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Iran threatens to completely close Hormuz strait in response to renewed attacks

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A general view of the giant banner hung Enghelab Square that reads, “The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed; the entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground.” as daily life continues in Tehran, Iran on April 05, 2026. [Fatemeh Bahrami – Anadolu Agency]

“The Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed to all maritime traffic” following any strike against Iran, an informed security source told Press TV.

The source added that Iran will also strike “enemy targets at a ratio of at least two to one, meaning that for every Iranian target hit, at least two enemy targets will be struck in return.”

US President Donald Trump earlier said that the US will “probably” hit Iran again on Wednesday night, following overnight US strikes in retaliation for attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump also said that the memorandum of understanding signed last month with Iran to end the conflict was “over.”

“Any threat will receive a powerful response,” the Iranian source said. “Iran does not distinguish between the United States and its partners in the region.”

READ: Trump says US will ‘probably’ hit Iran ‘hard’ again Wednesday night

The source said Tehran will not back down from its management of the Strait of Hormuz and “is prepared to fight to maintain control over the strategic waterway.”

“The memorandum of understanding signed on this matter clearly states that Iran will reopen the Strait in accordance with its own arrangements. Therefore, Iran will not permit the establishment of any new route outside the framework of its own arrangements,” the source said.

Early Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that it had launched missile and drone strikes targeting 85 US military sites in the region, including Salman Port and the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, and Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

The attacks came after the US military’s Central Command said it had carried out a new round of strikes against Iran, hitting more than 80 targets in response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

READ: Iran claims retaliatory strikes on 85 US facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait following US attacks

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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 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.
Donald 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.
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 ReadingIran threatens to completely close Hormuz strait in response to renewed attacks

9 Gazans killed by Israeli fire in latest ceasefire violation

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Palestinians inspect a vehicle destroyed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine, on July 8, 2026. [Abdalhkem Abu Riash – Anadolu Agency]

At least nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, in the latest violation of an ongoing ceasefire agreement, medical sources said, Anadolu reports.

A Palestinian was killed and two others were injured when an Israeli drone struck a civilian vehicle west of Gaza City, a medical source told Anadolu Agency.

One Palestinian was killed and another injured in an Israeli drone strike targeting a gathering of civilians on Al-Oyoun Street in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

A six-year-old child also died of wounds he sustained from Israeli gunfire in the Zeitoun neighborhood south of Gaza City.

In southern Gaza, four Palestinians, including a father, his son, and a child, were killed and 10 others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a tent sheltering displaced civilians in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis.

Another medical source said an aid truck driver was shot in the head by Israeli forces in Rafah, southern Gaza, and his body was transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

READ: Director of Egyptian Committee in Gaza killed in Israeli airstrike

Local sources said the victim, Ahmad Nasser Isleem, was shot while waiting inside his truck to load aid.

An 8-year-old child also died of wounds he sustained in an Israeli strike that targeted a civilian vehicle in the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City on Tuesday evening, the medical source said.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Civil Defense said a woman was injured by fire from Israeli gunboats west of Gaza City. It did not provide details on the nature of her injury.

In central Gaza, the Israeli army fired several artillery shells toward eastern and southern areas of the Bureij refugee camp, local sources and eyewitnesses said.

Israeli vehicles also opened fire toward displacement tents in Al-Mawasi, northwest of Rafah. No injuries were reported.

Since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,084 Palestinians and injured 3,491 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The Israeli army has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 173,000 others since October 2023 in a deadly offensive that has also caused widespread destruction affecting about 90% of civilian infrastructure.

WATCH: Concentration Camps Inside a Concentration Camp: Israel’s New Plan for Gaza | Palestine This Week

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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 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.
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 Reading9 Gazans killed by Israeli fire in latest ceasefire violation

Iran claims retaliatory strikes on 85 US facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait following US attacks

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Smoke rises after an Iranian drone attack struck fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport in Kuwait City, Kuwait on April 01, 2026. [Stringer – Anadolu Agency]

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that it had targeted 85 US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait with missiles and drones, in response to US attacks on the south of Iran overnight.

Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted an IRGC statement as saying that the United States had violated a ceasefire by carrying out airstrikes on sites in the coastal cities of Hormozgan and Mahshahr.

The statement said the IRGC, in cooperation between its naval and aerospace forces, carried out a joint operation using missiles and drones as its initial response to the US attacks.

It said the operation targeted Salman Port and the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as well as Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, among the 85 US military facilities.

The statement also said that a US MQ-9 drone had been shot down over Bushehr Province, without providing further details about the operation.

On Tuesday evening, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced a series of strikes on Iran, saying they were carried out “as an immediate response to its attacks targeting three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.

Over the past 24 hours, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that three oil tankers had come under attack while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, causing minor damage, without disclosing their nationalities.

