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Sunday, March 01, 2026

03/01 Links: The hypocrisy of the West’s weepers for the Islamic Republic; 9 killed as Iranian missile destroys synagogue in Beit Shemesh; 3 American soldiers killed

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: First Thoughts on the New Iran War
He did not say the war was for regime change. He said that ,after we had achieved our military aims, the Iranian people should take the golden opportunity to free themselves from the tyranny that has had its boot on their faces for 47 years.

There is a distinction.

A regime-change war would effectively require us to go in on the ground in Tehran, take out the mullahs, and announce that a regency of some sort that would then lead to a new republic. Instead, this war is designed to take out the command, control, communications, and military abilities of the regime and leave Khamenei and his demonic underlings denuded, undefended, alone, and astoundingly weak—to leave their regime a carcass to be picked over rather than continue to exist as a punch-drunk boxer who can rise from the canvas and try to keep swinging. Once we’re done, it would be quick work for Iranians themselves to kick the mullahs to the curb.

But, regime change war or not, I think my questions now have pretty clear answers. The six weeks of diplomatic dithering following the Iranian slaughter were, in fact, simply temporizing. We got our ducks in a row—and, presumably, gave Israel time to help us locate the necessary targets inside Iran to strike the bad guys while leaving the general population largely unmolested.

Today, February 28, 2026, may be the most important day of the 21st Century so far. May God bless our fighting forces as they place themselves in harm’s way to protect, defend, and save the West—and may we triumph over this remorseless, conscienceless, and evil enemy that has been at war with the “Great Satan” for nearly half a century.
Brendan O'Neill: The hypocrisy of the West’s weepers for the Islamic Republic
How do we explain a moral universe where there can be more fury over strikes against a government than there was over that government’s mass murder of its own citizens? This, sadly, is what has become of ‘anti-imperialism’. That old noble cause was once about defending the independence of nation states that found themselves in the crosshairs of the Great Powers. In recent years, however, it has curdled into a cynical, blind loathing for America. It’s just anti-Westernism now. It is fuelled less by a love of sovereign rights than by a kind of cultish self-flagellation, where the fashionable suspicion of all things Western gets falsely dolled up as ‘anti-war activism’.

This idea that the West is always wicked, and thus its enemies deserve empathy, is less the heir to the great peace movements of old than an outgrowth of the anti-civilisational trends that run riot in the academy and across the cultural establishment. We end up in the sick-making situation where the moral guardians of the new left are silent when a people’s revolt is savagely put down but agitated when the men responsible for it get a missile through their bedroom window. Because according to the juvenile commandments of anti-Westernism, America is the source of every earthly problem. Thus when America causes a death in Iran, it’s World War III, it’s a crime against humanity. Yet when the regime causes infinitely more deaths in Iran, meh.

There’s a curious reverse racism to this insistence on blaming the West for everything bad. It infantilises the regimes of the world, treating their crimes almost as instances of diminished responsibility rather than true offences against the human spirit. To see imperialism in action, look no further than the Islamic Republic. It deploys cruel proxies to enforce its theocratic writ everywhere from Lebanon to Gaza to Yemen. It green-lit the Islamofascist invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023, as a warning to both the Jewish State and the Saudis who were repairing their relationship with it. It calls home its brutish proxies every now and then to deploy them against the Iranian people themselves – classic coloniser behaviour. If you’re an anti-imperialist, the Islamic Republic should offend your every moral fibre.

I know, it has long been a tactic of the interventionist lobby to call the critics of their wars ‘pro-regime’. Those of us who opposed the lie-fuelled invasion of Iraq and the reckless US-UK intervention in Libya were slandered as Saddam sycophants and Gaddafi apologists. But in this instance, isn’t it justified? ‘Anti-war’ leftists made apologies for Hamas. They shed more tears over the exploding bollocks of Hezbollah militants than they did over the Druze kids killed by those militants. They chanted for the anti-Semitic brutes of Iran’s personal army in Yemen – the Houthis. There is a serious discussion to be had about the wisdom of what is happening right now. Many of us remain wary of external intervention, believing it is more likely to deepen regional and global tensions rather than liberate the oppressed populace. But we are well within our rights to wonder if those saying ‘Hands off Iran’ really mean ‘Hands off this regime that slaughters innocent men and women because at least it is anti-American like us’.
I fled Iran’s terror — Trump’s courage is an answer to my prayers
Every US president since Jimmy Carter has sat across the table from Iran and bought what they were selling.

Trump is the first one who didn’t.

When Barack Obama blinked on Syria in 2013, after Assad crossed Obama’s red line on chemical weapons, the world learned American threats were negotiable.

When Obama handed Iran the nuclear deal formally known as JCPOA, with its sanctions relief, billions in unfrozen assets and a sunset clause, the regime learned America would reward it for promises it never planned to keep.

Saturday, the regime learned that era is over.

Trump sees the Iranian regime for what it is, a destabilizing force that has plotted assassinations of American officials, including Trump himself — and he acted.

That takes courage. It takes historic vision.

