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Hezbollah hits Israeli warship off Lebanon’s coast, sets it aflame

Press TV – April 5, 2026

Fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement have carried out an operation in retaliation for the Israeli acts of aggression against Lebanon, targeting a military vessel off the coast of the Arab nation before it could launch any hostile action.

According to a statement issued by the group on Sunday, Hezbollah members targeted an Israeli military ship 68 nautical miles off the Lebanese coast, stressing that the vessel was preparing to carry out its aggressions against Lebanese territory.

“The targeting operation was carried out with a naval cruise missile after monitoring the target for hours, and it was confirmed to have been directly hit,” the statement noted.

Hezbollah emphasized that the strike falls within the framework of Operation Devoured Straw, and in defense of Lebanon and its nation.

This came a day after the Lebanese resistance fighters conducted a total of 42 top-tier operations against Israeli positions, including military bases and illegal settlements.

Hezbollah said 20 operations out of those conducted struck enemy positions within the occupied territories, while 21 were carried out on Lebanese soil.

“The most distant operation reached a target located 15 kilometers beyond the Palestinian-Lebanese border,” the statement read.

Three more military operations were carried out during the early hours of Sunday, which included separate attacks on Israeli forces inside Lebanese territories or along the border settlements.

Israeli Channel 12 television channel has revealed that Northern Command chief Major General Ravil Milo admitted in a leaked closed-door meeting with settlers in Misgav Am that the regime’s military apparatus was “surprised” by Hezbollah’s ability to rebuild its strength.

According to the report, post-war assessments following the 2024 aggression on Lebanon that claimed Hezbollah had been neutralized were “overly optimistic.

Milo highlighted a widening gap between what the Tel Aviv regime believed after the war and the current situation on the ground, acknowledging that Hezbollah continues to maintain both presence and operational capabilities.

“They suddenly found that Hezbollah still exists,” he said, underscoring the persistence of the resistance despite previous Israeli assertions.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Comments Off on Hezbollah hits Israeli warship off Lebanon’s coast, sets it aflame

Iran slams US strikes on B1 bridge, Mahshahr petrochemical plants as ‘blatant acts of state terrorism’

Press TV – April 5, 2026

Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, has called on the UN to denounce the US-Israeli strikes on the B1 bridge and the Mahshahr petrochemical plants as blatant acts of “state terrorism” and”war crimes.”

“I wish to bring to the attention the grave breaches of international humanitarian law, acts of terrorism and war crimes perpetrated by the United States and the Israeli regime through the deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of civilian and critical infrastructure in Iran,” Iravani wrote in a letter addressed to Secretary-General of United Nations, António Guterres, and the President of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Jamal Fares Alrowaiei.

On Wednesday, the US airstrikes deliberately targeted the Karaj-Tehran Bl Bridge, a major civilian transportation artery connecting Tehran to its western suburbs.

This critical infrastructure was struck in multiple waves, resulting in its partial destruction and causing significant civilian casualties.

This heinous crime, openly acknowledged by US President Donald Trump in a public social media statement, was followed, on Saturday, by deliberate strikes on the Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone in Khuzestan, a hub of Iran’s industrial and energy infrastructure employing a large civilian workforce, he continued.

These unlawful attacks were neither incidental nor spontaneous, according to Iravani.

They were preceded and accompanied by repeated, explicit and public threats made by Trump to deliberately target Iran’s civilian and critical infrastructure, he added.

On Wednesday, Trump brazenly threatened to “bring Iran back to the Slone Age” and to strike “each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously.”

These statements followed earlier threats on Monday to “blow up and completely obliterate” Iran’s critical infrastructure, including power plants, oil facilities, Kharg Island and desalination installations, as well as statements on March 21 threatening to “hit and obliterate” Iran’s power plants, he noted.

“The explicit, deliberate and systematic targeting of civilians and civilian objects, as well as the destruction of infrastructure essential to the survival of the civilian population, including electricity, water and energy systems, and other critical civilian facilities, constitutes a war crime and a blatant act of State terrorism, intended to terrorize and severely harm civilians,” Iravani emphasized.

Iran calls upon the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Security Council, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross and all Member States of the United Nations to fulfil their legal and moral obligations by “Unreservedly and unequivocally condemn these deliberate and atrocious acts constituting war crimes and State terrorism, and take immediate, decisive and concrete measures to halt the ongoing criminal and unlawful acts of the US and the Israeli regime,” he stated.

Iravani demanded that the international community ensure that all those responsible are held fully accountable under international law, including Trump and the Prime Minister of the Israeli regime, Benjamin Netanyahu, for deliberately pursuing policies that result in war crimes and acts of state terrorism.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , | Comments Off on Iran slams US strikes on B1 bridge, Mahshahr petrochemical plants as ‘blatant acts of state terrorism’

In letter to UN chief, Araghchi warns of dire consequences of US-Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities

Press TV – April 5, 2026

Iran’s foreign minister has raised serious concerns over the adverse consequences of US-Israeli airstrikes on the Iranian civilian nuclear facilities, notably the Bushehr nuclear power plant, emphasizing that such attacks expose the region to the risk of radioactive contamination.

