Fascism

Iran says its armed forces ready ‘more than in the past’ if war renews with US

Spread the love

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) participate in a military exercise aimed at “increasing combat capabilities” in Tehran province, Iran, on May 12, 2026. [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Anadolu Agency]

A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that the readiness of the country’s armed forces today “is more than in the past,” claiming Tehran will use “different” types of weapons in case of a renewed war with the US and Israel.

“The best reason for this issue is that despite the use of its vast capacity on land, sea and air, America could not remove the Strait of Hormuz from Iran’s control even for a few minutes,”

Sardar Mohebbi said in a statement carried by the semi-official news agency Tasnim.

Mohebbi said Tehran is ready for “all possible scenarios,” adding that Washington “failed to achieve its goals” in the Strait of Hormuz during the latest round of the conflict.

Tensions in the Middle East have escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February. Tehran retaliated with attacks targeting Israel and US allies in the Gulf, alongside the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

A ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, but subsequent talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement. Efforts for a solution, however, have continued since.

READ: Iranian military headquarters warns of retaliation if Beirut’s southern suburbs are attacked

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ... unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.

Continue ReadingIran says its armed forces ready ‘more than in the past’ if war renews with US

As Israel encroaches upon Gaza, the UN should be reckoning with its colonial complicity

Spread the love

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Palestinian worshippers gather to perform the Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) prayer near the ruins of the Yarmouk Mosque, which was destroyed in Israeli attacks, in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, Palestine, on May 27, 2026. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]

by Ramona Wadi  walzerscent

“A hundred percent of Gaza should be for the Palestinian people, right? That’s what we want to see. And we’ve been calling on Israel to pull back from its occupation from the so-called yellow line and that will continue to be our position,” UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated last week.

Dujarric’s comments were uttered after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated he ordered the Israeli military to encroach further on Gaza, to 70 percent of the territory. The Yellow Line, which Dujarric mentioned, is already an expired demarcation, while the Orange Line, recently briefly making news headlines, is the physically unmarked border that will determine Israel’s entire military occupation of Gaza. Further Israeli colonial expansion has the backing of the US Board of Peace, led by Nickolay Mladenov, who has already absolved Israel from not keeping to the ceasefire terms since Hamas refused to disarm.

Since Mladenov’s narrative remained unchallenged, Netanyahu does not even have to justify Israel’s military occupation of Gaza, which sets the scene for recolonising the area.

Mladenov already warned that Hamas would be blamed for any repercussions after refusing to disarm, bringing the narrative back to the start of the genocide. For the UN, the deception works well. It allows Israel’s ongoing security narrative unlimited and unwarranted justification. Hamas takes the blame for Israel’s military occupation, and the UN maintains relevance through its humanitarian paradigm for a while longer.

UN officials can embellish their rhetoric, but their credibility has long been pulverised. If one goes back to history, as should be done, ignoring Palestinian self-determination to vote for partition in 1947 represents the foundations of the lie upon which all UN rhetoric is based. Palestine has been repeatedly throttled by the UN to pave the way for Zionist colonial encroachment.

READ: The EU’s fragmented focus rewards colonial violence

The Yellow Line, which Dujarric referred to, was only the beginning of the visible manifestation of Israel’s territorial appropriation. Calling upon Israel to pull back from the Yellow Line when military occupation has already expanded ignores the fact that Israel had already moved past the demarcation which was linked to purportedly rebuilding Gaza.

The question, therefore, is not what the UN’s spoken position is, but what lies beneath its rhetoric, which can be linked to decades of the international community’s approval and endorsement of various forms of Israeli colonial violence.

The Yellow Line and the Orange Line are not just demarcations; they are proof of Israel’s ongoing forced transfer of the Palestinian people. Genocide was the first step; military occupation of utterly destroyed territory is the second. Instead of talking about the Yellow Line, for example, can UN spokespersons and officials recognise the political implications of the Palestinian people’s forced displacement from Gaza? Can UN officials speak of Palestinians outside of the humanitarian paradigm, or as appendages to what Israel is planning for Gaza? What the UN allegedly wants is not the main issue here, and neither should it be. Palestinians are being forced out of Gaza and restricted into a humanitarian paradigm that robbed them of rights alongside land. That is what Dujarric should have addressed – the forced absence of the Palestinian people’s political agency, which facilitates ongoing colonisation, as the UN envisaged since 1947.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ... unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.

Continue ReadingAs Israel encroaches upon Gaza, the UN should be reckoning with its colonial complicity

Palestine’s supreme judge: Israeli bill to restrict Muslim call to prayer an attack on freedom of worship

Spread the love

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Mahmoud Al-Habbash, advisor to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaks during the 19th International Muslim Forum at the Moscow Central Mosque in Moscow, Russia on December 12, 2023. [Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images]

The Supreme Judge of Palestine and Presidential Adviser for Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash said on Monday that an Israeli bill aimed at legalising restrictions on the Muslim call to prayer (adhan) amounts to a “declaration of religious war against Islamic holy sites and rituals” and a direct attack on freedom of worship.

