This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
A view of the vessels passing through Strait of Hormuz following the two-week temporary ceasefire reached between the United States and Iran on the condition that the strait be reopened, seen in Oman on April 08, 2026. [Shady Alassar – Anadolu Agency]
The head of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed despite a ceasefire, with Iranian restrictions still blocking normal energy exports and around 230 loaded oil vessels waiting to sail, Anadolu reports.
In a LinkedIn post, ADNOC CEO Sultan Al Jaber said access to the waterway was being restricted and conditioned, adding that “conditional passage is not passage” and that the strait must be reopened “fully, unconditionally and without restriction.”
Al Jaber said around 230 vessels loaded with oil are ready to sail and that ADNOC has already loaded cargoes, adding that the company would expand production within the limits imposed by war-related damage to its infrastructure and the need to ensure staff safety.
“Markets remain at a critical crossroads. The final cargoes that transited the Strait of Hormuz before the conflict are now arriving at their destinations. This is where the paper traded markets are meeting physical reality, and the 40-day gap in global energy flows is truly exposed,” he added.
His remarks came as Iran announced alternative entry and exit routes for ships transiting the strait, saying the measures were aimed at reducing the risk of collisions with possible sea mines in the main shipping zone. Iranian media and officials said vessels should use designated corridors for maritime safety.
Shipping firms, however, have remained cautious despite the US-Iran ceasefire announced earlier this week.
Before the conflict, the Strait of Hormuz handled about one-fifth of global oil and LNG shipments, making any prolonged disruption a major risk for energy markets, particularly in Asia, which Al Jaber said receives most cargoes moving through the corridor.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight 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/
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs meeting as the Israeli Security Cabinet in West Jerusalem on January 17, 2025. [Photo by Koby Gideon GPO)/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images]
Israel’s Security Cabinet “secretly” approved the establishment of 34 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank during a recent session, Israeli media reported on Thursday, Anadolu reports.
Channel 24 did not specify the exact date of the decision but said it was taken during the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran that began Feb. 28.
“The Security Cabinet secretly approved the construction of 34 new settlements in the West Bank, a record number passed in a single move during the campaign against Iran,” the channel said.
The approved sites include locations within Palestinian neighborhoods in the northern West Bank and remote areas rarely reached by Israeli forces, the broadcaster said.
“This is the largest number of settlements ever approved in a single cabinet session,” the channel added.
According to the report, the total number of illegal settlements approved by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since it came to power in late 2022 rose to 103.
According to the channel, Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir attended the meeting and did not explicitly object the decision. He, however, raised concerns about limited manpower and requested an assessment of implementing the decision across multiple areas simultaneously.
The cabinet also chose to keep the decision secret to avoid US pressure during the ongoing war against Iran, as President Donald Trump has publicly opposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank, the channel said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli government on the report.
The Palestinian Authority, for its part, denounced the Israeli move as a “dangerous escalation” and a “blatant violation” of international law.
In a statement carried by the state news agency Wafa, the authority said all forms of settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law, citing UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which affirms that settlements have no legal validity and must stop.
The authority warned that the move reflects “Israeli plans for annexation, expansion and displacement,” and held the Israeli government responsible for the consequences.
It urged the international community, particularly the United States, to intervene immediately to halt the “unilateral Israeli measures.”
Illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has accelerated since Netanyahu’s government took office in late 2022.
The international community and the United Nations consider the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, occupied Palestinian territory, and regard Israeli settlement activity there as “illegal” under international law.
About 750,000 Israeli occupiers live in 141 illegal settlements and 224 outposts across the West Bank, including 250,000 in 15 illegal settlements in East Jerusalem.
In recent years, Israeli forces and occupiers have intensified operations across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, involving arrests, killings, property destruction and the displacement of Palestinians, alongside continued illegal settlement expansion.
Palestinian officials warn that such actions could pave the way for Israel to formally annex the West Bank, effectively ending prospects for a Palestinian state as envisioned in UN resolutions.
