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Friday, March 06, 2026

03/06 Links Pt1: The Iran War has exposed the anti-imperialism of fools; Trump and Netanyahu Have the Law, and the Facts, on Their Side; Four men arrested for helping Iran spy on Jews in London

From Ian:

Brendan O'Neill: The Iran War has exposed the anti-imperialism of fools
Strikingly, some left-wing voices have shared Fuentes’ rant about the Zionist ‘occupation’ of America. This is a literal anti-Semite who has said Jews ‘have no place in Western civilisation’. The left has gone from saying it’s racist for a white dude to wear his hair in dreadlocks to cosying up with a lowlife Jew-hater who once called the Holocaust a ‘Jewish bedtime story’. The cult of Israelophobia has made bedfellows of hard-right braggarts and blue-haired losers.

It actually makes sense that Fuentes’ hysteria about a ‘Zionist Occupied Government’ – or ‘ZOG’ – would get leftists hot under the collar, for it is of a piece with their own foolish ‘anti-imperialism’. For years now, the supposedly anti-war left has been myopically obsessed with the Jewish State and its nefarious mastery of the minds and armies of the Western world. ‘End Zionist control of UK politics’, their banners cry. They view the Jewish nation as uniquely evil, as madly bloodthirsty, as ‘the pigs of the Earth’. Jews as pigs? You can call that anti-imperialism if you like – I call it something else.

The woke left, like the crank right, has been upping the ante since the war with Iran started. Witness the speed with which the Jewish nation was blamed for the horrendous bombing of the girls’ school in Minab. The effluent of Israelophobia bubbled up across social media, as hotheads insisted this was an ‘intentional’ attack by a demented state that slaughtered kids in Gaza and now longs to slaughter them in Iran. Yet it seems, according to analysis by the New York Times, that the strike was a terrible accident by the US military. Still, why let anything as pesky as the truth get in the way of breathing life back into the medieval libel that says Jews love butchering innocent kids?

The treatment of Zionism as the moral rot of humanity is hatred masquerading as pacifism. It’s the staggering back to life of an ancient animus for Jews, thinly disguised in the rags of ‘anti-imperialism’. It is anti-intellectualism of the most brutish variety. As one observer says, depicting America as a ‘mindless golem animated by its supposed masters in Jerusalem’ is not ‘serious geopolitical analysis’ – ‘it’s the stuff of fever swamps’. It wilfully overlooks the geopolitical drivers of America’s action in Iran – not least in relation to China – in preference for damning the Jews as the eternal wreckers of peace and decency.

In the early 20th century, we had the ‘socialism of fools’. That was a term used by principled leftists to describe the tendency of socialism to descend into the barbarous belief that the Jews were the hidden hand behind capitalism. Now we have the anti-imperialism of fools, the equally rancid idea that the Jewish State is the secret force behind war and instability. You expect us to believe it is coincidental that all the things fascists once said about the Jewish people – all-controlling, toxic, bloodthirsty – are now said about the Jewish nation? Sorry, I’m not buying it. To me, it feels like old, lethal hatreds have simply found a new costume to put on.

Is there a serious discussion to be had about the West’s actions in Iran? Unquestionably. This is a dangerous moment, calling for calm heads and cool analysis. But instead we see the old, wheezing sickness of Jew-baiting in the mask of anti-imperialism. This hatred on the homefront requires our urgent attention.
Kurt Schlichter: Iran Is Merely a Chess Piece in a Much Bigger Game
Trump is not playing any of that. While the convoluted explanations and fake moralizing that attempt to justify hobbling the United States and preventing it from exercising its full power in the defense of its interest may appeal to the elite, normal Americans – of whom Trump is an avatar – don’t buy it, especially nearly a century after World War II ended when we nuked Japan (have you noticed how mad they get that we used that power to save hundreds of thousands of American lives?).

We took out Venezuela because it has been an enemy for a couple of decades and a thorn in our side, cooperating with our other enemies. We will soon take out Cuba for the same reason. No, they did not launch an overt attack at us lately for the same reason Iran didn’t. They are weak, and we are strong. So, what better time to attack? The usual suspects are making hilarious arguments that it’s wrong for us to attack weaker countries, as if this were some playground where we’re trying to steal their lunch money. Only an idiot fights fair; hitting them while they are weak, before they fix their defense systems, replenish their missile stocks, and build a hot rock is the best time to hit them.

