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US must fulfill commitments before Iran reopens Strait of Hormuz: Parliament speaker
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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, on 11 April, 2026. [Iranian Foreign Ministry/Handout – Anadolu Agency]
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Wednesday that the US must fulfill its commitments under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding before Tehran moves to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Americans must fulfill their commitments so that we can proceed with reopening the Strait of Hormuz,” Qalibaf said during a meeting in Tehran with Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official responsible for Islamic relations, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.
Referring to negotiations between Iran and the US, Qalibaf said Tehran does not reject diplomacy but considers negotiations a tool in its broader struggle.
“We do not reject negotiations, but negotiations are a tool for the struggle,” he said, adding that abandoning confrontation with the US and Israel in its various forms would amount to “defeat.”
Qalibaf also referred to the Islamabad memorandum between Tehran and Washington, saying its first provision emphasized an end to the war against Iran and its allies in what Tehran calls the “resistance front.”
He claimed that the US side had initially presented a 15-point proposal seeking a complete halt to Iran’s missile and nuclear activities as well as its support for allied groups in the region.
READ: 4 IRGC Aerospace Force members among 7 killed in US strikes in western, southern Iran
Iran and the US signed a memorandum of understanding in Islamabad on June 18 following mediation by Pakistan and Qatar, setting out provisions related to ending hostilities, navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and further negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Iranian officials have since accused Washington of failing to implement its commitments and have linked the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to US compliance with the agreement.
Tehran has maintained restrictions on navigation through the strategic waterway, which connects the Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and is a major route for global energy shipments.
Iranian officials have said their conditions include sanctions relief, the release of frozen Iranian assets and an end to military operations against Iran and its regional allies.
In late August, Iranian officials said Tehran and Oman were discussing arrangements for maritime transit through the strait, while stressing that the arrangements did not amount to a full reopening of the waterway.
READ: Oil prices rise as European gas climbs to highest level since 2023 after renewed attacks on Iran
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Donald Trump says that he obviously deserves a Peace prize because Obama got one and explains why he established his Bored of Peace
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.
2 September 2026
66 Palestinian villages forcibly expelled by Israel from West Bank since October 2023: Rights group
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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
An excavator demolishes a Palestinian-owned building as Israeli forces carry out a raid in the Taawun Alawi area of Nablus, West Bank, Palestine on August 31, 2026. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]
Israel has forcibly displaced residents of Khirbet al-Taban in the southern occupied West Bank, making it the 66th Palestinian village to be completely emptied of its residents since October 2023, Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Wednesday.
The group said in a statement that Israeli forces raided the village, south of Hebron, Wednesday morning and demolished the homes of all its residents within hours.
Khirbet al-Taban is home to 12 families totaling about 70 people, including 28 children, it said.
“The forces did not leave a single home standing,” B’Tselem said.
Israeli forces also demolished sheep pens, water tanks and storage facilities and destroyed caves in the area, according to the group.
B’Tselem said Khirbet al-Taban was the “66th Palestinian village that Israel has forcibly displaced since October 2023,” while residents of 18 other villages have been partially displaced.
The group said the displacement operations have forcibly removed about 4,931 Palestinians from their homes, including approximately 2,339 children and teenagers.
READ: Palestinian commission records 2,030 Israeli army and settler attacks in West Bank in August
B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak said Israel was “continuing to erase Palestinian communities at an accelerating pace as part of the ethnic cleansing it is carrying out in the West Bank.”
Novak said the international community was standing “idly by while Palestinian lives are left exposed to Israeli violence.”
The demolition of Khirbet al-Taban comes amid an escalation in the seizure of Palestinian land across the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, alongside occupiers’ attacks and the establishment of illegal settlement outposts and projects.
In July, Israeli authorities issued 31 orders to seize about 831,000 square meters of Palestinian land in the West Bank, according to The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
The Israeli army and occupiers also carried out 2,256 attacks against Palestinians, their land and property during the month, including 1,458 by the army and 798 by occupiers, according to the commission.
Since Israel began its genocide on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 8, 2023, Israeli forces and occupiers have intensified attacks in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, through killings, arrests, forced displacement, home demolitions and illegal settlement expansion.
READ: Settler fire attacks damage 11 mosques in West Bank in 2026
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Donald Trump says that he obviously deserves a Peace prize because Obama got one and explains why he established his Bored of Peace
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.
2 September 2026
‘The President of the United States Is Mentally Unwell’: Deranged Trump Posts AI Slop of Iran Bombing
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Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting American forces attacking Kharg Island on August 30, 2026. (Photo: Donald Trump/Screengrab via Truth Social)
The chief executive of Iran’s government-run oil company dismissed the US president’s social media posts “laughable.”
US President Donald Trump published a string of unhinged posts to his social media platform overnight and into Monday morning, including an artificial intelligence-generated video attempting to depict American forces bombing Kharg Island—Iran’s primary oil export terminal.
