Saturday, March 07, 2026

03/07 Links: Day 7 of the U.S.–Israel War: The Strategy Appears to Be Working, and Iran Is Losing; Mehdi Hasan Claims American Sailors Are Worse Than Nazis; Anti-Iranian regime protester pummeled at deluded vigil for Ayatollah

From Ian:

John Spencer: Day 7 of the U.S.–Israel War: The Strategy Appears to Be Working, and Iran Is Losing
None of these possibilities need to occur in order to create strategic pressure.

Their mere plausibility forces Iranian decision-makers to confront multiple simultaneous dilemmas.

A ground invasion of Iran would be one of the most complex military operations in modern history. Iran is geographically vast, mountainous, and home to nearly ninety million people.

The United States appears to be pursuing a strategy designed to achieve political objectives without committing to that form of war, while ensuring that Iranian leadership cannot assume such an option is impossible.

Seven days into the conflict, the military balance clearly favors the United States and Israel.

Iran’s attacks against Israel and other regional states have been significantly reduced. Its missile and drone forces are being systematically degraded. Its naval capabilities are being destroyed. Its leadership structure is under continuous pressure.

The Islamic regime in Iran is no longer shaping this war. It is reacting to it.

Just as importantly, the United States, our forces, and our interests are already safer today than they were seven days ago. The regime’s ability to secretly pursue a nuclear weapon, threaten American troops in the region, intimidate neighboring states, and hold global commerce hostage through missile and naval coercion is being steadily degraded.

None of this guarantees the final outcome of the war.

No one can say with certainty whether the Iranian regime will abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, agree to intrusive international inspections, surrender its stockpile of roughly 400 kilograms of sixty percent enriched uranium, dismantle its expanding ballistic missile program, stop using the Strait of Hormuz as a coercive threat against the global economy, or end its decades-long investment in proxy militias and terrorist organizations.

And yes, President Trump’s demand for “unconditional surrender” is consistent with the political objectives stated from the beginning of the war. It does not necessarily mean the surrender of the Iranian state. It means the unconditional end of the behaviors that caused the conflict. The regime must abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, dismantle its missile program, end its support for terrorism across the region, and stop threatening the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and global commerce. In strategic terms, it is a demand that Iran accept the political outcome this war is designed to achieve.

But what can be evaluated now is the strategy.

The use of force appears to be systematically reducing the regime’s capabilities across multiple domains. Nuclear facilities continue to be targeted. Missile forces are being degraded. Naval assets are being destroyed. Leadership within the regime’s military and security apparatus is being eliminated.

The measure of strategy is not noise, destruction, or headlines. It is whether force is bending the enemy toward your political objective.

Seven days into the war, the evidence suggests that is exactly what is happening. One example is the Iranian president publicly apologizing for attacks on neighboring countries, an early signal that the regime may already be recalculating its behavior, though such statements must ultimately be judged by actions rather than words.

A final caution is necessary.

In the information age, analysis is everywhere. But not all analysis is equal.

Just as a reader should examine the biography of an author before purchasing a serious book, it is wise to examine the background of anyone claiming expertise on this war. Review their professional and academic history. Examine their previous commentary on military operations. Look at their social media posts and past analysis.

If someone has a long record of purely political commentary, whether anti-Trump, anti-American, anti-Israel, or driven by ideological positions, it becomes difficult for that individual to separate political preference from objective strategic analysis.

War demands clear thinking.

The coming days will reveal whether Iran chooses escalation, endurance, or negotiation. For now, the strategic duel continues.
Jonathan Sacerdoti: Is the US preparing for a long war against Iran?
The war in the Middle East shows no sign of slowing. Instead, there were heavy air strikes inside Iran and missile barrages across the region over the last 24 hours, with indications that the United States is preparing for a longer and potentially wider conflict.

Israeli fighter jets carried out a major new wave of attacks on Iranian military infrastructure overnight, striking targets in Tehran and central Iran. According to Israeli military statements, more than 80 Israeli Air Force aircraft took part in the operation, guided by intelligence that identified key Revolutionary Guard facilities.