It's another made-up “norm” that no one ever voted on that exists solely to restrain the United States from leveraging its power to promote its interests. When Iran goes, that deprives Russia of a key arms partner and lets us get our hands around China’s throat because the CCP’s oil comes largely through Iran. If you want peace, support regime change in Iran so we can control the fossil fuel spigot. China can’t invade Taiwan as long as we can turn off the gas.

Imagine the world that Donald Trump and his team imagine. The Europeans will start paying their own checks; maybe getting their allowance cut off will encourage them to get serious about preserving their culture. Even if they don’t, the fact that Trump did not even bother inviting them into the Iran fight shows they are totally irrelevant as far as actual power goes. We will have the Americas free of communist subversion for the first time since JFK shamefully wussed out at the Bay of Pigs, which additionally helps us domestically on drugs and immigration, while providing new markets for what we manufacture. In the Middle East, the regime that is the main force for destabilization in the region will be replaced by people who do not chant “Death to America!” and we can finally end the ‘forever wars” we hear so much tiresome whining about. We will never face a coterie of seventh-century savages with The Bomb atop a ballistic missile that can reach Kansas City – could you imagine that, because it was in the cards if the “adults in the room” had their way?. And Russia and China will have the military option taken off the table – no oil, no war. Then, when the delusion of conquest has dissipated, we can build a peaceful relationship.

Trump loves peace. That’s why he has gone to war. But more than that, he has totally rejected the perpetual cycle of failure and defeat that allows our enemies to persist for decades when we could have brushed them off our shoulders like dandruff. If you want peace, support Donald Trump and this war. If you want war, support the pinkos, traitors, half-wit podcast bros, and libertarians who support “peace.”
Douglas Murray: Unlike past presidents, Trump kept and delivered his promise to eliminate our enemies
Perhaps we forgot what it’s like when politicians act on their promises.

Perhaps our enemies forgot as well.

For decades, American presidents — Democratic and Republican — have said the theocratic dictatorship in Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.

For decades, those same administrations were strung along by the ayatollahs.

American negotiators — like their European counterparts — sat through years of negotiations.

And every time, the revolutionary government in Iran got closer to the bomb.

Well, not this time.

As Trump envoy Steve Witkoff described in an interview with Fox News this week, even during last month’s negotiations, the Iranians were playing their old games.

The Iranian team sat down opposite Witkoff and Jared Kushner and boasted about how much enriched uranium they had.

The Iranian team wanted America to know they had the capacity to make at least 11 nuclear bombs in a matter of days.

Perhaps the Iranians had become used to weak and ineffectual foreign governments.

Perhaps they thought this administration was like all its predecessors.

Perhaps they imagined this administration in Washington is like all those governments in Paris and London that said they were against crazed fanatics having nuclear weapons but never intended to do anything about it — apart from sitting around another conference table in Geneva.


What It Means To Achieve Victory in Iran
Not content with terrorizing innocent civilians across the Middle East, the mullahs intend to make the rest of the world suffer. They are trying to close the Strait of Hormuz, a bottleneck in the Persian Gulf through which passes roughly 20 percent of the global supply of oil and natural gas. If they succeed, the global economy will suffer greatly: Saudi Arabia can shift only a fraction of its oil exports to the Red Sea, and in the short term, American shale producers can barely make up a small percentage of the Gulf's daily output.

The Trump team is mitigating the damage the Iranians can inflict. Trump directed the Development Finance Corporation to insure tankers in the Gulf and said he will send naval escorts. (Escorts may not be necessary, since much of the Iranian Navy has been sunk.)

Air defense systems that intercept incoming ballistic missiles are expensive and in short supply, so the U.S. and Israeli militaries are blasting them before they get in the air. Iranian missile launches have decreased 90 percent since the first day of this conflict. Drones can be stopped the same way—launches are down 83 percent—and Ukraine is teaching America's allies how to efficiently disable Iranian drones, which the Russians have used for years.

Israel and the United States remain on the offensive, too. In addition to jointly bombing command centers, airfields, and other military facilities, both countries are reportedly covertly arming separatist Kurdish movements. Israel is destroying the people and the organizations the mullahs employ to repress the Iranian populace, particularly in the Kurdish-heavy parts of the country.

The broadening and deepening of the war will significantly affect the rest of the world. Energy-importing Europe, India, and China will suffer if tankers cannot transit the Strait of Hormuz. Higher oil prices could stabilize Russia's dismal finances. Arming the Kurds will not sit well with Turkey, which has fought its own Kurdish separatists for decades. But Azerbaijan, which collaborates closely with Israel, could be intrigued by the implications for the Azeri Turks just across the border in Iran.