In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight 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/
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Smoke rises over residential area following the Israeli attack on Beirut, Lebanon on April 8, 2026. [Houssam Shbaro – Anadolu Agency]
The death toll in Lebanon has risen to 254, with more than 800 people injured, following Israeli air strikes on several areas across the country, the Lebanese Civil Defence said on Wednesday evening.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry had earlier reported that dozens were killed and hundreds wounded in simultaneous strikes that hit multiple areas, including the capital, Beirut.
In a statement, the ministry said: “In a very serious escalation, Israeli enemy aircraft launched a wave of simultaneous raids on many Lebanese areas, resulting in dozens of martyrs and hundreds of injured.”
The ministry urged residents to reduce congestion in Beirut’s neighbourhoods to allow ambulance and rescue teams to move more quickly, warning that heavy traffic is obstructing access to targeted areas.
It also stressed the need to keep roads clear for emergency crews to ensure they can assist the wounded, amid what it described as an unprecedented intensity and scale of air strikes.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it had carried out what it described as its largest bombing campaign on Lebanon since Hezbollah entered the war with Iran on 2 March 2026.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight 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/
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Clashes and attacks along the Israeli border in southern Lebanon prevent locals from carrying out the long-awaited olive harvest, as residents of Aadaysit in Nabatieh manage to collect olives under the protection of United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL), on October 20, 2025. [Houssam Shbaro – Anadolu Agency]
The UNIFIL announced that an investigation has concluded that three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed by a shell fired from an Israeli tank.
According to UNIFIL, analysis of the impact site and recovered shrapnel confirmed that the projectile was a 120mm shell fired from an Israeli Merkava tank, launched from the east toward the town of Taybeh.
The mission noted that it had previously provided the Israeli army with the coordinates of all its positions and facilities on 6th March and again on 22nd March, as part of efforts to reduce risks to its personnel.
In a related incident, UNIFIL reported that the Israeli army detained one of its peacekeepers after intercepting a logistics convoy, before releasing him less than an hour later following urgent contacts by UN command.
The mission condemned the detention as a “flagrant violation of international law,” stressing that any obstruction of peacekeeping operations breaches UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which guarantees freedom of movement for UN forces in southern Lebanon.
Separately, UNIFIL confirmed that another peacekeeper was killed on 29th March when a shell struck a UN position near Adshit al-Qusayr, with another seriously wounded. At the time, the source of the shell was unknown, prompting the investigation.
The findings come amid ongoing Israeli aggression on Lebanon and heightened risks facing UN peacekeeping forces operating in the area.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight 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/
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Protesters march through downtown Chicago during an “Emergency Protest” on April 8, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. [Jacek Boczarski – Anadolu Agency]
Modern ‘victory’ is prepared long before the first shot. It is paved with a sophisticated architecture of manufactured consent—where political deception and media complicity turn illegal aggressions into ‘moral necessities.
To sustain a perpetual state of war, the public must be shielded from the gore of the battlefield and fed a steady diet of “imminent threats” and “humanitarian interventions.” Whether it was the phantom WMDs of Baghdad, the “freedom-fighting” narrative of the Afghan occupation, or the distorted “responsibility to protect” that left Libya a fractured marketplace for human trafficking, the media has acted less as a watchdog and more as a megaphone for the state.
The formula remains hauntingly consistent: Western politicians lie, the media amplifies, and millions die
The lie that sent Iraq to the stone age:
The 2003 invasion of Iraq is the gold standard for manufactured consent—a masterclass in using a fabricated casus belli to dismantle a state. This was a multi-layered campaign centered on the specter of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and an imaginary link between Baghdad and Al-Qaeda. When Colin Powell brandished a vial of white powder before the UN, Western media acted as stenographers of power. Major outlets validated unverified intelligence from “Curveball” and other discredited sources, creating a feedback loop that made dissent look like delusion.
By the time the world realised there were no stockpiles or mobile bio-labs, over one million Iraqis died, the state had been decapitated, its social fabric shredded.
The media’s “mea culpas” came years too late, a quiet postscript to a tragedy that achieved its goal: the destruction of a sovereign nation under the guise of a liberation that never came.