Earlier in the day, 50 Israeli aircraft also struck a vast underground bunker beneath the regime’s leadership compound in central Tehran, a command complex spanning several city blocks with numerous entrances and meeting rooms used by senior Iranian officials. The facility was designed to serve as an emergency wartime command centre for Iran’s Supreme Leader. The bunker was hit with around 100 munitions, according to the IDF spokesperson.

They also struck the Imam Hossein University, the main military university of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which Israel said was being used to assemble officers and military assets during the campaign. Other targets included missile storage sites containing underground bunkers and launch infrastructure, as well as additional launch locations across western and central Iran in an effort to reduce the scale of Iranian missile fire against Israel.

The strikes are part of a rapidly expanding military campaign. US Central Command said American forces have already hit more than 3,000 targets during the first week of the operation, known as Operation Epic Fury, and signalled that the pace of attacks will continue.
Jonathan Sacerdoti: Is this Iran’s first climbdown?
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has announced that the country’s temporary leadership council has approved the suspension of attacks against neighbouring countries unless those countries launch attacks on Iran themselves. He said that the council decided the day before that Iran will stop attacking surrounding states unless attacks on Iran originate from those territories. The statement was delivered publicly as the war in the region continues to intensify, and while Iran continues to launch attacks in the region in response to the US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic.

This new Iranian position comes after just one week of intense military action carried out by Israel and the United States against the Islamic regime.

In that single week, a carefully planned and determined campaign has inflicted major damage on Iran’s military infrastructure and leadership networks. Despite implementing its so-called mosaic defence strategy – a decentralised approach which gives individual commanders autonomy to keep fighting when cut off from leadership structures – the speed with which Tehran has now adjusted its posture toward neighbouring states shows the degree of pressure the regime is already under.

At the beginning of the war, the Iranian leadership attempted to widen the conflict across the region. Iranian missiles and drones were launched not only toward Israel but toward surrounding Gulf and Arab countries. With the help of its regional proxies, Iran spread the extent of its attacks from Cyprus all the way to the coast of Sri Lanka, including an attack on Nato member Turkey (which Iran denies), a European Union country, Gulf states, Israel and altogether 12 different nations.

Iran not only targeted military facilities, but also civilian locations. Hotels and other civilian sites have been struck alongside military bases and airports. The regime attempted to expand the battlefield across the region in the hope that neighbouring states would distance themselves from Israel and the United States and pressure them to halt the campaign. Instead, the opposite has happened.

The Iranian attacks on Gulf and Arab countries have reinforced the alignment between those states, Israel and the United States. Israeli planes and other defence mechanisms have actively been protecting Arab countries – something once unimaginable.

This dynamic represents a real-world demonstration of a strategic idea pursued for years by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump through the Abraham Accords. The central concept was that shared security threats from the Iranian regime would gradually produce deeper cooperation between Israel and Arab states. The events of the past week show that this logic works in practice. These Arab states did not distance themselves from Israel. The Islamic Republic attacks strengthened their alignment with Israel and the United States.

The Iranian leadership now clearly sees this reality. Continuing those strikes would only strengthen the coalition already confronting the regime.


Trump and first lady attend dignified transfer for 6 US troops killed in Kuwait
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump participated in a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Kent County, Delaware, Saturday for six U.S. service members killed in a March 1 Iranian drone attack in Kuwait.

The solemn ritual returns the remains of troops killed in action and is considered one of the most somber duties of a commander in chief.

The fallen troops were killed in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, while supporting Operation Epic Fury.

Transfer cases were used to move the soldiers to Dover Air Force Base, where they will be identified and prepared for their journey home.

After identification, the fallen, who were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command from Des Moines, Iowa, are placed in a casket and transported to their final resting places.

All six were U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, Iowa, which provides food, fuel, water and ammunition and transports equipment and supplies.

The War Department identified the fallen service members as Maj. Jeffery O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California, is also believed to be deceased.

Each of the soldiers' families were present at the transfer.


US bypasses congressional review to approve munitions sale to Israel
US President Donald Trump’s administration has bypassed US Congress using an emergency authority to expedite the sale of more than 20,000 bombs to Israel worth around $650 million, two US officials familiar with the sale said.