Trump is offering another way out of this mess. He said on Thursday that he is open to another ruler in Tehran, but "I have to be involved in the appointment. … We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran." That would be a major victory, and not just for America.
No deal with Iran short of ‘unconditional surrender,’ Trump says
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that the Islamic Republic won’t secure any sort of agreement with the United States short of waving the white flag.

“There will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender,” the president stated.

“After that, and the selection of a great and acceptable leader,” or leaders, “we and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better and stronger than ever before,” he said. “Iran will have a great future.”

The president, who has used the slogan “Make America Great Again,” referred to “MIGA,” or “Make Iran Great Again.”

In an interview with CNN on Friday morning, Trump said that the United States is “doing very well militarily—better than anyone could have even dreamed,” rating the war efforts a 12 or 15 out of 10.

He told Dana Bash, of CNN, that Iran made a “terrible mistake” by attacking the Gulf states and the transition to new leadership in Iran will “work like it did in Venezuela.”

The next Iranian leader must treat the United States and Israel well, Trump said. He told CNN that rising fuel costs related to the conflict are “short term.”

“It’ll go way down very quickly,” he said.


Four men arrested on suspicion of helping Iran spy on Jews in north London
Four men have been arrested on suspicion of aiding Iran’s intelligence service by spying on locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in London.

Detectives from counterterrorism policing London said the men — one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian citizens— were detained shortly after 1am on Friday at addresses in Barnet and Watford, as part of a pre-planned operation.

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of counterterrorism policing London, said: “Today’s arrests are part of a long-running investigation and part of our ongoing work to disrupt malign activity where we suspect it.

“We understand the public may be concerned, in particular the Jewish community, and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us.”

The Metropolitan Police said a 40-year-old man and a 55-year-old man were arrested at addresses in Barnet, and said that searches continued.

A 52-year-old man was arrested at an address in Watford. Police are searching the property and another linked address in Wembley.

A 22-year-old man was arrested at an address in Harrow.

Six other men, aged 29, 39, 42, 49 and two aged 20, were arrested at the same location in Harrow on suspicion of assisting an offender.

All ten men remain in custody.

The Board of Deputies and the Community Security Trust both issued statements praising the work of the security services.
4 men arrested in London on suspicion of spying for Iran and targeting Jews. plus incoming missile
Jonathan Sacerdoti reports as the UK police arrest ten people in relation to alleged Iranian spying in the UK with intention to carry out acts of terrorism aimed at Jews. Warning: the broadcast is interrupted by an incoming missile alert and the report contains the sound of a warning siren.


Azerbaijan says it foiled Iranian terror attacks on synagogue, Israeli embassy
Azerbaijan said on Friday it had foiled a series of Iranian terror attacks on its territory, including against the Israeli embassy in Baku, a synagogue and Jewish community leaders.

Israel has warned of “concrete threats” of Iranian attacks on Israeli civilians and missions around the world, and security for Jewish sites has been upped in many countries amid the war, due to the potential of Iranian-led terror. Azerbaijan has a Jewish population generally estimated at some 7,000-10,000.

The Azeri accusation came a day after Baku accused Iran of firing drones at an Azerbaijani border region, an incident that has sparked fears of the Middle East war spilling over into the Caucasus.

In a video statement, Azerbaijan’s state security service said it had “prevented terrorist acts and intelligence operations in Azerbaijan organized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”

Also among the planned targets was the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs through neighboring Georgia and Turkey and carries around a third of Israel’s oil imports, it said.

At least seven Azerbaijani nationals have been detained in connection with the probe, it said.

Iran made no immediate public comment on Azerbaijan’s accusations.

The United States and Israel began strikes against Iran on Saturday, killing its supreme leader and sparking retaliatory attacks across the Gulf.

The war, now in its seventh day, has embroiled nations beyond the region and upended the world’s energy and transport sectors.

Azerbaijan said on Friday it was withdrawing diplomatic staff from Iran.
Iran’s regime weakens as joint strikes intensify, US says
On the sixth day of the U.S.-American alliance’s operations in Iran, that country’s military capabilities are diminishing in key aspects as the democratic allies increase their strength, Israeli and American commanders of the operation said on Thursday.