For the first time, an American president has come to the rescue of the Iranian people, rather than focusing only on the nuclear file.

When the strikes began early Saturday, I heard from friends and relatives, some of them in Iran.

They were celebrating — particularly the reports that the Supreme Leader himself had been killed — and cautiously hopeful.

But every one of them said the same thing: Their deepest fear is that these strikes will stop short.

That they will wound the regime just enough to bring it back to the table, but leave it intact, still capable of crushing dissent, still able to imprison, torture, and execute the young Iranians who dare to dream of something better.

The Iranian people do not want a weakened theocracy.

They want a free Iran, one whose government answers to the nation’s interests, not to a revolutionary ideology exported on the backs of suffering civilians across the region.

If these strikes are designed to achieve that end, history will remember them as a turning point.

If they are designed merely to extract concessions, if the regime survives and regroups, the Iranian people will pay the price.

The courage it took to begin this must be matched by the vision to see it through.


Seth Mandel: Half a Million Syrians Didn’t Have To Die
The defining moment of this shameful policy came in the summer of 2013. Obama had set out his “red line” that, when crossed, would trigger U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war: Assad’s use of chemical weapons. As his administration argued, the use of illicit chemical weapons anywhere constitutes a threat to U.S. personnel and interests everywhere.

In August 2013, Assad unleashed a chemical weapons attack in the Syrian city of Ghouta, killing hundreds with poison gas. Obama acknowledged the line had been crossed and signaled that the U.S. would fulfill its own stated obligation to act. And then, as the Washington Post’s David Ignatius memorably put it, “it was all in motion, and at the last minute, the president blinked.”

From there, the administration welcomed Russian involvement in a failed diplomatic scheme to prevent future such attacks. It was emblematic of Obama’s overall Syria policy throughout the war.

But why?

“Getting a legacy-boosting nuclear deal with Iran was everything for the Obama administration,” recalled Frederic Hof, who worked on Syria policy for the Obama administration until 2011 and was highly critical of the White House’s inaction. “Nothing should be done in Syria that would offend Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ support for Assad’s mass murder strategy. Offending them — or so the theory went — might cause Iran to walk away from the nuclear talks and forsake a monetary cornucopia in sanctions relief and foreign direct investment.”

Syrians, Hof lamented, “have involuntarily paid such a high price” for America’s ill-fated nuclear deal with Iran.

Inaction in Syria was directly tied to the administration’s false narrative about the Iranian nuclear program. The nuclear program could have been dealt a far greater blow than Obama unconvincingly argued was being delivered by his capitulation to Iranian negotiators, and Syrians could have been saved.

Operation Epic Fury has not been designed to make a point about past Syria policy. But it has done so. And the point is a valuable one.
Who will lead Iran now?
After Khamenei’s death was confirmed by the state media the Islamic Republic swiftly announced that it had formed this interim leadership council. In addition to the president and chief justice, it named Alireza Arafi, a cleric on the Guardian Council who has headed Iran’s Seminary and is a member of the Assembly of Experts, as its third member. Membership of the council may prove a steppingstone to the supreme leadership, should a successor to Khamenei be chosen. Its clerical members, especially the chief justice and Arafi, are strong contenders to succeed Khamenei.

When Hezbollah’s longtime secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah was killed by Israel in 2024, his probable successor, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council Hashem Safieddine, was himself eliminated shortly after. The Iranian state will likely have this in precedent in mind and attempt to manage security risks accordingly, especially for the interim leadership council and figures like Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani and Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who have been playing integral roles in managing state affairs. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp’s (IRGC) Ansar al-Mahdi Protection Corps, which guards high-ranking state officials, and the Vali Amr Protection Unit, which protects the supreme leader, will likely play a key role.

The IRGC will be a critical stakeholder in any leadership selection. There are reports that the new commander-in-chief of the IRGC is Ahmad Vahidi, who has taken part in some of the worst abuses of the Islamic Republic. A former Quds Force member and cabinet minister, Vahidi is wanted by Interpol for his role in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994. Vahidi was also sanctioned for his role as interior minister overseeing the Iranian police’s crackdown on the protests that followed the murder of Mahsa Amini in 2022. The breadth and depth of his bloodstained experience make Vahidi a fearsome player in the new power order in Iran. It will also put a target on his back, especially from Israel.

In the end, these are decisive days for the future of Iran. The future remains uncertain. But one thing is certain: Khamenei, a man who has been responsible for the deaths of so many around the world, has been brought to justice.
Iranian Defense Minister Vahidi wanted for 1994 Buenos Aires AMIA bombing
Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s defense minister, has been wanted by Interpol since 2007 for his alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, Argentine prosecutors say. Vahidi was serving as commander of a special Quds Force unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard at the time of the attack. He is one of five Iranians sought in connection with the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center on July 18, 1994.

Argentine authorities accuse Vahidi of helping plan and execute the suicide bombing that destroyed the AMIA headquarters and injured hundreds more. The attack remains one of the deadliest against Jewish targets outside Israel since the Holocaust. Iran has consistently denied any involvement in the attack.

