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US says naval blockade of Iran remains in effect

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The United States announces that the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, carrying 3,500 U.S. troops, has reached the area of responsibility of U.S. Central Command in the Middle East on March 2026. [US CENTCOM/Handout – Anadolu Agency]

US forces continue to enforce a naval blockade against Iran in the Arabian Sea, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Saturday, Anadolu reports.

“American forces continue to strictly enforce the ongoing naval blockade against Iran,” the command said in a post on the US social media platform X, alongside a photograph it said showed the guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook transiting the Arabian Sea while an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter operated nearby.

CENTCOM said that, as of Saturday, US forces had redirected five commercial vessels and disabled another.

READ: US strike on water desalination plant left about 10,000 without water: Iranian official

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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/
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.
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.

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Iran’s supreme leader accuses US of MoU breach, says Trump’s signature ‘worthless’

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A view of a banner featuring Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran continue on March 14, 2026. [Fatemeh Bahrami – Anadolu Agency]

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday accused the US of repeatedly violating a memorandum of understanding signed by the presidents of the two countries, saying the alleged breaches showed that US President Donald Trump’s signature was “utterly worthless,” Anadolu reports.

“The repeated breaches of the agreement by the Great Satan [the US] regarding the MOU signed by the Presidents of Iran and the US have once again laid bare a fundamental truth: the signature of the US President is utterly worthless and devoid of credibility,” Khamenei said in a statement on the US social media company X.

“Coercion, totalitarianism, and brutality are inseparable components of the US creed and doctrine,” he added.

Khamenei warned that as the “American enemy is seeking to escalate the conflict thereby incurring even heavier costs and further humiliation,” it should know that the Iranian people and the “Resistance Front” have “unforgettable lessons” in store for it.

READ: Iran says 50 killed in US strikes since June 27

“One of the most fundamental imperatives at this juncture is upholding the sacred unity among all segments of the public and officials and protecting the dignity and independence of our beloved Iran, particularly in the face of the criminal and cunning US enemy,” he said.

“The valor of the Islamic fighters and the courage of the people in the southern regions in recent days are examples of the Iranian nation’s unforgettable lessons for the American enemy,” the supreme leader added.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also called for national unity, writing on X: “Adherence to the requirements of sacred unity and avoidance of disagreement and division are the key to victory at this historic juncture.”

Earlier, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that Tehran has suspended its commitments to the MoU after “the US violated its commitments.”

Tensions have heightened in the Middle East, where the US and Iran continue to exchange attacks.

The military escalation comes despite a Pakistan-brokered memorandum of understanding signed in June to end the war and reach a lasting peace agreement.

READ: US strike on water desalination plant left about 10,000 without water: Iranian official

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/
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.
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.

Continue ReadingIran’s supreme leader accuses US of MoU breach, says Trump’s signature ‘worthless’

Morning Star Editorial: Good riddance to Labour’s worst leader

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/good-riddance-labours-worst-leader

ON FRIDAY Keir Starmer will leave the leadership of the Labour Party, having debased and disgraced the office over his six-year tenure.

Whatever hopes and fears there may be concerning his successor, Andy Burnham, it would be near impossible for the new leader to be as bad as the outgoing one.

Starmer was elected on a fraudulent prospectus, posing as a supporter of Jermey Corbyn with added “competence” when he was no such thing.

He soon revealed himself to be an entrenched rightwinger, who discarded all the policies and commitments on which he had stood for election.

He also discarded the coalition of voters that Corbyn’s leadership had assembled in 2017 and secured even fewer votes in 2024 that Corbynism did at its 2019 nadir.

Instead he handed the party over to the most bitter and malicious rightwingers, thirsting for revenge against the left.

The most authoritarian Labour leader ever, his tenure was marked by expulsions, witch-hunts, the withdrawal of the whip from dissenting MPs and the marginalisation of the membership.

His initial mendacity and deceit shaped everything that happened since, marking him out as untrustworthy and politically incoherent.

His predilection for falsehoods stayed with him to the end. At his last Prime Ministers Questions in the Commons he smeared Labour under Corbyn as having been found “institutionally antisemitic.” No such finding was ever made.

Just two weeks ago he claimed he had inherited a bankrupt party. False again.

Having failed so spectacularly as prime minister, it seems that Starmer can only find consolation in smearing his predecessor, who was everything he is not in terms of principle and conviction.

Nor was he competent. It is now acknowledged that he failed to make any preparations for government, despite it being evident from 2022 at least that a Labour victory was certain.

So he had blundered from U-turn to U-turn, launching attacks on working people only to be forced to retreat under mass pressure.

He has hewed close to Treasury and City orthodoxy in economics while backing Israel’s genocide in Gaza, sabre-rattling against Russia and pandering to Donald Trump.