The Israel Air Force struck dozens of missile launchers in Iran on Thursday on its 113th wave of attacks since the operations’ launch Saturday, bringing the tally of neutralized Iranian launchers and ballistic defense arrays to about 300, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in a briefing at the Pentagon with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that over the past 72 hours, U.S. bombers hit nearly 200 targets, including ballistic missile launchers and Iran’s equivalent of Space Command, while enemy missile attacks have dropped 90% and drone attacks 83% since the operation began.

“Our strikes against the Iranian Navy have intensified,” Cooper said. “We’re now up over 30 ships,” he said, referenced Iranian Navy ships sunk.

“And in just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier. As we speak, it’s on fire,” Cooper added.

“Our munition status only increases as our advantage increases,” said Hegseth, who spoke before Cooper. “Our capabilities—we have only just begun to fight, and fight decisively,” Hegseth said of the joint U.S.-Israeli operation, which the allies have codenamed “Epic Fury” and “Roaring Lion,” respectively.

The Israeli strikes have focused on central and western Iran, the IDF said. Thursday’s strikes by the Israeli Air Force were on 200 targets, “including Iranian regime sites and ballistic missile launchers,” and in them “several Iranian terror regime operatives” had been targeted, the IDF statement said.


IAF destroys Khamenei’s bunker in Tehran
The Israeli Air Force on Friday destroyed the underground command bunker in Tehran of assassinated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the IDF said.

Approximately 50 IAF fighter jets targeted the site beneath the regime’s leadership compound in the heart of the Iranian capital.

The bunker was intended to serve as a secure emergency command center for the supreme leader and continued to be used by senior regime officials after he died in the leadership compound above it on Feb. 28, the IDF said.

“The underground compound was created by the regime as a base for advancing military activities and its extremist ideologies against the State of Israel and the Western world,” added the statement.

According to the IDF, the facility spanned multiple streets in the heart of Tehran and included numerous entrances and meeting rooms for senior members of the Iranian regime. The bunker was struck by about 100 munitions following a lengthy intelligence-gathering and research process conducted by the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate.

Khamenei, 86, was killed by an Israeli opening strike that targeted his fortified compound in Tehran on Saturday morning.


IDF pummels Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold
The Israeli Air Force conducted a broad wave of overnight strikes in Beirut, targeting Hezbollah terror infrastructure, the military said on Friday morning.

The attacks hit terror command centers, multi-story buildings used by Hezbollah and a facility storing UAVs used by for attacks on Israel.

Measures were taken to minimize harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions and advance aerial surveillance.

Earlier on Thursday, the IDF issued an “urgent” warning for residents of parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs to immediately evacuate their homes to “save your lives.”

Since the start of the operation in Lebanon, the IDF has carried out 26 waves of strikes in the Dahiyeh suburban district of greater Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Also on Thursday, two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded while battling Hezbollah terrorists in Southern Lebanon, the military said.

A combat soldier in the Givati Brigade was seriously wounded, while another soldier sustained moderate injuries. Both men were evacuated to the hospital, and their families were notified.

Two additional Israeli troops were moderately wounded by anti-tank fire while fighting the Iranian-backed terrorist proxy in Lebanon on Wednesday.
Two UN peacekeepers from Ghana critically hurt in Lebanon missile attack
Three UN peacekeepers were wounded when their base in southern Lebanon was hit on Friday, the UN force and the Ghanaian military said, with Lebanon’s president accusing Israel of targeting them.

The attack came as Israel and Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah exchanged fire after the Middle East war expanded into the country on Monday.

“Amid heavy firing this evening, three peacekeepers were injured inside their base in… Qawzah” in southern Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement.

“The most severely injured has been transferred to hospital in Beirut for treatment.”

Ghana’s military said that its UNIFIL battalion headquarters came under “two missile attacks,” adding that “two soldiers are critically injured, while one other has been traumatized.”

“The officers’ mess facility also got hit and has been burnt down completely.”

Neither UNIFIL nor the Ghanaian army specified the source of the attack, but the international force said it will investigate the circumstances of the incident.

“It is unacceptable that peacekeepers performing (UN) Security Council-mandated tasks are targeted,” it added.


Lammy: RAF jets could legally strike Iran’s missile bases
Royal Air Force jets could legally strike Iranian missile sites being used to attack British interests in the Middle East, David Lammy said.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that F-35 and Typhoon jets were currently only shooting down missiles and drones fired by Iran at allies in the region.