In a late Friday statement, the US State Department said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required an immediate sale to Israel and waived the congressional review requirements for the sale.

The weapons package, which included 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies that Israel had requested, comes a week after the United States and Israel began their joint air war against Iran, Washington’s biggest military operation since the 2003 Iraq invasion.

The operation, which the US said was focusing on destroying Iran’s offensive missiles, missile production and navy, has brought the region on the brink of a wider war as Tehran retaliated with its own attacks on Israel and regional countries with US bases.

“This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States,” the Department said in its statement, adding that the principal contractor will be Repkon USA, located in Texas.

On Saturday, a State Department official provided additional details about the sale, saying it also included BLU-111 500-pound general purpose bombs, which was an amendment to a previous sale. The official added that Israel will purchase an extra $298 million worth of critical munitions via direct commercial sales.

The United Nations in a December 2024 report said the Israeli military had likely used these heavy weapons and munitions in densely-populated Gaza, where the Israeli campaign against Hamas killed tens of thousands, many of them civilians.

Democratic US Representative Gregory Meeks said Rubio’s decision to use emergency authority to bypass congressional review showed a lack of preparation for the war with Iran.

“The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it was fully prepared for this war. Rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story. This is an emergency of the Trump administration’s own creation,” Meeks said in a statement.

Washington has maintained strong support for Israel under President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden during the more than two years of Israeli wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
At $40 billion, Elbit System becomes Israel’s most valuable firm
The share price of Israeli security firm Elbit Systems Ltd. rose 4.53% on the Nasdaq on Wednesday, up 151.39% in 12 months, making it the most valuable Israeli company traded on Wall Street and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, financial outlet Globes reported.

The market cap of the Haifa-based firm now stands at $40.21 billion, followed by Tel Aviv-based Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. with a $37.83 billion market cap, the report continued.

Elbit, the primary provider of the Israeli military’s land-based equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles, is the second-most valuable company listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange after American cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks, which began trading in Israel last week.

The Israeli company’s market cap rose by $4 billion in the past two days, according to Globes.

Analysts expect Elbit to show a 15.7% annual growth of revenue of $7.9 billion and to continue growing at a double-digit rate in 2026 in its fourth-quarter and 2025 reports, scheduled for release on March 17, the report added.

Elbit’s surge in market value comes on the backdrop of repeated attempts by anti-Israeli activists to harm the company through boycott campaigns and even vandalism.


Pakistani terrorist recruited by Iranian spies convicted of plotting to kill Trump, other US pols
A Pakistani terrorist recruited by Iranian spies was convicted Friday of cooking up a half-baked plot to kill President Trump, detailing the plan with an absurdly crude drawing.

Asif Merchant, 48, was found guilty of murder-for-hire and terrorism charges after a Brooklyn jury — which deliberated for less than two hours — rejected his claim that he was forced into the bungling murder scheme because Iran had “threatened” his family.

FBI secret cameras caught Merchant in June 2024 outlining his plans to whack then-candidate Trump at a GOP rally during a meeting with a would-be recruit inside the Floral Park Motor Lodge in Queens.

Using a piece of lined notebook paper, the convicted plotter drew a large rectangle to denote the crowd, a smaller box for the stage and an arrow to describe where the candidate would be standing.

Merchant then grabbed a creamsicle colored vape and placed it on top of the arrow.

“This is the target. How will it die?” he told his purported partner-in-crime — who, unbeknownst to him, had already snitched to the feds, trial evidence revealed.

The former banker, who had launched failed banana and clothing export businesses, later bizarrely handed just $5,000 each as an advance payment to two undercover FBI agents posing as hitmen. He was arrested in August 2024 as he attempted to leave the country before the purported assassination would unfold.

Merchant took the stand in his own defense and said that his Iranian handler sent him to the US in April of that year with a series of tasks, including “maybe to have somebody murdered,” and named the top three candidates for the US presidency at the time as possible targets.

“He did not tell me exactly who it is, but he named three people to me: Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Nikki Haley,” Merchant told the jury.