Vahidi’s Interpol Red Notice has been active since 2007, when Argentine prosecutors issued arrest warrants for him and four other Iranian officials. The Quds Force commander at the time is accused of overseeing the operation that used a van packed with explosives to target the Buenos Aires Jewish center.

The case has strained Argentina’s relations with Iran for decades and prompted international calls for justice. Argentine courts have formally charged Vahidi and the others, but Iran has refused to extradite them. Tehran maintains the accusations lack credible evidence.

Vahidi’s prominence in Iran’s government, including his current role as defense minister, has complicated efforts to bring him to trial. The AMIA bombing investigation has also seen allegations of a cover-up by Argentine officials in the 1990s. The case continues to fuel demands for accountability from victims’ families and Jewish organizations worldwide.
US officials reveal the urgency behind ‘Operation Epic Fury’ attack on Iran
Iran posed an “intolerable risk” to the U.S. with its missile threat and, during negotiations, wouldn’t accept “free nuclear fuel forever” – all of which led up to Saturday’s attack on Tehran.

Senior administration officials briefed reporters on the hours leading up to “Operation Epic Fury.”

One official described Iran’s missile inventory and said it posed “an intolerable risk to the United States.”

The US had “indicators” that Tehran was going to launch a preemptive strike against American assets in the region, pointing to Iran’s retaliatory strikes on US bases in the region, including ones in Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as proof.

“The president decided he was not going to sit back and allow American forces in the region to absorb attacks from conventional missiles. We had analysis that basically told us, if we sat back and waited to get hit first, the amount of casualties and damage would be substantially higher than if we acted in a preemptive, defensive way to prevent those launches from occurring,” the official said.

Another senior administration official described the final talks in Geneva with Iranian officials and revealed the astonishing offer the Americans made.

“One of the things we offered – we said, we will give you free nuclear fuel forever,” the official said. “And they basically said that didn’t work for them. They needed to enrich uranium.”

The Trump administration said Iran’s nuclear capabilities were destroyed in Operation Midnight Hammer last year, but were concerned Tehran was preparing to ramp them up again.


3 American soldiers killed, 5 seriously injured in war with Iran — US military
Three American soldiers have been killed, and five have been seriously wounded in the ongoing conflict with Iran, the US Central Command said Sunday, announcing the first US casualties in the conflict.

The United States and Israel launched massive bombardments against Iran and killed its supreme leader Saturday, with the attacks continuing on Sunday.

CENTCOM did not provide further details on the circumstances of the deaths and injuries of the US service members.

“The situation is fluid, so out of respect for the families, we will withhold additional information, including the identities of our fallen warriors, until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified,” it said.

Iran has targeted American military facilities in the Middle East with ballistic missiles and drones over the past day in response to the US-Israeli bombardments. It has also fired missiles and drones at Israel, killing 10 people and injuring scores.

“Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions and are in the process of being returned to duty,” CENTCOM said of the US casualties, adding that “major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing.”

However, it denied claims made by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was struck with ballistic missiles.

“The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close,” CENTCOM said. “The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.”


Iran attacks spark chaos as 1,000-plus ships hit by electronic warfare
The Strait of Hormuz region became a flashpoint Sunday after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran under Operation Epic Fury triggered electronic warfare activity and multiple "attacks" on vessels along one of the world’s most critical energy waterways, according to reports.

The sudden escalation followed a Feb. 28 warning from U.S. maritime authorities urging commercial vessels to avoid strategic waterways if possible, including the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, citing heightened security risks.

"It is recommended that vessels keep clear of this area if possible," the advisory warned.

"The Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and adjacent waters are the most dangerous place right now for commercial shipping," Jakob P. Larsen, head of maritime security at BIMCO, told Fox News Digital.

"Ships in the Persian Gulf are under threat from Iranian attacks," Larsen said.

"To protect themselves, most ships stay as far away from Iran as they can," he added before describing how ships are "trying to depart from the Persian Gulf to get away from the threat."

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and regional authorities reported multiple maritime incidents listed as "attacks" Sunday.

One vessel west of Sharjah, UAE, was rocked by an explosion from an unknown projectile that detonated close alongside, and another tanker north of Muscat, Oman, was struck above the waterline, sparking a fire that was later brought under control, according to data.

A third vessel northwest of Mina Saqr, UAE, was also hit by a projectile that ignited a blaze aboard, the organization reported.


IDF says dozens of top Iranians killed within seconds of Khamenei as CIA role emerges
Iranians awoke Sunday morning to confirmation that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed after 36 years of ruling the country with an iron grip, as new details emerged about the stunning Israeli-US attack and the identities of some of the top officials killed alongside the country’s top ruler.

Iranian state television reported Khamenei’s death in the early hours of Sunday, broadcasting archive images with a black banner, sparking celebrations but also mourning. The death of the cleric also threatened to plunge the country into deeper chaos amid major questions over its future.

Khamenei was killed in a strike on a Tehran compound Saturday morning, marking the opening salvo of a US and Israeli military campaign aimed at destroying the country’s nuclear and weapons programs and toppling the regime.