But he said there was a legal basis for them to do more and strike directly at the Iranian bases being used to launch attacks.

The UK has already given the US permission to use British bases to carry out defensive strikes against Iran’s missile facilities.

He told BBC Breakfast: “It is entirely legal to protect our people and protect our staff, and therefore all operational capability is available to us in those circumstances.”

He said the UK had the satellite and intelligence capability to identify Iranian sites.

Asked if the UK could fire at an Iranian base in anticipation of it launching an attack, he said: “It is my understanding that that would be legal.”

Defence Secretary John Healey has not ruled out UK aircraft taking part in strikes on Iran, saying that “as circumstances in any conflict change, you’ve got to be willing to adapt the action you take”.

Downing Street said it remained the UK’s intention to focus on defending allies in the Middle East while allowing the US to strike targets in Iran.


Hen Mazzig: The Bomb-Shelter Rave: Why Tel Aviv Refuses to Stop Dancing
In the sleek, detached comfort of a Brooklyn loft or a London flat, the idea of a “bomb-shelter rave” sounds like grotesque performance art — a desperate, neon-soaked cliché. In Tel Aviv, it is something else entirely.

This week, as I was visiting Israel for a conference and to meet my family and friends in Tel Aviv, I experienced it first-hand. In Israel, every building is required to have a reinforced bomb-shelter. Ours is a bare concrete bunker underground. That night, someone dragged in a speaker. Someone else switched on a small strobe light. Within minutes, what had been a tense room of strangers waiting for the authorities to tell us we are safe to go back home, turned into something else entirely. As Iranian ballistic missiles were intercepted in the sky above us, our shelter became something resembling a nightclub.

Similar gatherings happened throughout the city — some in below-ground parking lots, others in train stations. There was even a wedding. All had one thing in common: the instinctive, almost stubborn insistence on living.

You might be wondering: How can anyone dance while war— and the loss of so many lives— hangs overhead? But this isn’t bravado, and it isn’t a celebration. No one here calls it ‘partying.’ It’s something closer to release. A way through the fear rather than around it. We aren’t dancing because we’ve forgotten the conflict, we are dancing because it has stripped us of every other form of agency. When cornered, the human body refuses to stay passive. It moves. It resists. It asserts life in the face of a sky that tells you to cower.

In the mamad, the fortified safe room, which I’ve visited more than 40 times this week, the air is thick with recycled oxygen, and heavy with metallic adrenaline as 20 bodies are squeezed into a space meant for four. Normally, this is a sensory warning: “Prepare to die.” Then someone, a stranger in a dusty hoodie and worn sneakers, hits play on a JBL boom box.

The track is relentless, 128 beats per minute, a heartbeat that overrides the erratic thrum of our own pulses. In that moment, Purim — the Jewish holiday that commemorates an ancient attempt by a Persian madman to annihilate the Jewish people — isn’t a holiday, it’s a call to action. When sirens scream “hide,” we rise. When the world demands smallness, we take up space. The bassline repairs the city’s psychic infrastructure, one four-on-the-floor bar at a time.

Israelis have always had a special relationship with dance music. Decades before this war, electronic beats were part of the country’s rhythm, from late night in Tel Aviv’s clubs to massive festivals that draw thousands of young people looking for a few hours of freedom under the open sky. I remember dancing in the desert when I was younger, arriving with my friends after midnight and leaving only once the sun came up over the Mediterranean — soaked and exhilarated — the city slowly waking around us.

On Oct. 7, 2023, that culture of joy was shattered when Hamas militants stormed the Nova music festival in the south of Israel, murdering hundreds who had gathered simply to dance. Since then the act of dancing has taken on a deeper meaning for Israelis. Nova survivors used the slogan “we will dance again” as a promise, to never give in to hate and darkness.


Caroline Glick: Iran Thought They Could Hold Out, They’re GRAVELY Mistaken!
The war between Israel and Iran has entered a new and unprecedented phase.

In this interview, Caroline Glick — international affairs advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — explains why Israel and the United States decided to act against Iran and what the stakes are for the region and the world.

According to Glick, intelligence assessments indicated that Iran was rapidly expanding its missile production capacity and advancing its nuclear program. Iranian officials were openly signaling that negotiations were being used to buy time, while missile stockpiles and nuclear enrichment continued to grow.