Merchant testified that he expected to receive up to $1 million depending on his mission’s outcome.

But his harebrained assassination plan went nowhere, after the FBI set up a sting operation based on a tip from Merchant’s recruit, who testified at trial using the alias “Nadeem Ali.”


Netanyahu tells Iranians freedom is near as Israel hits country’s oil depots for first time
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran would continue unabated and that the “moment of truth” was nearing for Iranians to overthrow their government.

His comments came as the IDF said it struck Iran’s two “most central” ballistic missile sites, and, in an apparent first, oil infrastructure in Tehran.

Later on Saturday night, US President Donald Trump told reporters that the war “will continue for a while longer” without providing a timeline, and pointed to the October 7, 2023, onslaught led by Iran’s terrorist ally Hamas, as evidence of the regime’s “evil.”

Tehran fired a dozen volleys of missiles at Israel on Saturday, causing no injuries. A missile fired on Saturday night reportedly damaged a home in the central city of Lod. Iran also kept targeting the Gulf, with one person killed in a missile strike on Dubai.

The barrages on Israel came alongside missile fire from the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, which has been attacking across the border in support of Tehran.

Though ostensibly the goal of the campaign is to destroy the regime’s ability to threaten Israel and the region, Netanyahu and Trump have both indicated that they also seek regime change, and Trump has demanded a role in choosing Iran’s next leader.

But Iranian officials appear to be pressing ahead in naming a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the late supreme leader who was killed on the first day of the war. A new leader could be named on Sunday.

In his Saturday video statement, Netanyahu advocated the overthrow of the regime, as Israeli TV reported that Israel was “optimistic” about such an outcome.

Netanyahu said Israel has “an organized plan with many surprises” for the next phase of the war with Iran, “to destabilize the regime, to enable change.”

“The moment of truth is drawing near” for Iranians to topple the Islamic Republic, Netanyahu said, adding that Israel is “not trying to divide Iran” but is rather “trying to free Iran.”


Israel pounds Iran missile sites, airport as Tehran fires back repeated salvos, threatens Europe
Israel continued its military campaign against Iran overnight Saturday, striking key missile infrastructure and IRGC aircraft, as Tehran launched repeated salvos of ballistic missiles at Israel and issued new threats against European countries that might join the war.

As the war entered its second week, the Israel Defense Forces said that more than 80 air force fighter jets carried out a wave of strikes overnight on several Iranian military sites in Tehran and central Iran, dropping around 230 bombs on the targets.

Among the targets was a subterranean site “for the storage and production of ballistic missiles, from which hundreds of soldiers from the armed forces of the Iranian terror regime operated,” the IDF said.

The military said the site “contained bunkers and military headquarters of regime elements.”

Additionally, the IDF said it struck another missile storage site, which included bunkers and launch infrastructure, as well as Imam Hossein University, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military academy, which the IDF says “served as an emergency asset and an assembly complex for the IRGC,” including during the war.

As the war entered a new phase, the military said it was ramping up strikes on Iran’s weapon production facilities across the country, including those used to manufacture missiles and launchers.

Earlier, footage posted to social media showed strikes and large fires at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, after the Israeli military said it was carrying out an “extensive” wave of strikes against regime targets in Iran’s capital.

On Saturday, the IDF confirmed that it had attacked the airport, saying that it had destroyed 16 aircraft used by the IRGC Quds Force. The military said that Mehrabad Airport was used by the Quds Force “as a central hub for arming and funding the regime’s terrorist proxies in the Middle East,” including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.


IAF chief Tomer Bar took part in airstrike on Iran
Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, commander of the Israeli Air Force, few a sortie over Iran overnight Friday. Bar, 56, piloted an F-15 air superiority fighter, reports added.

According to Maariv, the mission that included Bar involved strikes on regime targets.

During “Operation Rising Lion” in June, Maj. Gen. Aviad Dagan, commander of the IDF Computer Service Directorate, participated in an unspecified number of airstrikes on Iran, the report added. He began his military service as a combat navigator in the Air Force.