In identical letters addressed to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the members of the Security Council on Saturday, Abbas Araghchi said that the US-Israeli assaults on Iranian nuclear installations happen regardless of the fact that these facilities are devoted exclusively to peaceful purposes and are operating under the IAEA’s comprehensive safeguards regime.

“These unlawful attacks expose the entire region to the risk of radioactive contamination with grave humanitarian and environmental consequences, and as such shall not be left unattended,” the letters read.

Araghchi pointed out that Iran has experienced two wars of aggression within the span of nine months, imposed by the US, a depository of the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and Israel, an outlaw regime that remains outside the framework of the NPT.

He noted that Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities were attacked and bombed in both instances, and with grave disappointment, the United Nations Security Council, the IAEA Board of Governors and its director general have flatly failed even to condemn the illegal attacks, let alone undertake effective measures within their mandate to prevent their recurrence.

“Now the US Senior officials, who label international humanitarian law as ‘stupid,’ have gained the audacity to state that nuclear facilities are among their targets,” the Iranian foreign minister wrote.

He stated that the US permanent representative to the United Nations has openly expressed that attacks against the Bushehr nuclear power plant are “not off the table.”

“Such recklessness is the direct consequence of the inaction of the United Nations and the agency regarding the manifest acts of aggression by the United States and the Israeli regimes, which have only emboldened the aggressors. This course of unlawful attacks inflicted an irreparable blow upon the credibility of the United Nations, the Security Council, the IAEA, and its safeguards system,” Araghchi stated.

The top Iranian diplomat said it is disturbing that since the beginning of the ongoing war on February 28, attacks on Iranian civilian nuclear facilities have been carried out without any outright condemnation being heard from relevant international bodies.

“The aggressors’ repeated strikes in the vicinity of the active nuclear power plant in Bushehr is extremely alarming; their proximity to an active nuclear facility constitutes an intolerable escalation entailing a grave risk of radiological release,” Araghchi said.

The Iranian foreign minister finally highlighted that should the Security Council and the Board of Governors of the IAEA remain indifferent in the face of a manifest illegal attack against Iran’s safeguarded nuclear facilities, the member states may lose confidence in the United Nations, the agency, and the broader non-proliferation regime will be further eroded. “The consequences of such inaction would not be confined to Iran,” he added.

The United States and Israel initiated a large-scale and unprovoked military campaign against Iran on February 28, assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military commanders and civilians.

The aggression has comprised a series of intensive strikes on both military installations and civilian facilities throughout Iran, leading to considerable loss of life and widespread damage to infrastructure.

In response, the Iranian Armed Forces have carried out waves of massive missile and drone operations against US interests across West Asia and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Environmentalism, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Comments Off on In letter to UN chief, Araghchi warns of dire consequences of US-Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities

Why the CIA conspiracy to invade Iran with Kurdish militias failed

By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | April 5, 2026

At the beginning of the US-Israeli War on Iran, stories were circulated about the United States attempting to use Kurdish militia groups in order to wage a ground offensive against Iran. Yet the strategy never ended up getting off the ground. Understanding the context helps explain what happened

On February 22, just prior to the joint US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, five Kurdish-Iranian militant factions held a conference declaring a historic unity agreement had been reached. As a result the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), Khabat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan, and a branch of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan came together. They declared themselves the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK), explicitly to fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

For long, Tehran had argued that these groups were being backed by the Western and Israeli intelligence agencies. However, journalists also adopting this analysis were often framed as being conspiracy theorists. That was, of course, until a few days into the US-Israeli war on Iran, when it emerged that the Trump administration was openly in talks with them, encouraging an invasion of Iran’s Western borders.

Then came the bombshell report from CNN, whose sources alleged that the CIA had been covertly working to arm these Kurdish-Iranian groups based in Iraq. So, at this stage, and shockingly so, there is no conspiracy to unravel as it has already been exposed.

What would such an invasion look like?

As has become evident, regime change in Iran is not going to be possible through a campaign from the air alone; the natural next step to achieving this was always going to be creating an insurgency inside the country, whilst invading from without also. In the US’s alleged strategic thinking, a Kurdish invasion would ideally work to foster a wider uprising inside the country, thus creating a general environment of chaos and division.

However, bringing about such a predicament was not going to come easy. In January, the Israeli Mossad attempted to foster an armed uprising that would trigger a civil war. Iran managed to put this bloody assault down with overwhelming force in just two or three days, a conflict which cost the lives of 3,117 people, including hundreds of policemen and security force members.