The IDF said Sunday it had killed 40 “key” Iranian military commanders, including Iran’s chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, within a minute of striking Khamenei.

According to The New York Times, the CIA had tracked Khamenei’s location and knew of a meeting of top Iranian officials slated for Saturday morning in central Tehran.

The American intelligence agency had been tracking Khamenei for months, the Times reported, citing people familiar with the operation, and learned that a meeting of top Iranian officials was set for Saturday morning at a leadership compound in the heart of Tehran.

Washington and Jerusalem originally planned to launch strikes on Iran at night, but officials adjusted the plan based on the CIA intelligence, according to the Times.

The US gave the information to Israel, which planned to carry out the attack on Iranian leadership, the newspaper reported.

The operation began about 6 a.m. in Israel, and long-range missiles fired by Israeli Air Force jets struck the compound about two hours later, the Times said.

Senior Iranian national security officials were in one building at the compound, and Khamenei was in a nearby building.

The Wall Street Journal reported that 30 bombs were dropped on the compound where Khamenei was meeting with senior leadership.

The IDF said Sunday that Khamenei was killed in “a precise, large-scale operation carried out by the Israeli Air Force, guided by accurate IDF intelligence,” without mentioning any US role.


What it’s like in Israel – during “Operation Lion’s Roar”
I haven’t been sleeping much.

It starts with an (intentionally) obnoxious screech on your phone that overrides all your “leave me alone” settings, and harangues you that a missile alarm is coming. The radar and satellite tech behind this disruptive howl is almost magical, but in the moment, no one cares.

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Then the promised air raid sirens sound all around: you have 90 seconds to reach a bomb shelter.

Fortunately, there’s a bomb shelter in my building. Some aren’t so lucky: they run down the block to public shelters, or to Tel Aviv’s new underground subway, which was built with this exact scenario in mind.

The attacks come in waves of an hour or two.

Imagine having a baby that wakes you up all day and night, except instead of a baby it’s a homicidal Islamist regime, and instead of wanting to be changed or fed, it wants to kill you.

Israel has the most advanced, multi-layered missile defense system in human history, but it’s only about 88% effective – and that remaining 12% takes out entire apartment buildings. Iran already claimed its first victims last night: woman in her 40s was killed, and dozens more injured. And that’s just in Israel: Iran is also firing on seven Arab countries, including on the (civilian) international airports in Dubai, Bahrain, and Kuwait. It therefore makes no sense to fear “escalation” into a “regional war”: Iran has already “escalated,” and all of its targets are now supporting the U.S./Israeli operation.

Fortunately, actual damage has been relatively anticlimactic compared to Iran’s colorful promises of a “severe, decisive and regret-inducing punishment.” Much of Iran’s offensive weapons are being destroyed on the ground, and the launches have been mostly intercepted.

Israelis see war like how a college fraternity pledge sees vomiting: it’s not pleasant, but sometimes it has to be done, and when it’s over, you’re better off for having done it.

Why?

As the poet said, “let me count the ways.”


9 killed as Iranian missile destroys synagogue, smashes bomb shelter in Beit Shemesh
Nine people were killed and more than 40 were injured in Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, on Sunday afternoon by a direct Iranian ballistic missile impact.

The missile struck a residential area in the city, destroying a synagogue and causing extensive damage to a public bomb shelter beneath it and surrounding homes.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it declared the deaths of eight victims at the scene and took 28 others to hospitals, two in serious condition. The death of the ninth victim was declared a short time later.

Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center said it was treating six people, including a four-year-old boy who was admitted in moderate condition, while others were evacuated to the Terem Emergency Medical Center in Beit Shemesh and the capital’s Hadassah University Hospitals in Mount Scopus and Ein Kerem.

The military dispatched search and rescue forces and medics to the scene, along with a helicopter to assist with evacuating the injured.

Footage showed the moment of the impact just before 2 p.m., after sirens rang out across much of the country.

The IDF said that the failure to intercept the missile was under investigation by the Israeli Air Force. Air defense systems were activated in the area, but the interceptors failed to shoot down the missile for as-yet unclear reasons.
‘Everything is gone’: Deadly Iranian strike on Beit Shemesh leaves residents reeling
“We were in the safe room and suddenly we heard a massive blast and saw shrapnel inside the house,” Yarin said, standing in the middle of a previously quiet street now strewn with broken glass and shattered lengths of metal.

Speaking with The Times of Israel, the Beit Shemesh resident described the moment that an Iranian missile, having evaded air defenses, struck his neighborhood in this central Israeli city, killing nine people and injuring dozens of others, destroying a synagogue, and causing extensive damage to a public bomb shelter and surrounding homes.

“All the walls shattered, glass, all the drywall, the front door came apart,” he said.

The missile impact in Beit Shemesh was the deadliest in Israel during the current conflict with Iran. During the 12-day war with Iran in June 2025, the deadliest strike in Israel also killed nine people, when a missile struck a Bat Yam apartment building.