Apparently, he was the most senior IDF officer to have flown an aircraft over Iran until last night.

On Friday, Bar visited the Tel Nof Airbase south of Rehovot, spoke with Air Force technicians and emphasized their decisive contribution to “Operation Roaring Lion,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

The general was cited telling the soldiers that “there is no air force in the world that could have delivered what you delivered” in the first 72 hours of the operation.

ׅ“It’s impressive by any standard. What happened here was a race against the clock, to lay down a sort of ‘carpet’ and suppress all the surface-to-surface missiles, which at any moment could have been launched toward the State of Israel,” he continued.


2 soldiers hurt in Hezbollah missile attack; IDF says it hit 600 of terror group’s targets
Two soldiers were moderately wounded in a Hezbollah missile attack on an Israeli military position in southern Lebanon on Friday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces announced Saturday, as the IDF said it had struck 600 targets of the Lebanese terror group in recent days.

Hezbollah began firing missiles at Israel on Monday, days after the US and Israel launched strikes on the Iranian regime, the group’s sponsor.

In response, Israel launched an offensive aimed at pushing Hezbollah away from the border and eliminating its threat, and has expanded its presence in southern Lebanon.

On Saturday, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets and drones from Lebanon at northern Israel, with no reports of injuries.

Several large barrages of rockets were launched toward Haifa and Kiryat Shmona in the evening. The IDF said it struck and destroyed a Hezbollah rocket launcher shortly after it was used to fire a barrage at northern Israel’s Galilee region.

Earlier in the day, rocket sirens sounded in Safed, Tiberias, and Kiryat Shmona amid attacks from Lebanon. Sirens also sounded across the Galilee and the Golan Heights. There were no reports of injuries in any of the attacks.

One Hezbollah drone crashed in the parking lot of the Galilee Medical Center in the northern city of Nahariya in the morning. The drone appeared largely intact after crashing, and no injuries were reported.

At the same time, a civil defense squad for a nearby community shot down another Hezbollah drone with their firearms, police said. The device was found to have cameras and “explosive material,” police added.

Another Hezbollah drone got caught in a tree in the border city of Kiryat Shmona, before being safely neutralized by sappers, police said.


IDF commando raid in Lebanon fails to uncover Ron Arad findings
Israeli special forces operated in deep Lebanese territory overnight Friday in an attempt to locate findings related to Lt. Col. Ron Arad, an Israeli Air Force navigator who has been missing in action since 1986, the Israel Defense Forces said.

No findings related to him were located at the search site, the army said, adding that the raid resulted in no injuries to the troops.

“The IDF will continue to operate relentlessly, day and night, out of a deep commitment to bringing all of Israel’s sons, the fallen and the missing, back home to the State of Israel,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the incident, saying that his and the state’s commitment to bringing back all captives and those missing is “absolute and eternal. This is how it was and this is how it shall be.”

Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster reported that Israeli Air Force special forces members carried out the operation in the village of Nabi Chit, aka Al-Nabi Shayth, situated in Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, where Arad was hidden in early 1988, guarded by the Shukur clan.

Following the reports, Tami Arad, the spouse of the navigator, called on the government on behalf of their family not to risk the lives of soldiers for the sake of their husband and father.


Iran War: How the UN has been hijacked with Hillel Neuer
In this episode of The Brink, we are joined by Hillel Neuer to examine the role of the United Nations during the escalating crisis in Iran and to ask whether the institution is still capable of acting as a moral authority in world affairs.

Hillel argues that the UN’s response to the Iranian uprising has exposed deep structural problems within the organisation. While tens of thousands of protesters were reportedly killed during the regime’s crackdown, many UN bodies remained largely silent, yet quickly condemned the United States and Israel when military action was taken against the Iranian regime.

We explore how authoritarian states have gradually come to dominate key UN institutions, from the Human Rights Council to special rapporteur positions, and why mechanisms that were originally intended to defend human rights are now often used to advance political agendas. Hillel also explains how propaganda, procedural manoeuvres, and ideological alliances shape the way international law and legitimacy are discussed on the global stage.

