Tag: iran

Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear and missile sites with explosions heard across Tehran

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed, Iranian state television reported, in a major body blow to Tehran’s governing theocracy and an immediate escalation of the nations’ long-simmering conflict. An anchor read a statement saying: “The news of assassination and martyrdom of Gen. Hossein Salami was confirmed,” but did not elaborate. Another top Guard official, as well as two nuclear scientists, were also feared dead.

Israeli leaders said the attack was necessary to head off what they described as an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, and they warned of a reprisal that could target civilians in Israel.”

…

““We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement released by the White House that warned Iran against targeting U.S. interests or personnel.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/explosions-ring-across-iran-capital-001346234.html

Missile from Yemen halts flights in Israel

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The Houthi rebels have been striking Israel throughout the war in Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians. The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport came hours before top Israeli Cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip. The army meanwhile began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in Gaza, officials said.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/04/missile-from-yemen-halts-flights-in-israel-00325258

Trump’s ‘failure’ in Ukraine risks war with Russia ‘in three years’

Posted on by Lone Candle

Defeating Russia in Ukraine would isolate Iran and deter both China and Russia from future aggression. China would be most deterred by a willing and strong U.S. bonded with many allies. Unfortunately, the U.S. is acting weak while at the same time damaging its alliances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6CLlNfjoew

Opinion | The Iranian Negotiating Tactic the Trump Administration Doesn’t Get

Posted on by Lone Candle

“sanctions have never made the clerical regime abandon its nuclear ambitions. During Trump’s first term, his “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign did real damage to Iran’s economy. Iran didn’t, however, concede its atomic assets.”

…

” Obama’s more friendly outreach only made progress after Washington made a key concession — Iran’s “right” to enrich uranium. The Americans also made a second key concession: allowing Iran to retain a substantial nuclear infrastructure, which could ramp back up at any time. Ali Salehi, the MIT-educated nuclear engineer who was probably the mastermind behind Iran’s dual-use import network, loved the Obama agreement because it would guarantee the Islamic Republic a more advanced, better-financed atomic program that it could grow in the open. It was Obama’s permissive terms much more than the promised financial relief that induced the theocracy to sign the 2015 accord.”

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” Along the way, the clerical regime might agree to dilute its stock of 60 percent-enriched uranium, which is near weapons-grade, or even cap enrichment at a lower level. It would be a flashy concession that won’t fundamentally affect the complexion or the trajectory of Tehran’s nuclear program. The mullahs know that what matters most are protecting its new generation of centrifuges. With much greater efficiency and speed, these machines can enrich uranium to bomb-grade and can be housed in small facilities that are harder to detect.”

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“Even a stringent inspection regime, unless supported by a well-placed human-intelligence network, would find locating these centrifuges an excruciatingly difficult task.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/19/iran-nuclear-talks-trump-00299466

Falasteen-2 Hypersonic Missile Hits Israel’s Top-Secret Sdot Micha Base in Major Escalation

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The triple-strike operation—featuring a hypersonic missile at Sdot Micha, a ballistic missile at Ben Gurion Airport, and a drone strike in Ashkelon—demonstrates a clear message of capability and intent from the Houthi military.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/falasteen-2-hypersonic-missile-hits-israel-s-top-secret-sdot-micha-base-in-major-escalation/ar-AA1CRwuN?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=434863c4938840b69f0f1ad051781eb1&ei=11

Why Economic Sanctions Against Iran Are Backfiring

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Although the United States has the power to seriously disrupt economic life in other countries, the book argues, the consequences don’t always serve American interests. Sanctions hurt the prosperity and political standing of Iran’s pro-American middle class the most. They also make the government more paranoid and remove important incentives to play nice. Everyone seems worse off.

The U.S. has tried to wash its hands of the policy’s consequences for ordinary Iranians, blaming their poverty on domestic “corruption and economic mismanagement” rather than on sanctions. But the data are clear. The Iranian economy was booming from 1988, the end of the country’s war with Iraq, to 2011, the beginning of former President Barack Obama’s intensified sanctions campaign.

Obama’s innovation was secondary sanctions. As the flow of direct American-Iranian trade shrunk, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control punished companies in other countries that dealt with Iran. The Iranian economy became more or less radioactive, as any bank in the world that handled Iranian money and any shipping company that handled Iranian oil risked the wrath of the U.S. government.

Then Obama made a deal, lifting the sanctions in 2015 in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program. Trade resumed and foreign investment flowed back in—until Trump reimposed sanctions in 2018. (Despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, former President Joe Biden continued to enforce the same sanctions.) Iran has since come closer to building a nuclear bomb, and it has had more confrontations with the U.S. military.”

https://reason.com/2025/03/27/how-sanctions-backfire/