Away from the site of the attack, life appeared to be going on as normal in Beit Shemesh on Sunday, with children walking in costumes ahead of the Purim holiday and many stores operating despite Homefront Command guidelines mandating the shuttering of schools and nonessential businesses.

Approaching the site of the strike, however, the atmosphere quickly changed, with dust filling the air and helicopters and drones circling overhead. Glass crunched underfoot and large chunks of concrete and twisted scraps of metal blocked the sidewalks.

The windshields of cars parked along the street were either shattered or completely missing. Houses were increasingly damaged nearer the epicenter of the blast, with many missing large chunks of their roofs, the tiles blown off by the force of the blast.
Four of the 9 victims of Iranian missile strike on Beit Shemesh named by authorities
Four of the nine people killed when a ballistic missile fired from Iran slammed into a residential neighborhood in Beit Shemesh were named by authorities on Sunday night.

Nine people were killed and more than 40 were injured when the missile destroyed a synagogue and caused extensive damage to a public bomb shelter beneath it, as well as surrounding homes.

The victims included a mother and her adult daughter.

It was the deadliest missile strike in Israel during the current conflict with Iran — Philippine national Mary Anne Velasquez de Vera, 32, was killed in a missile strike in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

The IDF said that the failure to intercept the missile that hit Beit Shemesh was under investigation by the Israeli Air Force.

Air defense systems were activated in the area, but the interceptors failed to shoot down the missile for as-yet unclear reasons, resulting in the direct hit by the estimated 500-kilogram warhead. Ronit Elimelech

Ronit Elimelech, 45, volunteered with the United Hatzalah emergency service, and paramedics called to the scene found her medical kit and vest amid the rubble.

She was killed alongside her mother, Sara.

Elimelech and her three children had been at her parents’ home in Beit Shemesh and entered the public shelter underneath the synagogue once they heard sirens go off, United Hatzalah said in a statement.

First responders rescued two of Elimelech’s children from the rubble and took them to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center after they sustained light to moderate injuries in the strike.

The third child was apparently unharmed and Elimelech’s father was also found safe.


Woman killed Saturday in missile strike on Tel Aviv identified as Philippine national
The woman killed in an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv late Saturday was identified Sunday as 32-year-old Philippine national Mary Anne Velasquez de Vera, a caregiver who lived with her patient.

She was the first person in Israel to be killed during the renewed fighting with Iran, which began earlier Saturday with a massive, joint US-Israeli attack. The two allies bombed sites across the country and killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of top military officials, after weeks of escalating tensions in the region. Iran responded by firing hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel and other countries across the region.

“Mary Ann was injured while selflessly assisting her patient to safety during Operation Roaring Lion on March 1, 2026,” the Israeli embassy in the Philippines said in a statement.

“A stark reminder that the Iranian regime continues to sow terror indiscriminately, targeting civilians without distinction,” it added.

“Mary Ann, like so many overseas Filipino workers in Israel, exemplified resilience, compassion, and quiet strength. She was identified by her husband, who is also an overseas Filipino worker in Israel, and their family,” the embassy said.

President Isaac Herzog called Philippine Ambassador to Israel Aileen Mendiola to express his condolences over de Vera’s death, the President’s Residence told The Times of Israel.


Iranian missile warhead falls less than a kilometer from Temple Mount, al-Aqsa Mosque
The warhead of an Iranian missile hit a site just several dozen meters from the Old City of Jerusalem, and just several hundred meters from the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, during the course of Saturday, police announced on Sunday.

According to police, an explosion was heard and smoke was seen rising from a site just west of the Old City on Saturday morning, shortly after the beginning of the latest armed conflict with Iran.

The impact site appears to have been the Sultan’s Pool outdoor events venue, which lies just a few dozen meters to the west of the Old City and just under a kilometer west of the Temple Mount, as the crow flies.

Police and sappers conducted searches of the area and found the warhead from an Iranian ballistic missile, along with “incendiary and explosive materials” scattered nearby, the police said.

The warhead was then neutralized by sappers from the police’s Jerusalem District.

From video footage sent by the police, it appears that the missile did not strike the site directly, but may instead have first been intercepted by Israel’s missile defense systems, with fragments from the projectile then falling to earth.


Hezbollah confirms it fired rockets at Israel as ‘revenge’ for Khamenei
Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group claims responsibility for firing rockets at northern Israel tonight for the first time since the November 2024 Israel-Lebanon ceasefire.

The rocket attack is “revenge for the blood of the Supreme Leader of the Muslims, Ali Khamenei,” the Iranian proxy group says, referring to Iran’s supreme leader, who was killed in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli bombing campaign on the Islamic Republic on Saturday.

Hezbollah claims it targeted a missile defense site south of Haifa in the attack. The IDF said it intercepted one rocket fired at northern Israel from Lebanon and let several other fall in open spaces. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Hezbollah suggests that the rocket attack constitutes a “warning” to Israel to “withdraw from occupied Lebanese territory,” referring to the five border posts Israel has held on to in Lebanon, citing security concerns, despite being required to withdraw under the 2024 ceasefire.


