20, 2026, https://thecradle.co/articles/us-treasury-chief-claims-washington-unlikely-to-restart-large-scale-hostilities-against-iran

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on 20 August that Washington will likely “not restart” large-scale military operations against Iran, as the White House shifts to a campaign of maximum economic sanctions.

If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart,” Bessent said in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk on the Street news program.

Trump had announced hours earlier on Truth Social that Washington would impose major economic penalties on any country extending Tehran what he called “any type of lifeline.”

“This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat,” Trump wrote.

Bessent said he would lay out the details of the plan at a press conference, telling CNBC that the message to every US ally would be: “You are either with us or against us.”

“If you insist on doing business with [Iran], either transferring money, buying their oil or doing seaborne ship transfers, then the US Treasury and the US government … will put its full might and force toward enforcing against you,” he said.

He described the campaign as “the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the campaign the same day, writing on X that it would deliver Washington nothing but “further defeat.”

“The so-called ‘Economic D-Day’ is a diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs,” Araghchi wrote, describing US “economic terrorism” as a threat to the global economy.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Washington had reached for economic warfare only after its military campaign failed to deliver.

“They claim Iran is on the verge of defeat and hanging by a thread, yet they are begging all their allies to help them,” he wrote on X, adding that the US had “named their next failure an ‘economic war.’”

Vice-Chairman of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden Hussein Askary notes that the US naval blockade imposed in April has pushed Iran to shift its trade overland, sharply increasing freight traffic on the China–Iran railway and raising the strategic value of Eurasian land corridors as Tehran works to keep supply routes open beyond the reach of maritime pressure.

The Pentagon is reviewing whether to scale back its presence in Persian Gulf states after Iranian retaliatory strikes battered the largest US bases overseas, with sources saying a westward pullback is under consideration.

A regional intelligence source told Press TV that the Pentagon has concluded no military plan exists that could guarantee open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil.

August 30, 2026 Posted by | Iran, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

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