Libya: The cost of the “humanitarian” vacuum:
If Iraq was a masterclass in fear-mongering, the 2011 intervention in Libya was a masterclass in moral manipulation. Here, the “Architecture of Consent” utilized the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)—a noble-sounding doctrine transformed into a geopolitical weapon.
The lie was anchored in the unverified claim of an “imminent genocide” in Benghazi, a narrative fuelled by Gulf-funded media and echoed without scrutiny by Western capitals.
The media’s role shifted from stenography to active advocacy, painting a complex civil conflict as a simplistic binary of “pro-democracy rebels” versus a “bloodthirsty dictator.” By the time the African Union’s peace proposals were dismissed and the “no-fly zone” had morphed into a full-scale regime-change bombing campaign, the trap was set.
The “victory” celebrated in London and Paris left behind 20, 000 deaths and nearly half a million displaced many still today cannot return to their homes. It made Libya fractured wasteland—a state without a center. Just as in Iraq, the “intellectuals” and “journalists” who beat the drums of war moved on to the next target, leaving millions of Libyans to navigate a decade of constitutional chaos and militia rule. The lie didn’t just kill; it erased a nation’s future under the guise of saving its people.
While Iraq was built on fabricated evidence, the invasion of Afghanistan was built on the rejection of evidence. The “Architecture of Consent” here relied on a false binary: “You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists.” This rhetoric successfully bypassed the legal requirement for proof.
The historical record is clear: the Taliban leadership, through their deputy ambassador in Pakistan, repeatedly requested that the United States provide “solid evidence” of Osama bin Laden’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks.
They even offered to hand him over to a third-party Islamic country for a trial under Sharia law if such evidence was produced. The Bush administration’s response was not a legal brief, but a dismissal: “There’s no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he’s guilty.”
The media, acting as the state’s megaphone, framed the Taliban’s request for due process as “defiance,” transforming an act of aggression into a “just war.” This set the precedent for the decades of “forever wars” that followed—where the accusation of the West becomes the conviction, and the “evidence” is only produced after the country has been reduced to rubble. By the time the US was defeated and forced to, hurriedly leave Afghanistan, over 150,000 people were killed as a result of the 2001 US invasion alone.
As we look toward the horizon, the “Architecture of Manufactured Consent” is currently being recalibrated for its most ambitious project yet: Iran. The drumbeat of war follows the exact frequency of the Iraq build-up, but with a more sophisticated digital veneer. Here, the “lie” is not just about a single weapon, but about the total demonization of a regional power’s right to security. We see the same “Information Iron Curtain” descending. Just as the American public was shielded from the Taliban’s offer of a third-party trial, today’s Western audiences are kept in the dark regarding the technicalities of international nuclear monitoring or the devastating human cost of “maximum pressure” sanctions. By framing Iran as an existential, irrational threat, the architecture ensures that when the first missiles are launched, the public will have been conditioned to see it not as a choice, but as inevitability. The goal remains the same: the redrawing of the geopolitical map at the cost of an entire generation’s blood, ensuring that no sovereign Arab or Middle Eastern state can challenge the “Imperial Directive.”
The “Architecture of Manufactured Consent” is not a collection of unfortunate policy errors; it is a structural requirement of modern empire. Whether through the Ultimatum Fraud in Afghanistan, the Phantom WMDs of Iraq, or the Humanitarian Trojan Horse in Libya, the pattern is immutable. Politicians design the lie, the media assembles the consent, and millions of people—mostly in the Global South—pay with their lives and their sovereignty.
The same pattern is being repeated in Iran. They east distortion of facts, for example, is manifested in the over use of the term “the Iran war” when in fact the right description is the war on Iran. Despite the surprise announcement of Trump, accepting a two week ceasefire, the fact remains: western media amplified and distorted the terminology to appease Trump personally. It is time that we move beyond the “mea culpas” issued by journalists years after a nation has been levelled. True accountability begins by recognizing that these wars are never about liberation or democracy; they are about the systematic dismantling of states to ensure a profitable, perpetual chaos. If we continue to ignore the architecture of the lie today, we will be forced to count the bodies of the millions tomorrow.
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.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight 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/
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