His remarks came in a statement responding to the approval on Sunday of a draft bill by Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation. The bill was submitted by the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Al-Habbash said Israeli attempts to restrict the call to prayer in Jerusalem and among Palestinian communities inside Israel were “a direct assault on Muslims, the Islamic faith and freedom of worship”, adding that they rise to the level of a declaration of religious war against Islamic holy sites and practices.

Under the proposed legislation, no sound system may be installed or operated in a mosque without a licence. Approval of a licence would be based on the level of “noise” and the mosque’s proximity to residential areas.

According to a statement issued by Otzma Yehudit on Sunday, Israeli police officers would be authorised to order the immediate suspension of the call to prayer if the rules are violated. Continued violations could result in the confiscation of loudspeakers and the imposition of financial penalties.

Al-Aqsa: The moment of peril is here. Will the Muslim world act?

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ... unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Continue ReadingPalestine’s supreme judge: Israeli bill to restrict Muslim call to prayer an attack on freedom of worship

Markey Demands Trump Cancel Plan to Give Private Companies Enough Plutonium to Build 2,000 Nuclear Bombs

Spread the love

Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) spoke out against Trump’s challenges to judicial law during a press conference held at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

“Only Trump’s get-rich-quick bros would come up with this corrupt and moronic scheme,” wrote Democratic Sen. Ed Markey.

A prominent US senator on Tuesday implored President Donald Trump to cancel his administration’s plan to give private companies enough plutonium to build around 2,000 nuclear bombs, warning the move raises “serious weapons proliferation concerns” along with potentially massive safety issues and conflicts of interest.

“If implemented, this would be the first time the US government has made weapons-grade plutonium available to private companies,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote in a letter to Trump. “I urge you to cancel this misguided scheme.”

RECOMMENDED…

President Trump Signs Executive Orders At The White House

Coalition Rips Trump Plan to ‘Rubber-Stamp’ Nuclear Reactors as Dangerous and Illegal

President Donald Trump sits for an interview with Lara Trump

Watch: Trump Admits ‘We Shouldn’t Have Been in Iran’

The New York Times reported last week that the US Department of Energy currently has “more than 50 tons of surplus plutonium left over from nuclear weapons programs, and the agency had previously been planning to dilute much of that material and bury it.”

But last May, Trump signed an executive order halting the dilution program and instructing his energy secretary to “establish a program to dispose of surplus plutonium by processing and making it available to industry in a form that can be utilized for the fabrication of fuel for advanced nuclear technologies.”

Last Tuesday, the Energy Department said it has entered into “advanced negotiations” with five nuclear energy companies—Oklo, Flibe Energy, Exodys Energy, Shine Technologies, and Standard Nuclear—to potentially distribute the Cold War-era plutonium.

Markey noted in his letter that Energy Secretary Chris Wright previously served on the board of Oklo, a California-based nuclear technology company whose stock price jumped in response to the department’s announcement.

“I am concerned that your administration is moving forward with plans to give plutonium to Oklo not because this makes
sense for the United States, but because Oklo stands to benefit financially and Secretary Wright is acting in his former company’s interest. Secretary Wright’s close ties to the company present an appearance of impropriety.”

The senator also expressed opposition to the plan on its merits, warning that “the transfer of weapons-usable plutonium to private industry would increase the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation, including to rogue states or terrorists.”

“Your plan—which would provide US companies with plutonium from US military stocks and subsidize them both to reprocess plutonium domestically and export reprocessing technology—would reverse our successful nonproliferation policy,” Markey wrote. “The United States cannot effectively discourage other countries from using plutonium for civil purposes if we use it ourselves.”

Nuclear experts have raised similar concerns about the Trump administration’s plan to transfer weapons-grade plutonium into the hands of private, for-profit corporations.

“Plutonium-based fuels and reprocessing have a poor track record when introduced in civilian nuclear energy programs,” Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist who headed the Energy Department during the Obama administration, wrote last year, warning that transfer schemes such as the one put forth by Trump would “produce new radioactive waste streams that must be managed” and “elevate the risk of a safety or security incident at a nuclear facility.”

In a social media post last week, Markey condemned the Trump administration’s plan in scathing terms, writing that “using plutonium for nuclear power is stupid and dangerous.”

“This material is used in nukes, and it’s too unsafe for widespread commercial use. Do we want Iran using plutonium in its reactor? No,” Markey wrote. “Only Trump’s get-rich-quick bros would come up with this corrupt and moronic scheme.”

Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
Continue ReadingMarkey Demands Trump Cancel Plan to Give Private Companies Enough Plutonium to Build 2,000 Nuclear Bombs

Israel Keeps Killing Lebanese Civilians Despite Trump’s De-Escalation Claim

Spread the love

Article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

An aerial view of buildings and a parking area opposite the Jabal Amel Hospital, the largest hospital in the city of Tyre, Lebanon, on June 2, 2026, shows damage from an Israeli strike. (Photo by Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“The more Netanyahu prevents the war with Iran from ending, the more obvious it becomes that he convinced Trump to start it.”