Finally, we ask whether the UN can realistically be reformed, or whether democracies must find new ways to defend liberal values in a world where authoritarian regimes increasingly shape international institutions.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
03:21 The UN’s Reaction to the Iran Protests
05:00 Why the UN Condemns the US and Israel
06:36 October 7 and the UN’s Anti-Israel Bias
10:12 Why the UN Still Won’t Condemn Hamas
10:45 How Dictatorships Captured the UN
12:25 Why the UN Still Holds Global Legitimacy
14:14 Is the UN Actually Effective?
15:52 Can the UN Be a Neutral Legal Arbiter?
18:58 Iran’s Long War Against America
20:00 When International Law Undermines National Interest
21:39 Why Moral Action Sometimes Means Ignoring the UN
25:00 How the UN Was Hijacked After Decolonisation
27:00 The Role of the UN Secretariat
29:17 Special Rapporteurs and the Accountability Problem
35:05 The Genocide Accusations Against Israel Explained
40:30 Calling Out Hypocrisy at the United Nations


UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff discusses the armed conflict with Iran with Hillel Neuer of UN Watch
Is the current military action against the Islamic Republic of Iran a violation of international law?

In this exclusive interview, Hillel Neuer (Executive Director of UN Watch) sits down with leading British barrister and international law expert Natasha Hausdorff to dissect the legal realities of the ongoing conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States.

Hausdorff breaks down the critical difference between a "resort to force" and an "ongoing armed conflict," explains the legal doctrine of preemptive self-defense regarding nuclear threats, and exposes how UN agencies are being used to spread IRGC propaganda.

Topics covered include:
Why the "aggression" narrative ignores decades of Iranian proxy warfare.

Three layers of legal justification for U.S. and Israeli strikes.

The truth behind the "school strike" and how international humanitarian law is based on intent, not outcomes.

How disinformation is devaluing the international rules-based system.




The Free Press: The War in Iran, Explained
Saturday marks one week of war in Iran. And if you’re on X, chances are you’ve noticed there’s a new headline about the war—or seemingly a new country involved—nearly every hour. It’s almost impossible to keep track. So I did it for you. Here are all the key events from the first week of the war: what the United States and Israel have targeted, how Iran has responded, and what we should be watching for next.




spiked: Why are British students mourning the ayatollah?
Miriam Cates, Tom Slater and Fraser Myers discuss how Islamic extremism took over British campuses.




Mehdi Hasan Claims American Sailors Are Worse Than Nazis
MS NOW’s Chris Hayes continued his vile and disgusting opposition to the current war against Iran on Friday. It is not that Hayes is opposed to the war, but rather how he expresses his opposition. The All In host essentially declared that the U.S. is not differentiating between civilians and combatants, while former colleague Mehdi Hasan accused the crew of USS Charlotte of being worse than Nazis after the torpedoing of the Iranian frigate Dena.

Hayes and Hasan were discussing reports that suggest the U.S. is responsible for the strike that hit an Iranian girls' school that resulted in many casualties. Hayes declared, “And so just from the, sort of, geopolitical strategic point, like on day one, to have this and to have the rhetoric being into the region, ‘We don't care if you live or die’ to not make the distinction between, like, civilians and combatants just also strikes me as, like, wildly self-defeating at just the sort of tactical level.”

Earlier, Hayes did admit there was an IRGC base in close proximity to the school, which also used to be part of the base. When asked about it, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “We, of course, never target civilian targets” before referencing the investigation. That doesn’t sound like a government that does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

For his part, Hasan took things further, “Yes. It's a moral abomination. And yes, it's tactically stupid. They, you know, they bombed a submarine and just let the sailors drown to death. Going against—even the Nazis didn't do that during World War II, apparently. Even the Nazis collected people from the water.”

Hasan butchered the basic facts: it was a submarine that sank a surface vessel with a torpedo, but that aside, the fact-checkers at Snopes looked into this claim and reported that the responsibility for rescuing the crew fell to Sri Lanka. Furthermore, crews are not required to render assistance if it would put them in danger, and considering submarines are supposed to be submerged, the Charlotte made a reasonable assessment.