At home, he has extended authoritarianism by every measure, from proscribing Palestine Action to curbing jury trials to clamping down on the right to protest.

The future of our economy and social provision has been mortgaged to a massive arms build-up.

And, like Boris Johnson before him, Starmer has been up to his neck in sleaze.

In opposition he claimed epic expenses. Then he took free clothing, glasses, accommodation and tickets from millionaire Waheed Alli in an orgy of grifting, even as he was slashing winter fuel benefit for pensioners.

He was finally undone by appointing Peter Mandelson, already known to be a close friend of convicted financier and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and an intimate of sundry oligarchs, as ambassador to Washington.

A brazenly factional move, it led to the departure of Starmer’s consigliere Morgan McSweeney, without whom he lost whatever capacity to govern that he had to begin with.

The damage he has done to the Labour Party is immense and lasting. Even by David Lammy’s diminished standards to declare this week that Starmer will be remembered as “a giant of the labour movement” was a remarkably stupid encomium.

He will be remembered in fact as Labour’s least successful prime minister since Ramsay MacDonald, who at least had the distinction of being the first, and its most dishonest and undemocratic leader ever.

Starmer was one thing only — a loyal servant of the bourgeois state. When he steps down today, the air is at least a little cleaner in the labour movement.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/good-riddance-labours-worst-leader I hope that Morning Star will excuse me republishing this in it’s entirety. Morning Star‘s copyright is acknowledged.

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.
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/
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage's chasing the racist bigot vote.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage’s chasing the racist bigot vote.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Good riddance to Labour’s worst leader

Corbyn slams Starmer for again claiming Labour was ‘institutionally antisemitic’

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https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/corbyn-condemns-starmer-once-again-falsely-claiming-labour-was-institutionally-antisemitic

Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on 1 April 2026 (Henry Nicholls/AFP)

‘Misrepresentations and broken undertakings are unfortunately part of a pattern under his leadership,’ Corbyn tells MEE

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has condemned his successor, outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, for once again falsely stating that the party was “institutionally antisemitic” under his leadership.

At his last prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Starmer recalled his time in the House of Commons as opposition leader. 

“We had just lost the 2019 general election, which nearly broke my party,” he said. “We were found to be institutionally antisemitic. I picked up our party. I turned it round. I made a promise to rip antisemitism out of my party and I did.”

Responding to the comments, Corbyn told Middle East Eye: “The prime minister today falsely claimed that Labour was found to be ‘institutionally antisemitic’ under my leadership. There was no such finding, and Keir Starmer should have the decency to correct the record.”

“This is the second time in recent weeks he has made a false allegation about the Labour Party under my leadership (last time about an invented financial bankruptcy) to bolster his own dismal record,” Corbyn said.

“Misrepresentations and broken undertakings are unfortunately part of a pattern under his leadership, leading to the collapse of public support that has brought his premiership to an end,” the parliamentary leader of Your Party said.

Article continues at https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/corbyn-condemns-starmer-once-again-falsely-claiming-labour-was-institutionally-antisemitic

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/
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 ReadingCorbyn slams Starmer for again claiming Labour was ‘institutionally antisemitic’

Iran threatens to close Bab al-Mandab Strait

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A Natural satellite view of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on March 28, 2015 in Bab el-Mandeb, Yemen [USGS/NASA Landsat/Orbital Horizon/Gallo Images/Getty Images]

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened to close “all other export routes used by the United States and its allies” after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz and Washington reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.

According to Iran’s state news agency IRNA, the IRGC said in a statement that the region’s energy exports would be “either for everyone or for no one”.

Analysts told Reuters that Iran was signalling it could rely on its Houthi allies in Yemen to close the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the strategic waterway leading to the Red Sea. Such a move could open a new front against Washington and threaten two of the world’s most important energy shipping routes.

The Bab al-Mandab Strait links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is a key route for Saudi oil exports and a significant share of global maritime trade.

READ: Iranian parliament’s national security committee says US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding is no longer valid

A senior Houthi official said on Monday that the group was prepared to close the Bab al-Mandab Strait if Saudi Arabia continued its attacks on Yemen. According to a report published by the Iranian television channel Press TV, the official said such a move could push oil prices to 200 dollars a barrel.

The Houthis launched missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing Sanaa airport on Monday, an attack they said violated a four-year truce between Riyadh and the Iran-aligned group.

The IRGC said on Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until “America’s evil ends”. Before the outbreak of the war in February, about one-fifth of the world’s daily oil and gas shipments passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC also announced that it had targeted what it described as command-and-control facilities, logistics sites, fuel supplies and military equipment belonging to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, saying the attack was in response to the latest US strikes in the Strait of Hormuz.

OPINION: Chokepoints of power: Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, and the new corridor wars

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 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 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.
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.

Continue ReadingIran threatens to close Bab al-Mandab Strait