The Strait of Hormuz has witnessed intermittent security tensions linked to the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on 28 February.

On 18 June, Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding and have continued difficult negotiations aimed at reaching a final agreement, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar.

READ: Kuwait intercepts Iranian missiles and drones as Bahrain sounds air raid sirens

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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.
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 ReadingIran claims retaliatory strikes on 85 US facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait following US attacks

Israeli forces raid Syria’s Daraa countryside

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A view of military vehicles patrolling the Syrian-Israeli border in the Majdal Shams area of the Golan Heights, as the Israeli army reinforces its ground forces amid ongoing military mobilization in the region on December 15, 2024. [Saeed Qaq – Anadolu Agency]

Israeli forces raided the Wadi al-Raqad area in the western Daraa countryside in southern Syria on Wednesday, opening fire before withdrawing from the area, Syrian state media reported.

Syria’s Alikhbariah TV said Israeli forces entered the Wadi al-Raqad area, opened fire and later withdrew.

There were no reports of casualties or material damage, and Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on the raid.

The incursion came a day after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa condemned continued Israeli violations that he said undermine regional security and called on Israel to withdraw from areas it has occupied in southern Syria.

Southern Syria has witnessed repeated Israeli raids and attacks in recent months, including search operations, arrests and the establishment of military checkpoints.

The moves escalated after the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s regime in December 2024, when Israel announced the collapse of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and seized control of the Syrian buffer zone.

Syrian authorities have repeatedly urged Israel to return to the 1974 deal and withdraw fully from occupied areas.

READ: Israel to keep troops in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza indefinitely

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.
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 ReadingIsraeli forces raid Syria’s Daraa countryside

Why sanctions are needed on Israel

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/why-sanctions-are-needed-israel

 NAKBA 78: Protesters on the huge London rally on the anniversary of the Nakba in May

History suggests apartheid ends not through appeals to conscience alone but through sustained economic and political pressure, says HUGH LANNING

…

With every red line it crosses from the Nakba to genocide, Israel reveals its contempt for international law. It revels in the impunity the Western world grants that result partly from guilt rightly felt for the horrific crimes we inflicted on Jewish people in our countries, not just in the second world war, but over centuries of antisemitism, which is still ongoing.

But also, because Israel is a major part of the West’s colonial and now neoliberal strategy in the Middle East.

Under the protective wing of an increasingly authoritarian US and led by the ever-stronger fascist and racist tendencies within, Israel believes it has a generational opportunity to conquer Palestine completely and establish the zionist dream of  a “greater Israel” from the river to the sea.

The mentality is: “If we got away with genocide in Gaza, we can get away with anything.”

How is this avalanche of violence, death and atrocity to be stopped? Well, not by the mealy mouthed “sanctions” recently announced by Yvette Cooper. When is a sanction not a sanction? When it does nothing to the perpetrators of the crime. Under international law the official role of sanctions is to bring pressure to bear on the miscreants to achieve compliance.

The token measures announced “target individuals and entities involved in financing and enabling settler violence in the occupied West Bank.” No mention of the Israeli state.

The Israeli government is a settler government; the forcible settlement of the West Bank is its official policy. It legalises and legitimises even the outlier settlements illegal under Israeli law. The IDF either stands idly by or actively protects and supports the settlers as they go about their violent business. Not surprisingly as many of the soldiers are themselves settlers — brothers and sisters of those committing the crimes.

The government itself is riddled by members of extreme settler parties. Indeed, Israel is a settler colonial entity, all but a few of its citizens are settlers.

…

Apart from an arms embargo on the two-way trade with Israel, the new Burnham government ought to institute an audit of all government, local and national, expenditure, contracts and co-operation to identify and stop any support for companies engaged in supporting the settlements and the occupation — Oracle and Palantir being obvious examples.

As the US has done with Russia and supporters of Palestine — follow the money. The war, the occupation, the settlements are all funded with much investment and finance coming from abroad and being channelled through British financial institutions. This should be stopped.

The EU has a positive trade agreement with Israel treating it an as associate member which Britain is trying to replicate following Brexit. These trade agreements should be ended.

The government and its representatives ought to support, not block, moves in international bodies to ban and boycott Israel — be it Fifa or Eurovision — Israel should be treated as the apartheid state it is.

So complicit has the British state been for decades, the list of what could be done is almost endless.

…

Hugh Lanning will be among the speakers at a Labour and Palestine online event on Tuesday July 7 looking at ending Britain’s role in crimes against the Palestinian people. Find out more and register for the meeting at bit.ly/endukcomplicity.

Join the National March for Palestine July 18 in central London at noon. Visit palestinecampaign.org for more details.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/why-sanctions-are-needed-israel

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/
Genocide denying former UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide and the UK government and military's active participation in genocide.
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Continue ReadingWhy sanctions are needed on Israel