Dem nominee faces bipartisan calls to quit over racist, misogynistic social media posts
A northern Virginia Democratic nominee is facing growing bipartisan calls to withdraw from an upcoming special election after resurfaced tweets containing racist and antisemitic language.

Muhammad Sufiyan "Sef" Casim is the Democratic nominee for the vacant Woodbridge District seat on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. Casim has faced calls to step down from members of both parties.

He narrowly won the Feb. 7 Democratic primary, defeating the then-favored candidate Pam Montgomery by 33 votes.

On Feb. 27, the Prince William County Republican Committee published a series of posts Casim had made or reposted on X between 2012 and 2015. The posts include Casim using various versions of the n-word and reposts of tweets containing misogynistic language. The committee also alleged in a statement that Casim had spread antisemitic rhetoric.

Prince William County Republican Committee Chairman Jacob Alderman said in a statement:
Woodbridge is a vibrant mix of cultures, faiths, and backgrounds, and our residents deserve leaders who unite rather than divide.

The account used to post these comments no longer exists. Casim uses a different account that is focused on Northern Virginia and his campaign.

Casim posted a statement on X on Mar. 2, that said in part, “The tweets I wrote in my youth are not a reflection of my character and who I am today. I know that I would not be able to have the freedoms and opportunities to represent our communities without the groundwork laid by the civil rights leaders and movement that came before us. I deeply apologize to those who were hurt by my language, take full and complete accountability.”

That same day, Delegate Margaret Franklin, whose departure from the Woodbridge seat created the vacancy, issued a statement on Instagram calling Casim’s posts “merely unacceptable” and “disqualifying.”

Franklin’s statement said:
Mr. Casim has demonstrated that he does not grasp the weight and history of the words he chose to use. That is not a standard we will accept from anyone seeking to represent the people of Prince William County.

Franklin, who now represents House District 23 covering parts of Prince William and Stafford counties, called Casim to step down “without delay.” Multiple local and state officials co-signed Franklin’s statement, including Prince William County Supervisors Victor Angry and Andrea Bailey.


Zohran Mamdani’s and AOC’s DSA comrades call for ‘ending US empire,’ mourn ayatollah’s ‘extrajudicial’ killing
Mayor Mamdani’s comrades in the Democratic Socialists of America called for “ending the US empire” and mourned the “extrajudicial killing of the supreme leader” during a mass call this week that slammed the US strikes in Iran.

“This isn’t going to end with a rally or a vote,” warned Ahmed Husain, a DSA leader on the party’s National Political Committee, to the nearly 1,000 people who tuned in to Wednesday night’s “Hands Off Iran” video call.

“This is going to end with a mass movement to put an end to the war machine,” he vowed during the call, which started with a remake of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” protest song.

“We have to create a real cost for the warmongers.”

Husain — an immigrant from Bahrain who has in the past raged on social media about destroying the “decaying fascist American empire” and that “Israel never had the right to exist” — called on his comrades to step up.

“I’m not going to lie, I don’t think the movement is where it needs to be at right now to stop this war,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s your neighbor, your co-worker, your dad, your mom, your job is to get them to act.

“The DSA needs to act on every single front.”

The call borrowed from the same playbook the DSA used during its Venezuela mass call after dictator Nicolas Maduro’s capture.

On Wednesday, speakers framed Iran’s bloody 1979 revolution, which put Ayatollah Khomeini in power and took 66 Americans hostage, as “throwing off American and Israeli influence.”

“There are many people who are in deep mourning,” said Isabella Javidan, a speaker from the National Iranian American Council, about last week’s attack that took out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Even before the meeting, the party was being blasted for the event’s ad, which prominently features the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Featuring the flag of the regime that has murdered tens of thousands in a matter of days for protesting for democracy is … a choice,” wrote one Iranian woman on Instagram.


Anti-Iranian regime protester pummeled at deluded NYC vigil for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
An anti-regime protester who wanted to “show up for the Iranian people” was thrown to the ground and beaten Friday at a sparsely attended Manhattan vigil for Iran’s dead Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

While NYPD cops attempted to keep the two small groups separate, tension boiled over when Rami Even-Esh ripped down a picture of Khamenei at the demonstration in Washington Square Park.