The death toll from Israel’s assault on Lebanon continued to rise on Tuesday despite President Donald Trump’s claims of de-escalation following Monday phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an intermediary for Hezbollah.

The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Tuesday that “the cumulative toll of the aggression from March 2 to June 2 has reached 3,468 dead and 10,577 injured,” even amid a ceasefire agreed to in April. The deal stemmed from Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal war on Iran, and Israel initially claimed it did not include Lebanon.

RECOMMENDED…

Israeli airstrike in Beirut suburbs

‘Ceasefire in Name Only’: Israel Bombs Beirut With Approval From Trump Administration

'Jerusalem Day' Flag March

Ben-Gvir Says Israel ‘Will Not Allow’ Trump to Make a Peace Deal With Iran as IDF Kills Dozens in Lebanon

After Iran on Monday reportedly halted talks with the US over Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that due to his phone calls, Israeli troops “have already been turned back” from Beirut, and Hezbollah “agreed that all shooting will stop—That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”

However, Netanyahu said later Monday that “I spoke this evening with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and civilians, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut. This position remains unchanged.”

According to Axios reporting contested by a senior Israeli official, one US source summarized Trump’s remarks to Netanyahu as follows: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

Another source said that Trump was “pissed” and at one point yelled at the prime minister, “What the fuck are you doing?”

While “the story has understandably been met with considerable skepticism,” wrote Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, there are “a few important counterexamples—particularly from Trump’s second term—that suggest the Axios story is not entirely implausible.”

“What is also plausible, however, is that Trump will once again fail to sustain the pressure and, by that, allow for Netanyahu’s potential retreat to prove temporary,” Parsi predicted.

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie (Ky.), a libertarian who recently lost his reelection primary to a Trump-backed challenger, responded to the reporting on social media: “It’s all talk. Just withhold foreign aid to Israel for a month, and they’ll stop bombing their neighbors—instant peace, the Strait of Hormuz can be opened, and gas drops $2 a gallon. Israel has been, and continues to be, the biggest welfare recipient from American taxpayers.”

Massie also said that “the more Netanyahu prevents the war with Iran from ending, the more obvious it becomes that he convinced Trump to start it.”

Progressive Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (Minn.) similarly said late Monday: “The lesson Israel has learned, time and again, is that it can commit genocide and other atrocities with near-total impunity. Now it’s exporting the Gaza playbook to Lebanon. Israel’s war in Lebanon is killing thousands and displacing over a million. NO MORE US AID TO ISRAEL.”

Citing Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) on Tuesday, Al Jazeera cataloged Israel’s killings since Trump’s de-escalation claims:

Two Syrians were killed in an Israeli attack on a plant nursery where they were working in the town of Jebchit in the Nabatieh governorate, NNA said on Tuesday.

Israeli drone strikes hit a motorcycle on Martyr Sabra Street in Toul and a car in the Dhi’at al-Arab neighborhood of Ansar, killing two people, NNA said.

The third strike hit a car near the village of Harouf, killing one person.

Separately, an Israeli drone strike hit a car on the road linking the southern town of Marjayoun with the city of Nabatieh, killing James Karam, a dentist from the nearby Christian municipality of Qlayaa, along with his daughter and son, NNA reported.

Those deaths followed Israel’s Monday airstrike in the southern village of Marwaniyeh, which killed six members of the Hassan Abdullah family, according to the Lebanese Civil Defense. Palestine Chronicle reported that “rescue teams worked throughout the night and into Tuesday morning to recover victims trapped beneath the rubble of the destroyed building. Three additional people were pulled from the debris during the operation.”

Also on Monday, Israel attacked the Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre, killing at least four people and injuring dozens more.

Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Lebanon, said Tuesday that the hospital is one of the few operating in the country’s south, and the attack “caused significant damage… to the emergency department and intensive care unit.”

“Six hospitals have not yet resumed maternity delivery services and are currently providing only emergency room care,” he noted. “For pregnant women and newborns, delays in care can mean the difference between life and death.”

WHO has verified nearly 200 attacks on healthcare facilities and workers in Lebanon over the past three months. Calling for such attacks “to stop” and “active protection for healthcare,” Abubakar stressed that “these attacks kill and maim, they also deprive people of the health services they need.”

Israel hit Jabal Amel Hospital after a strike near Hiram Hospital the previous day, according to Doctors Without Borders, which supports both facilities. Omar Ebeid, the organization’s project coordinator in southern Lebanon, said Tuesday that “these repeated attacks reflect a grave failure to protect the medical mission and underscore the urgent need to safeguard civilians, medical staff, health facilities, and continuous access to lifesaving care.”

Faced with a rising death toll and Israeli forces’ destruction of civilian infrastructure, The Associated Press reported, “another round of talks between Israel and Lebanon began Tuesday in Washington, where Lebanese negotiators are set to seek a full ceasefire that will prevent future attacks.”

Article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won. He's challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/

Continue ReadingIsrael Keeps Killing Lebanese Civilians Despite Trump’s De-Escalation Claim