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United States President Donald Trump departs the White House en route to Hebron, Kentucky in Washington DC, United States, on March 11, 2026. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested “finishing off” what is left of the “Iranian Terror State” and urged countries relying on the Strait of Hormuz to take responsibility, criticizing “non-responsive” allies, Anadolu reports.
“I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Straight?’ That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!!,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
His remarks came as the tensions in the region have escalated since the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, killing around 1,300 people so far, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries, which it says are targeting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.
Tehran has also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz since March 1, forcing Trump to urge US allies, as well as China, to help reopen the strategic waterway.
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Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cNKBW5LLMlsDonald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying only 9 days ago that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dn3j04lydo
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A child who survived the attack is seen as funeral prayers are held in the town of Tamun, north of Tubas, West Bank, for Ali Khalid Sayil Beni Awda (37), his wife Vaad Osman Akil Beni Awda (35), and their children Mohammed (5) and Osman (7), who lost their lives after Israeli soldiers opened fire on their car while they were returning from the city of Nablus where they had gone to buy Eid al-Fitr clothes for their children ahead of the holiday, on March 15, 2026. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
As the US-Israel war on Iran escalates, violence in the occupied West Bank is intensifying, largely out of the global spotlight, Anadolu reports.
Rights groups and analysts say Palestinians are facing a sharp rise in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers, alongside tighter movement restrictions and growing displacement, as international attention shifts toward the wider regional conflict.
Recent incidents have underscored the worsening situation. Israeli settlers were reported to have sexually assaulted a Palestinian man in the northern Jordan Valley, while Israeli forces killed a family of four, including two children, in the town of Tammun.
Analysts say the escalation has accelerated since US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, triggering a broader regional war.
“The Israeli government took advantage of the situation in the region by unleashing the settlers to attack Palestinian properties, homes and lives,” said Mohamad Alqeeq, a Ramallah-based Palestinian political analyst and writer.
Max Rodenbeck, Israel-Palestine director at the International Crisis Group, pointed out that settler violence had “already been growing” before the Iran war, “ever since the current Israeli government took office in December 2022.”
Just like Israel’s war on Gaza, the Iran conflict has diverted media attention, creating conditions that allow settlement expansion to accelerate, he said.
Along with the shift in focus, security measures imposed by Israel “due to wartime conditions also help, by confining Palestinians to their towns, villages or homes while allowing settlers to roam freely,” Rodenbeck added.
– Damning data
Between Feb. 28 and March 14, Israeli forces and settlers killed at least 13 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
Eight were shot by Israeli forces, including two minors, while five were killed by settler militias.
In a briefing to foreign diplomats on Tuesday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin warned that illegal Israeli settlers have been attacking Palestinians and their properties every day, including killings, assaults, arson attacks and destruction of agricultural land, “under the direct protection of the Israeli army.”
At the same time, Israeli forces have intensified raids and arrests across the Palestinian territory.
Rights groups have documented pre-dawn operations in areas including Qalqilya, Ramallah, Hebron and East Jerusalem, where dozens of Palestinians were detained in a single night. In another raid in Askar refugee camp, several people were injured and others arrested.
UN officials also say that Israeli security forces have carried out daily raids since Feb. 28, detaining at least 200 Palestinians, including on charges such as “incitement” or “glorification of the enemy” through social media posts.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 1,062 Palestinians, including at least 231 children, were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between Oct. 7, 2023 and March 7 this year.
– Restrictions and displacement
Beyond direct violence, Palestinians are facing a widening set of Israeli restrictions affecting daily life, including curbs on movement and closures of religious sites.
UN agencies said movement restrictions have intensified across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since Feb. 28, limiting access to work, health care and essential services.
“In particular, increased access restrictions across the West Bank hindered the ability of ambulances and fire brigades to move between villages, hospitals, and service centers,” UN OCHA said.
Between Feb. 28 and March 3, the agency documented nine incidents in which ambulances were obstructed and held at gunpoint.
Delays and closures have also caused shortages of fuel, including cooking gas, it added.
Access to religious sites has also been restricted. Israeli authorities have limited Muslim worshippers’ access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, a move denounced by rights groups as “a clear violation of freedom of worship.”
At the same time, demolitions of Palestinian homes have increased. The Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights reported that Israel demolished 312 residential and agricultural structures in the first six weeks of 2026 alone.
Ajith Sunghay, head of UN Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said at least nine Palestinian communities have been fully or partially displaced since Feb. 28, mostly in the northern Jordan Valley.
A separate UN report published on Tuesday found that more than 36,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced between November 2024 and October 2025 due to increasing violence by Israeli security forces and settlers.
– Expansion under cover of war
Analysts say the current wave of violence comes alongside broader efforts by Israel to expand administrative and legal control over Palestinian land.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Shahin said Israeli authorities are using regional crises to accelerate settlement expansion and annexation.
She said the international community’s focus on wider conflicts has allowed Israel to push forward policies aimed at consolidating permanent control over the occupied West Bank.
Analyst Alqeeq agreed with her assessment, saying Israel “took advantage of the US military buildup in the region” to accelerate its plans to annex more land, including by increasing military operations and greenlighting settler attacks.
Crisis Group expert Rodenbeck said the situation is being driven not only by policy decisions but also by a broader climate of impunity for settler violence.