“Take this down!” he shouted, as a swarm of the dictator’s sympathizers — some donning keffiyehs — knocked him down and kicked him, according to footage from FreedomNTV.

Cops quickly jumped in and placed him in handcuffs as blood gushed from the top of his nose.

“He’s a terrorist who’s killed American soldiers and I think it was insane that I was right there and there was a vigil so I just took the sign down. I felt that was the right thing to do,” the victim told The Post as cops led him away.

“I feel like someone should show up for the Iranian people.”

Police said multiple people were taken into custody during the demonstration.

About two dozen counter-protesters, some of Iranian descent or pro-Israel, also chanted “USA” and “death to the terrorist,” drowning out the roughly 25 mourners on hand for the detestable display of respect for the top cleric.


Ex-Oxford professor of Islamic studies to be tried in his absence over claims he raped three women after court threw out his claim to be too ill to attend
A former Oxford professor and Islamic studies scholar will face a rape trial in his absence in Paris next week after a court dismissed his claim he was too ill to attend in person.

Tariq Ramadan, 63, is accused of the 'aggravated rape' of three women in France between 2009 and 2016.

The Swiss has multiple sclerosis (MS) but medical experts found he was fit enough to attend the four-week trial.

Ramadan's case is one of the most famous to come out of the Me Too movement, which began in the US after women made allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017.

The presiding judge in Ramadan's rape case, Corinne Goetzmann, issued an immediate arrest warrant and ordered the trial to go ahead after the medical opinion was delivered.

Ms Goetzmann had adjourned the trial on Monday - its first day - after Ramadan failed to appear and his lawyers said he was in hospital in Geneva because of his MS.

Philippe Courroye, a prosecution lawyer, said Ramadan was 'using every means available to avoid appearing and being tried'.

After Ms Goetzmann dismissed claims of ill health, the defendant's four lawyers left the room in protest and one, Ouadie Elhamamouchi, said: 'To stay is to accept this travesty of justice.'


Jewish children face gas chamber taunts, antisemitic slurs during UK school soccer match
UK police on Friday said they had launched a hate crimes investigation after Jewish teenagers were pelted with antisemitic abuse during a school soccer match where spectators shouted “Dirty Zionists,” “Dirty Jews,” and “Go back to the gas chambers.”

The students, who attend the London-based Jewish Free School (JFS), told UK media they felt “threatened,” “scared,” “ashamed,” and “really hurt” by the abuse hurled during the match that occurred Thursday, which included slurs against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the repeated chant of “Jews.”

One mixed-race boy said he was called an “N***** Jew” by the crowd at the Under-15s national tournament that was held at the Thorpe St Andrew School in the city of Norwich

One JFS student told the Daily Mail, “It’s hard to describe how much it hurt to hear those words, and it left me feeling disgraced and worried about what else might happen.”

Another student told the paper that “During the game, antisemitic abuse was directed at us, with people shouting things like ‘Jew’ and ‘Zionist’ and even telling us to go back to the gas chambers multiple times.”

“Hearing that again and again made us feel ashamed, scared, and lacking in confidence, even though we knew it was wrong,” the teen said. “‘Instead of feeling proud for reaching such an important stage of the competition, we walked away feeling targeted and upset.”

Parents reported the incident to the police and the English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) following the match, which has confirmed it is investigating the matter. They have asked the ESFA to disqualify Thorpe St Andrew and declare the game, which JFS lost 4-1, void, saying that the players were affected by racism.

The Jewish school wrote in a letter to parents that the behavior of spectators reported by parents was “unacceptable,” according to the Telegraph. It said in a statement, “The team has done the school extremely proud going so deep into the competition, and they should never have had to put up with the abuse that was thrown at them yesterday.”

Norfolk police said it received reports of a “hate crime” involving “antisemitic chants” and that “inquiries are ongoing.” Meanwhile, a spokesman for the academy that includes the competing team said it had launched an investigation and would take any necessary action.




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