The post, which drew mockery from Iranian officials and alarm from observers concerned about Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior, came after US forces attacked Larak Island, which is located hundreds of miles east of Kharg in the Strait of Hormuz.
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“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!” Trump wrote in the caption of his post. It is unclear whether Trump, who frequently shares inane AI-generated videos with his 13 million Truth Social followers, confused Larak Island with Kharg Island, which the president has repeatedly threatened to invade.
An unnamed US official confirmed to Reuters in the wake of Trump’s post that American forces did not target Kharg Island during their Sunday attacks.
Trump posts AI slop with the caption, “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!” pic.twitter.com/HVTF9xFC6B
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 31, 2026
Hamid Bovard, the chief executive of Iran’s government-run oil company, called Trump’s posts “laughable” and described conditions on Kharg Island as “calm and appropriate.”
Iran retaliated for the US strike on Larak with a drone attack on two American military installations in Jordan and condemned the Trump administration’s ongoing aggression as an “obvious violation” of the United Nations Charter.
“It is obvious that full responsibility for the consequences of America’s new aggressive actions, as well as the continuation of the maritime blockade and economic war against Iran, rests with the US regime and all parties that in any way cooperate or participate in preparing and implementing the US’ illegal and unlawful actions,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The military exchange between the US and Iran was the first in weeks amid stalled efforts to achieve a lasting solution to the historically unpopular war that Trump and his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, launched in late February, sparking a global energy crisis that has jacked up gas prices in the US and prompted fears of a global food emergency.
In a separate Truth Social post on Monday morning, Trump declared that Iran is “officially a Failed Nation,” adding in all-caps, “IT IS DEAD!”
“They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no currency, they are not paying their soldiers or police, Inflation is at 300%, and their leadership is in total disarray and incapable of properly representing the country” Trump wrote.
“They must be tried for war crimes against humanity!” added the US president, who has been credibly accused of committing war crimes in Iran and elsewhere.
Trump’s attempt to convey overwhelming and unflagging US military superiority conflicts with internal assessments by top American officials, who reportedly warned Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this month that “prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the US homeland.” US intelligence assessments have also found that, despite Trump’s claims, Iran’s government is still intact after six months of American bombing.
“The president of the United States is mentally unwell and has been for quite some time,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who has supported congressional efforts to end Trump’s illegal war, wrote in a social media post on Monday. “He fantasized blowing up Iran’s Kharg Island. Except it didn’t happen.”
“And why would Trump need to blow it up if, as Trump claims, the US has total control of the Strait,” Lieu asked.
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
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 says that he obviously deserves a Peace prize because Obama got one and explains why he established his Bored of Peace
31 August 2026
As Trump Resumes Boat Strikes, Amnesty Says ‘Congress Must Stop Murderous Yearlong Campaign’
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Article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
A boat burns after being bombed by US forces in the Pacific Ocean on May 29, 2026.
(Photo by US Southern Command/screenshot)
“We look forward to the day when the architects and perpetrators of this campaign of extrajudicial killings are investigated and face justice, including the people who ordered these operations.”
In anticipation of Wednesday, which will mark one year since the Trump administration launched its recently revived bombing campaign against boats allegedly trafficking drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, Amnesty International USA on Monday renewed its call for congressional action.
“For one year, the US military has carried out a campaign of extrajudicial killings at sea that has left more than 225 people dead, with the most recent four deaths just six days ago,” said Amanda Klasing, Amnesty International USA’s national director for government relations, in a statement. “For just as long, we have called on Congress to take meaningful action to stop these killings, which are illegal under both international and US law.”
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Both chambers of Congress are narrowly controlled by Republicans, who have refused to advance war powers resolutions intended to stop the strikes. The US military has confirmed 68 bombings, with at least 227 deaths and 3 survivors, including two attacks last week—though there have been at least three other suspicious attacks on Ecuadorian fishing boats.
All of the attacks have been denounced by legal experts worldwide as “war crimes, murder, or both.” While the Trump administration has tried to justify the deadly campaign by claiming that the United States is in an armed conflict with drug-smuggling cartels, many experts and members of Congress disagree.
“War crimes are violations of the law of armed conflict that take place in armed conflict,” Sarah Elaine Harrison, nonresident fellow in the Stimson Center’s Conventional Defense Program, wrote for Lawfare last week. “By contrast, all of these boat strikes conducted by the US military… are extrajudicial killings. That is, they are deliberate killings that are outside the law: That means murder under domestic criminal statutes, and now likely crimes against humanity under international law.”
Amnesty’s Klasing similarly noted Monday that “US authorities have yet to offer a shred of evidence to support their claims against the people they have killed. They have not even named the dead. But even if the victims were transiting narcotics as the administration alleges, international law absolutely prohibits summary killings of criminal suspects.”