Three tankers damaged in Gulf and one seafarer killed as US-Iran conflict escalates
At least three tankers were damaged off the Gulf coast, and one seafarer was killed, as Iranian retaliation for US and Israeli strikes on Iran exposed ships to collateral damage, shipping sources and officials said on Sunday.

Risks to commercial shipping have surged in the past 24 hours, with more than 200 vessels, including oil and liquefied gas tankers, dropping anchor around the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters, shipping data showed on Sunday.

Iran has said it has closed navigation through the critical waterway, prompting Asian governments and refiners — key buyers — to assess oil stockpiles.

The strait, situated between Iran and Oman’s Musandam exclave, is the Gulf’s only link to the open ocean and global markets.

Shipping companies Maersk, MSC, and Hapag-Lloyd have all halted traffic through the strait.

Major container shipping lines have rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope.

It was not immediately clear who launched the projectiles and drones that targeted or damaged ships on Sunday.

A projectile hit the Marshall Islands–flagged product tanker MKD VYOM, killing a crew member on board, as the vessel sailed off the coast of Oman, vessel manager V.Ships said on Sunday.

“The vessel suffered an explosion and subsequent fire after being struck,” V.Ships Asia said in a statement.

“It is with great sadness that we confirm one crew member, who was in the engine room at the time of the incident, has died,” the statement said.

The International Maritime Organization, the UN’s shipping agency, urged companies to avoid sailing through the affected area until conditions improved.


Call me Back Podcast: EMERGENCY EPISODE: WAR WITH IRAN - with Mark Dubowitz and Nadav Eyal
The United States and Israel have launched coordinated strikes against Iran, and the region is now at war.

In this emergency episode of Call Me Back, Dan is joined by Nadav Eyal and Mark Dubowitz to break down the opening operation, Iran’s retaliation across the region, and the high-stakes question at the center of it all: Is this about degrading nuclear and missile capabilities, or is this the beginning of regime change?

They discuss the decapitation strategy targeting Iran’s senior leadership, the possibility that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been killed, the international response, and what comes next. As sirens sound in Israel and ballistic missiles fly across the Gulf, this is real-time analysis of a historic turning point in the Middle East.

In this episode:
Operation Epic Fury and Roaring Lion: How the war began
Iran’s regional retaliation and the widening battlefield
Targeting the leadership: Decapitation and the Khamenei question
Nuclear reconstitution, Pickaxe Mountain, and the missile threat
Regime change or strategic degradation?
International reaction and Gulf alignment
The American message and what it signals
How this ends and what comes next




Andrew Klavan: How Eliminating Ayatollah Khameini Will Change The Middle East w/Michael Doran
Michael Doran, Director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson Institute, joins me for a timely discussion about the tension Israel & the US have with Iran and what it means for the future of the Middle East. Thanks for being a DailyWire+ member. This show is ad-free.


Ben Shapiro: America First, America Always - Trump Kills Khamenei
Trump orders U.S. strikes on Iranian military targets, world leaders react, and the Iranian people celebrate. Join LIVE for a full recap of what unfolded, why it matters, and what will happen next.


Commentary Magazine Podcast: EMERGENCY POD: War With Iran (2/28/26)
We are joined by FDD’s Jonathan Schanzer and JNS’s Ruthie Blum from Tel-Aviv to discuss the Israeli and American attacks on Iran, the news that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed, and what this means for the future of the country and the region.




Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association Supports U.S. and Israeli Attacks in Iran That Have Killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
The Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) is supporting the ongoing attacks by the U.S. and Israel in Iran that have caused the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei prompting the possibility of seismic political changes.

“The Islamic regime in Iran, following the national uprising and tragic massacre of January 2025, has left its defenseless citizens with no option but to seek urgent humanitarian intervention from the international community,” the organization – which claims to represent hundreds of members of Iran’s dissident film community – said in a statement.

Over 40,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the Jan. 8-9 crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests.

“In this context, the Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) calls upon the international community to uphold Iran’s sovereignty and to prioritize the protection of tens of millions of citizens held hostage by the Islamic regime,” the statement added.

“We advocate for targeted actions against government officials and oppressive agents while avoiding harm to innocent civilians,” it continued. “It is essential to put an end to this archaic cycle of patriarchal violence.”

Top Iranian auteurs such as Jafar Panahi, Asghar Farhadi and Mohamed Rasoulof have yet to weigh in with public statements on the joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran. Besides Khamanei, the air strikes have also killed Iran’s chief of army staff and defense minister, according to Iran’s state state-run IRNA news agency and other news outlets.


‘Burn in hell’: Rita Panahi’s brutal message for Iran’s slain theocratical dictator
‘The dictator is dead’: Rita Panahi issues scathing rebuke of Khamenei’s regime

Sky News host Rita Panah has delivered a brutal message to slain theocratical dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hours after his death, as Iranians around the world celebrate their looming liberation.

Hours after the brutal dictator was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes, Sky News host Rita Panahi was on air and delivered a powerful rebuke of his regime.

Panahi, who fled Iran with her family as a child to escape the regime, delivered a message to the brutal dictator: "Burn in hell".