Call me Back Podcast: Trump’s Gamble - with Walter Russell Mead
Why would a president risk a war in the Middle East in an election year? Dan is joined by Walter Russell Mead to unpack the strategic and political gamble behind the U.S. conflict with Iran. They discuss why Trump may have chosen this moment to act, how generational attitudes toward war shape the debate, and what success (or failure) could look like. The conversation also explores Iran’s potential strategy, its impact on Russia and China, and how countries like India are viewing the unfolding conflict.

In this episode:
05:45 – Trump’s High-Stakes Bet on War
08:15 – Why the Case for the War Feels Unclear to Many Americans
10:25 – The Generational Divide on U.S. Military Power
15:40 – Why Trump Chose This Moment to Strike
23:20 – What “Winning” the War Could Actually Look Like
26:20 – Iran’s Endurance Strategy: Drag the U.S. Into a Quagmire
30:05 – What Russia and China Want to See Happen
32:10 – Why India Is Watching This War Closely


The Free Press: Why Iran Could COLLAPSE
Who will lead Iran? As its war with the United States and Israel nears the end of the first week, the question looms large. Will the successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei be his son, Mojtaba Khamenei? Or the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani? Or someone else entirely?

As speculation swirls, President Donald Trump told Axios on Thursday he would personally be involved in selecting Iran’s next supreme leader.

But beyond which man is chosen, what will happen to the country itself?

Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran Program Senior Director at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has mapped out four possible paths that Iran could take, which he lays out in his new piece for The Free Press.

1) The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps consolidates power, becomes more repressive, and sprints toward a nuclear bomb through whatever covert pathway remains available after the war ends.
2) The regime offers the facade of reform, wins some sanctions relief, but ultimately remains repressive and hostile.
3) A popular revolution erupts—one that would likely be neither bloodless nor easy.
4) The state collapses, leading to civil war and possible balkanization.

I ask Taleblu: How might each of these scenarios unfold, and ultimately, what he predicts comes next for Iran.


Brian Cox: Trump and Netanyahu Have the Law, and the Facts, on Their Side
Within hours of the United States and Israel launching their attack on the Iranian government, allegations that the operations were illegal filled airwaves and social media feeds around the world.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani claimed the strikes “mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.” International law specialist Oona Hathaway insisted the attacks “are blatantly illegal,” while referring to an opinion article in which she reaches the same conclusion for the previous attack against Iran’s nuclear capabilities. UK Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn declared the “attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States are illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable.”

Though they are prevalent and may appear convincing, assertions such as these are mistaken. There is, in fact, legal basis for these actions under both international and domestic law.

The UN Charter
The standard interpretation of the use of force model reflected in the UN Charter suggests self-defense is the only permissible justification to resort to armed attack in the absence of a Security Council authorization or consent of the host nation.

Allegations that attacking Iran is inconsistent with the Charter fail to account for at least one pivotal factor: Israel has publicly acknowledged it is an “ongoing armed conflict” against Iran and its regional proxies. Israel has been exercising the inherent right of self-defense since then against all adversarial co-belligerents, including Iran.

Because the UN Charter recognizes the right of individual and collective self-defense, this provides a legal basis for both Israel and the United States to use force against Iran.

Even so, claims that these attacks constitute aggression are flawed for a separate but related reason.


UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff warns that misuse is undermining international law
Natasha Hausdorff, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, warns again that incorrect, politicised analysis to oppose military action against Iran is undermining international law itself. Interview by Peter Cardwell on Talk TV 5 March 2026.




Armenian Telegram channels push Iran ‘victory’ claims, antisemitic slurs during attacks on Israel
As Israel faces Iranian attacks, a parallel information battle is unfolding on Telegram channels operating from Armenia, where posts this week have circulated false claims of sweeping Iranian “successes” against Israel and the United States.

A review of posts across several of the channels shows a steady stream of unverified and, in some cases, false reports. Among them are claims of a “direct hit” on a Glilot base linked to the Mossad; posts alleging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials were “eliminated”; purported strikes on the US Incirlik base in Turkey; supposed heavy Israeli casualties; a US warship allegedly hit by an Iranian missile; and the “complete destruction” of a US base in Kuwait.

The storyline is consistent from one post to the next: Iran is winning, Israel is losing.

In some cases, the disinformation is accompanied by explicit antisemitic language. One account, “Armenian Radical,” whose symbol includes imagery associated with Nazi Germany, has posted slurs against Jews, including use of the derogatory term “zhids,” alongside praise for Iran’s air defenses.