“Enabling Israeli measures include distributing weapons to settlers, loosening rules for weapons licensing, gifting vehicles (including quad bikes) to settlers, legalizing previously ‘illegal’ settlement outposts, allowing settlers to wear military uniforms, lifting the Israeli army’s right to detain settlers … failing to prosecute settlers, and extremely lenient sentences for settler crimes. That is just a quick, partial list.”
He emphasized that Palestinians “are being treated as an enemy population, and collectively punished.”
“Palestinians are already being ethnically cleansed from large parts of the West Bank, and squeezed into ever-smaller, more isolated pockets,” Rodenbeck said.
“Current Israeli policy offers no future to the West Bank’s 3.3 million Palestinians except deepening repression. It is a recipe for disaster, but just what kind of disaster we do not know.”
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Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cNKBW5LLMlsDonald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying only 9 days ago that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dn3j04lydo
People stand on a street during a blackout in Havana, Cuba on March 16, 2026. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)
“He’s at war in Iran without congressional authorization. He overthrew Venezuela by force. He threatened to invade a NATO ally. Now he wants to take Cuba and thinks he can do ‘anything he wants’ with it.”
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he believes he will have “the honor of taking Cuba” and that he “can do anything” he wants with the island, as the nation of 11 million people faced a large-scale blackout and a humanitarian crisis intensified by the Trump administration’s oil embargo.
“It’s a beautiful island, great weather,” Trump said of Cuba, whose economy has been strangled by decades of US economic warfare. “I do believe… I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba.”
Asked to clarify what he meant by “taking” Cuba, Trump said: “Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it—I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth. A very weakened nation.”
Watch:
Trump: Cuba, it's a beautiful island. Great weather. I will be having the honor of taking Cuba. Whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth pic.twitter.com/Po7J9tJMr2
“Dear god,” responded David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International. “Donald Trump is once again announcing his plans for a violent invasion of Cuba. We must stop him. To stand up for Cuba—against this malignant colonial mindset—is to stand up for all of humanity.”
Trump’s remarks came as Cuba faced an island-wide blackout caused by what the government called “complete disconnection” of the nation’s electrical system. According to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the country hasn’t received an oil shipment in over three months due to the Trump administration’s embargo, which began shortly after the US abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and set its sights on the island as its next target.
“Cuba is ready to fall,” Trump said hours after the kidnapping of Maduro.
“In the view of some Trump administration officials, removing Cuba’s head of state would allow structural economic changes in the country that Mr. Díaz-Canel, whom the officials consider a hard-liner, is unlikely to support,” the Times reported. “If the Cubans agree, it would result in the first major political shake-up arising from talks between the two countries since those began a few months ago.”
Trump’s latest threat to seize Cuba came as his administration continued to wage war on Iran, a deadly assault that was not authorized by the US Congress and is illegal under international law.
“He’s at war in Iran without congressional authorization. He overthrew Venezuela by force. He threatened to invade a NATO ally,” US Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said Monday. “Now he wants to take Cuba and thinks he can do ‘anything he wants’ with it. Where the hell are my Republican colleagues?”
“They took the same oath I did. Every single one of them who stays silent owns this,” Levin added. “A Congress that won’t stop a president who answers to no one isn’t a coequal branch. It’s an accomplice.”
Last week, a trio of Senate Democrats introduced a war powers resolution aimed at preventing Trump from attacking Cuba, but the measure likely faces the same fate as previous resolutions on Venezuela and Iran in the Republican-controlled chamber.
“The United States is a full-blown rogue state under Donald Trump,” Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, wrote Monday.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (C) participates in the traditional Quds Day rally in the capital Tehran on March 13, 2026. [Fatemeh Bahrami – Anadolu Agency]
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has declared that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to global shipping, but warned that access is effectively closed to the United States and its allies amid escalating regional tensions.
Speaking at a press conference in Tehran, Araghchi said Iran was exercising its right to self-defence in response to the American-Israeli aggression.
“From our perspective, the strait is open, but it is closed only to our enemies and their allies,” he said, adding that Iran would continue to resist “with pride”.
Araghchi rejected suggestions that Tehran had sought a ceasefire, stating that Iran had not initiated any such request.
“We did not send any message, nor did we request a ceasefire, but this war must end in a way that makes the enemies think a thousand times before committing any aggression again,” he said.
He added that Iran would continue to fight as long as necessary, stressing that the country would not hesitate to defend itself.
The foreign minister also said that the United States had initially demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” at the outset of the conflict before later shifting its position.
The remarks come as the conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel continues to intensify, with the Strait of Hormuz—through which a significant share of global oil supplies passes—emerging as a central point of tension.
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Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSUp-NdHd88Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying only 9 days ago that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. https://youtu.be/KIKaT7rMClYClimate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
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Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent. [Photo/wikipedia]
The director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, resigned Tuesday, citing his opposition to the ongoing US war in Iran, Anadolu reports.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent wrote in a letter shared on the US social media platform X.
He argued that Iran posed no imminent threat to the US and claimed the conflict was initiated under external pressure.
Kent, a veteran who said he deployed to combat 11 times, also referenced personal loss, describing himself as a “Gold Star husband” whose wife was killed in a previous war.
“I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives,” he wrote.
He further criticized Israeli officials and some American media figures, accusing them of misleading the administration and drawing parallels with the Iraq war.
“… The same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.”
Addressing President Donald Trump directly, Kent urged him to change course.
“You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos,” he wrote. “You hold the cards.”
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Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSUp-NdHd88Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying only 9 days ago that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. https://youtu.be/KIKaT7rMClYClimate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