"All I have to say is that after 47 years of Islamist tyranny, the dictator is dead and Iran is on the verge of being liberated. I never thought I would see this day in my lifetime," Panahi said.

"And I just want to conclude this editorial with this message to the late supreme leader".

Speaking in Persian, Panahi then took a brutal jab at the dictator, delivering a message that translated to: "You son of a dog, dirt on your head, burn in hell".


Iranians and Jews celebrate Khamenei’s death shoulder to shoulder in north London streets
Cars draped in the flags of Iran’s former monarchy drove through the streets of north London on Saturday night, blaring lively music and honking their horns, shortly after reports came out that the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed earlier that day in an Israeli airstrike — and even before Iranian media confirmed the death of the man who had brutally ruled the country for 36 years.

Alongside them, pedestrians sang and cheered. They did not just bear the Iranian colors — but those of Israel and the United States, as well.

Khamenei had presided over a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in January in which thousands of Iranians were killed by security forces, and citizens at home and abroad welcomed the news of his death, which came amid heavy bombing of regime and military targets by the US and Israel. Both US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged citizens in Iran to take to the streets and finish the job of toppling the regime once the aerial campaign is over.

In the meantime, areas home to both Jewish and Iranian communities, such as Finchley and Golders Green, saw massive celebrations that included displays of fireworks and members of the Orthodox Jewish community singing in Persian and Hebrew together with their Iranian neighbors.

“We’d just finished dinner in London when we heard that Khamenei had reportedly been confirmed dead,” Meir Porat, a 55-year-old construction manager, told The Times of Israel. “Within minutes, word spread that spontaneous celebrations were happening in north London. I knew this was not a moment to watch from a distance.”

“Since October 7, many Iranians in exile have stood publicly with us at demonstrations across London,” Porat said, referring to the bloody Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023. “Last night felt like the time to stand shoulder to shoulder with them at what could be a defining moment for their country.”

Porat said it was powerful for him to see Iranians draped in Israel’s blue-and-white Star of David together with their own flags.


Iranian Australians celebrate, govt issues travel warnings to Middle East | ABC NEWS
Nearly 30 planes and hundreds of travellers were left stranded in Australia when the airspace over much of the Middle East was suddenly closed.
The federal government has issued fresh travel warnings for much of the region and urged Australians to leave if they can.


US, Israel defend strikes on Iran as lawful at heated UN Security Council meeting
The United States and Israel clashed with Iran at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Saturday as the United Nations chief led calls for a halt to attacks by either side and a return to negotiations to prevent the conflict from spreading further.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the council that everything must be done to prevent an escalation. “The alternative,” he warned, “is a potential wider conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.”

Guterres said the US and Israeli airstrikes violated international law, including the UN Charter. He also condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks for violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Bot the US and Israel have described the attacks as preemptive, aimed at stopping a regime that poses an existential threat to Israel.

“We are stopping extremism before it becomes unstoppable,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said. “We will ensure that no radical regime armed with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles can threaten our people or the entire world.”

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told the council that Operation Epic Fury, authorized by US President Donald Trump against Iran, was aimed at dismantling the Islamic Republic’s missile capabilities, degrading its naval assets, disrupting the machinery that arms proxy militias, and ensuring that the regime can never obtain a nuclear weapon.

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “That principle is not a matter of politics. It’s a matter of global security. And to that end, the United States is taking lawful actions.”
EXCLUSIVE: Confronted by anti-Israel UN official, Ambassador Danny Danon fires back
Anti-Israel economist and policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs attempted to confront Israel’s United Nations envoy on Saturday following a U.N. Security Council meeting, in footage obtained exclusively by JNS.

Sachs, a Columbia University professor and adviser to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, regularly espouses anti-American and anti-West positions in media appearances, mixed with heavy criticism of Israeli government policies.

He has claimed on multiple occasions that the American government and congress is controlled by Zionists.

Russia and China requested that Sachs serve as a civil-society briefer at Saturday’s emergency council session on Iran.

Briefers are regularly called upon to provide independent, on-the-ground expertise to the Security Council, helping to shape policy. It’s unclear what expertise Sachs would have brought, as the United Kingdom, serving as council president, rejected the request.

In the video, taken from the floor of the council chamber, Danon can be heard saying after Sachs approached: “Mark my words. Every place, every time,” adding what sounds like, “We will protect your people.”

To which Sachs responded: “Esther and Auschwitz. Those are your two ideas. Very clever.”

The retort was in reference to comments Danon made during the council session, recounting the story of Purim, when “Queen Esther refused to remain silent” when Haman, a Persian minister, plotted to wipe out the Jews.

“She stepped forward. She spoke up,” Danon said, calling it “not only an ancient lesson. It is a modern one.”

He drew a parallel to his visit in recent days with dozens of U.N. ambassadors to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

“We stood in a place that shows what happens when radicalism and extremism grow and no one stops it in time,” said Danon. “Winston Churchill understood what Queen Esther understood long before him: When destruction is declared and weapons are being prepared and assembled, leaders must act.”