“Unfortunately, with a few notable exceptions, lawmakers have done little to try to halt this horrific campaign of murder at sea,” she continued. “And let us be clear: Extrajudicial killings are a form of murder. How many more people will die at sea from this administration’s illegal actions before Congress does its job?”
For one year, the U.S. military has carried out a campaign of extrajudicial killings at sea that has left more than 225 people dead. We look forward to the day when the architects and perpetrators of this campaign are investigated and face justice.https://t.co/7VQEMZVqlJ
— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) August 31, 2026
Klasing said that “we look forward to the day when the architects and perpetrators of this campaign of extrajudicial killings are investigated and face justice, including the people who ordered these operations: President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.”
“Until then, we will continue pushing Congress to do its job to stop this ongoing policy of murder, and we urge people to call their representatives and do the same,” she stressed. “But the blame does not solely rest on US authorities.”
Amid the boat bombings overseen by US Southern Command, Trump in March sent American troops to Ecuador for a joint effort to combat “narco-terrorists” in the South American nation. Earlier this month, SOUTHCOM announced an expanded operation dubbed Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, with an aim to “defeat all threats” across Latin America.
Klasing declared Monday that “any authorities in Latin America who have aided these killings with equipment or intelligence must stop collaborating in this illegal airstrike campaign and likewise face justice.”
Article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
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 he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.
Donald Trump says that he obviously deserves a Peace prize because Obama got one and explains why he established his Bored of Peace
31 August 2026
‘Unconscionable, Immoral, and Illegal’: Lawsuit Targets Trump Approval of Cancer-Causing Forever Chemical
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Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
A worker sprays herbicide during a Roadside Invasive Management Workshop held July 29, 2025 at the Winchester Department of Public Works in Connecticut. (Jim Shannon/Connecticut Post via Getty Images)
“While everyone’s distracted by the Trump administration’s erratic actions on the world stage, it keeps approving dangerous forever pesticides right here on our own soil.”
Environmental groups have sued the Trump administration, alleging the Environmental Protection Agency approved a potentially cancer-causing “forever chemical” for use as an herbicide without fully assessing the risk.
The petition was filed Friday in the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit by the Center for Food Safety, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network North America, who asked the court to throw out the EPA’s June 30 approval of trifludimoxazin and six products containing it for use on a wide range of crops including corn, wheat, soybeans, and apples.
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Trifludimoxazin is part of the family of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, synthetic chemicals with strong carbon-fluorine bonds that can take years to fully break down, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.”
The trifludimoxazin was initially approved in 2021 during the Biden administration. But the company agreed to stop selling the product the following year after environmental groups sued, citing its potential to cause cancer and harm to threatened and endangered fish. But the Trump EPA last year proposed registering it again for widespread use and issued a final approval in June.
The groups argue that the EPA approved the use of trifludimoxazin without accounting for evidence that the pesticide could cause cancer and harm wildlife and ecosystems.
The EPA itself has acknowledged that the chemical could harm many endangered and threatened species, including posing chronic risks to bees and other invertebrates. Meanwhile, rodent studies have found that at high doses, the chemical can cause thyroid tumors and adverse effects on the liver and reproductive systems.
The chemical, which blocks an enzyme in plants needed for growth, has been described as 10 times as potent as dicamba, another weedkiller used on soybeans and cotton, whose products have caused millions of acres of unintended crop damage since its approval in 2017.
But though the EPA’s own guidance states that carcinogenic effects in animals could point to human risk, the agency stated that its final risk assessment found “no human health risks of concern.”
The plaintiffs argue that the EPA did not take all the proper steps to reach this conclusion, having failed to quantify the chemical’s danger, especially when combined with exposure to other approved chemicals.
“Trifludimoxazin is a likely human carcinogen that belongs to a family of weedkillers that also causes reproductive harm, birth defects, and neurological deficits in animal studies,” said Bill Freese, science director at the Center for Food Safety. “As if the health threats weren’t enough, this incredibly potent herbicide can drift to stunt crops and wild plants hundreds of yards from a sprayed field, while runoff threatens wetland plants. Potent biocides like this have no business on the American landscape.”
The lawsuit also notes that two of the approved trifludimoxazin products combine it with another toxic herbicide called saflufenacil, meaning that farmworkers who apply the chemicals could be exposed to the effects of both at once. The plaintiffs said the EPA did not evaluate the risk that would be posed to farmworkers who are exposed to these chemicals.
“While everyone’s distracted by the Trump administration’s erratic actions on the world stage, it keeps approving dangerous forever pesticides right here on our own soil,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s unconscionable, immoral, and illegal. Our kids and grandkids deserve better than to be saddled with pollution that never goes away.”
Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.
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 says that he obviously deserves a Peace prize because Obama got one and explains why he established his Bored of Peace
31 August 2026

… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

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