The same channels also echo claims circulating online that attempt to tie Israel and world Jewry to what is described as the Epstein Files, referencing the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell affair. In one clip circulated across multiple Armenian-based channels, an Iranian official is quoted on state television as saying Iran is fighting people who “either rape children or blow them up.”

Unlike earlier waves of wartime messaging, prominent official Iranian Telegram outlets, including those associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have been less visible in recent days. Much of the material instead appears to be repackaged locally: administrators reuse Iranian source videos and add their own captions, often enthusiastic and sometimes inciting.


BBC altered Hegseth speech on Iran war
The BBC mistakenly altered a speech by Pete Hegseth on the war in Iran, making him appear to say the United States was targeting the Iranian “people”.

BBC Persian, which broadcasts to audiences inside Iran, mistranslated remarks by the US secretary of defence, telling viewers Washington was bringing death to the Iranian “people”.

In fact, Mr Hegseth had said the Iranian “regime” was being targeted.

The mistake was seized upon by pro-Israel media campaigners, who claimed that it cast doubt on the BBC’s impartiality. It also triggered a backlash on social media.

The row risks putting the BBC on another collision course with Donald Trump, who launched a $10bn (£7.5bn) lawsuit against the corporation last year after The Telegraph revealed it had altered a speech in a way that made him appear to encourage the Capitol Hill riot.

Mr Trump has justified the ongoing war in the Middle East by arguing that Tehran’s leadership, not its population, poses a direct threat to American national security after repeatedly calling for “death to America”.

The BBC, which carried Mr Hegseth’s Pentagon address live on Monday, translated the word “regime” as “mardom”, the Persian word for “people”. It later issued a correction.

The error drew condemnation from Iranians online, who accused the BBC of conflating ordinary civilians with the brutality of the regime and altering the meaning of Mr Hegseth’s speech. Others disagreed, saying the translation was acceptable.


ABC’s veneer of impartiality cracks as ‘activist’ journos turn on PM, Israel ambassador in hostile coverage
John Lyons, the ABC Americas Editor, threw the switch to activism when appearing on ABC TV’s Insiders on the morning of Sunday 1 March. He was not on the panel but was interviewed as a self-proclaimed expert on the United States. Let’s go to the transcript:

David Speers: I want to go to John Lyons, the ABC’s Americas editor, who's actually in Sydney right now. John, we mentioned this statement that Donald Trump has just issued. We might bring up the key part of it here, where he is confirming the death of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei…

John Lyons: I believe this has been driven by Israel. I believe Israel has calculated that now is the timing…. I think Israel has convinced the Americans that now is the time for what they want to see as historic regime change.

So, there you have it. Comrade Lyons – a vehement critic of contemporary Israel – told Insiders what he believed to be the case. But cited no evidence to support his allegation. The Trump administration had placed a huge military force near Iran. President Trump had either to engage in military action against the Islamic Republic or withdraw US forces – which would have been seen as a retreat. When Iran, once again, decided to delay negotiations over its nuclear intentions, the US killed the Ayatollah, in co-operation with Israel, and commenced military operations.

During the morning of Sunday 1 March, Lyons also appeared on ABC TV News channel on a number of occasions – in angry mode. He criticised the Albanese government’s media release, issued the previous day titled “Statement on Iran” and signed by the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister. It stated: “We support the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent Iran continuing to threaten international peace and security.” On ABC News, Lyons made the following comment about the statement:

John Lyons: Even the Australian Government, their first line says, "Australia stands" - this is from Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong and Richard Marles - says, "Australia stands with the brave people of Iran in their struggle against oppression". That's the first sentence of their statement. What, in fact, they're saying there, that's just sort of disinformation, in my view…. I mean, Anthony Albanese’s statement could have been written by the United States and Israel – it’s straight out of their playbook.

On another occasion, the ABC’s Americas Editor ranted that the Albanese/Marles/Wong statement as “political propaganda”. It’s not Lyons’ role, as the ABC Americas Editor, to become an activist in a political debate. Moreover, it’s noticeable that the ABC’s Americas Editor was in Sydney when the US and Israel bombed Iran. There were several ABC journalists, based in Washington DC, who were much closer to the action than Lyons and could have provided a more informed report.
ABC stars criticised for ‘dangerous’ anti-Israel bias
Sky News Media Watch Dog Columnist Gerard Henderson has criticised ABC Chief US correspondent John Lyons for his “dangerous” claims following the US-Israel strikes on Iran.






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