Danon finished the conversation, telling Sachs “you are welcome to support Iran and Hamas,” adding “you can fly there if you want to,” before Sachs walked away.


Both ultimate shareholders of MTN-Irancell killed in US-Israeli strikes: what it means for South Africa’s most toxic asset
The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader and Minister of Defence decapitates the ownership chain of Iran’s largest digital company, co-owned by the MTN Group and now operated by an IRGC veteran as a wartime weapons platform.

Israeli strikes on Tehran on Saturday killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Defence Minister Amir Nasirzadeh, according to Israeli officials briefed on the operation and confirmed by multiple Western intelligence sources.

The significance of these deaths for the future of the Iranian state will be analysed extensively in the days ahead. But there is a corporate dimension to the killings that has received almost no attention and that carries profound legal, financial and governance implications: both of the ultimate controlling shareholders of MTN-Irancell, Iran’s largest mobile telecommunications network, are now dead.

The ownership structure that no longer exists
MTN-Irancell is a joint venture in which MTN Group holds a 49 per cent minority stake. The controlling 51 per cent is held by the Iran Electronic Development Company (IEDC), which is itself owned by two entities: Iran Electronics Industries (Sairan), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), and the Bonyad Mostazafan (Foundation of the Oppressed), a sprawling conglomerate that is legally classified as neither public nor private and answers solely to the Supreme Leader.

The Bonyad Mostazafan is the second-largest commercial enterprise in Iran after the National Iranian Oil Company and the largest holding conglomerate in the Middle East. It controls more than 350 subsidiaries, employs over 200,000 people and, according to its own 2016 accounts, Irancell was its single most profitable asset. The foundation was established in 1980 following the Islamic Revolution to manage assets confiscated from the Pahlavi era. Its chairman is appointed by and reports directly to the Supreme Leader.

Defence Minister Nasirzadeh led the apex of MODAFL, which controls Sairan and, through the Defence Ministry’s controlling share in IEDC, exerts decisive influence over Irancell. Nasirzadeh also ran the Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which advances nuclear, biological and chemical weapons projects and has partnered with MTN-Irancell on artificial intelligence initiatives. Khamenei exercised direct personal authority over the Bonyad Mostazafan. Both men are now dead. The ownership chain that governed 51 per cent of a company integral to the Iranian military-industrial complex, the country’s largest digital network serving 70 million subscribers and generating billions of dollars in revenue, has been decapitated.


Pro-Iran mobs in Pakistan, Iraq try to storm US embassies; at least 8 killed
Pro-Iranian protesters angered by the death of Iran supreme leader Ali Khamenei tried to storm the US consulate in Pakistan’s Karachi on Sunday, leaving eight dead, and the fortified Green Zone hosting Washington’s embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Iranian state media confirmed the death of Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and sworn enemy of the West, on Sunday, after the opening salvo of a massive US and Israeli attack.

In the Pakistani megacity of Karachi, hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters tried to enter the US mission, an AFP journalist saw.

At least eight people were killed in the protests and at least 20 were injured, Muhammad Amin, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation rescue service said, adding most had bullet wounds.

A crowd of young people climbed over the main gate and gained access to the driveway of the consular building, smashing some windows.

Police fired tear gas at the protesters, who dispersed.

Videos on social media showed youngsters smashing the windows of the main building of the consulate as the American flag could be seen flying over the compound, whose perimeter is topped with barbed wire.

Thousands of people were also taking to the streets in the eastern city of Lahore and in northern Skardu, with a demonstration expected in the afternoon near the diplomatic enclave housing the US embassy in the capital Islamabad.


Restricted Video US embassy in Pakistan — it’s all fun and games until the Marines decide to shoot back.



Columbia denies connection to student group posting ‘death to America’ over Iran strikes
Columbia University distanced itself from Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of over 80 university student groups, after it posted “death to America” in Farsi in response to U.S. strikes on Iran, denying that current students are behind the account.

“Marg bar Amrika,” CUAD posted on X on Saturday after U.S. and Israel’s joint strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader — using a phrase that was frequently invoked by Khamenei. The post was deleted, but CUAD doubled down, writing in a new post, “X forced us to delete our ‘marg bar amrika’ tweet in order to gain back access to our account but the sentiment still stands.”

Columbia responded that “the group that calls itself ‘CUAD’ is not a recognized student group, or affiliated in any way with the University.”

“There is no evidence that anyone currently in control of their account is a current Columbia student, staff, or faculty member. They are illegally using the Columbia name,” the university said in a statement.

But a source familiar with the university’s actions told Jewish Insider that Columbia does not know who controls the account.

Last year, Columbia served the email associated with CUAD’s social media accounts with a cease and desist letter and sent takedown requests to the social media platforms carrying them, the source said.

CUAD then changed its account name from Columbia University Apartheid Divest to CU Apartheid Divest, stopped using an alma mater logo, changed its status on X to be a “commentary account” and added a statement to its bio about being “proudly unrecognized” by Columbia.

The source said the university is continuing to pursue all available legal action on the matter.




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