Initially, this uprising sought to use paid agents from criminal groups in the West of Iran and there was some evidence that Kurdish militia groups were used to clash with the Iranian security forces, but this was quickly quelled. In fact, in 2022, when the death of Mahsa Amini triggered nationwide protests, Western intelligence agencies jumped on the opportunity to use Kurdish separatist groups, but failed to achieve their desired objectives.

In Iraq, the US, and later the Israelis, also worked alongside Kurdish forces in order to secure the control of oil resources and successfully created the semi-autonomous Iraqi-Kurdistan region, complete with its own Kurdish government. The same came in north-eastern Syria, where the US helped set up what was known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), using them to fight back ISIS and claim control of not only Syria’s oil fields but the most fertile agricultural land in the country.

Unfortunately, Kurdish nationalism has always been promoted by the United States, and before it the British, dating back to the 1920’s, in a way that enables them to use the Kurdish minority populations of the region to do their bidding. Although these Kurdish nationalist groups, who seek to build separatist regions in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkiye, proudly believe that their groups are fighting for a noble cause, they almost always end up causing more harm to the Kurdish populations and those around them.

This is not to comment on the historical or moral validity of Kurdish nationalism and their struggle for statehood, instead it is a factual assessment. Take for instance the recently dissolved Kurdish autonomous region project in north eastern Syria, what the US-backed SDF called Rojava. In 2015, the United States armed and funded them to fight against ISIS, promising them a bright future in return for their sacrifices on the battlefield.

Eventually, the Kurdish-led SDF, which ruled over a majority Arab territory, managed to seize the area of Afrin, towards the north-west of Syria. Turkiye, which views almost every Kurdish group as a terrorist organisation and/or threat, decided in 2018 to launch “Operation Olive Branch”, crushing the SDF and seizing that territory for themselves, handing it over to their own proxy forces. What did the US military do to help them? You guessed it, they ran away and deserted their Kurdish allies.

In 2019, Turkiye then launched “Operation Peace Spring”, seizing a strip of north-eastern Syria from the SDF and using their Al-Qaeda linked proxy forces called the “Syrian National Army” (SNA) to hold on to that land. Again, the US deserted their Kurdish allies. Despite this, the SDF crawled right back to their US backers and refused to reach an agreement with the then government of Bashar al-Assad.

When Assad was overthrown in December of 2024, there came a significant threat to many Kurdish-Syrians and more specifically the longevity of the SDF’s rule in north-eastern Syria.  Syria’s new ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani while he led Al-Qaeda in Syria), decided to lead an offensive against the SDF to recapture the north-eastern portion of the country and place it under Damascus’s rule.

In January of 2026, after the US again deserted the Kurdish movement at the moment of truth, the SDF’s rule fell, and al-Sharaa took over north-eastern Syria. Why? Well, it’s very obvious: the US had only been using the Kurdish group as a proxy to withhold Syria’s oil and agricultural resources from it, until the government of Bashar al-Assad was toppled. Once regime change was accomplished, al-Sharaa was invited to the White House, and his Al-Qaeda and ISIS history was ignored.

See, the US never cared about the Kurds, nor did the Israelis, because both had covertly, and in some cases overtly, supported al-Qaeda linked groups in Syria also- playing both sides.

Although tragic, history shows us that it is very likely that Kurdish militant groups are used to do the West’s bidding, with promises of securing their own interests that never materialise. Therefore, it was always safe to assume that this would be attempted again. This time, however, the chance they had was extremely slim, and the consequences of such action even threatened the collapse of the Iraqi-Kurdistan project altogether.

The Kurdish groups in Iran cannot likely inspire a general uprising inside the country, this is for a number of reasons. The Kurdish population is considerable, numbering around 10 million of Iran’s 92 million strong population, yet they are not all hellbent on destroying the government, this is simply propaganda, most are normal people living their lives. These hostile Kurdish groups are based primarily in Iraq, in terms of their militant numbers, meaning that their forces inside Iran would have been overwhelmed from the jump.

Then there was the issue of the Iraq-Iran border, which had already been fortified and is where the Iranian military has deployed assets and soldiers to guard against an anticipated assault. But before they even reach the Iranian side, where they would have been greatly outnumbered, they would have to face off against Iraqi groups that are aligned with Iran. In total, these Iraqi groups – under the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) – constitute a force of around 250,000 fighters if fully mobilised.

In order for such an assault to succeed in creating an uprising in Iran, or inspire other armed factions from other minority groups in the country – like the Lors, Arabs or others – to begin taking action, they would need to at least see results.

Even if the Kurdish factions were to hypothetically seize some territory, Iran is such a massive country that the temporary loss of towns and villages wouldn’t be such an issue. That’s the best case scenario for these groups, assuming they get past the Iraqis – in addition to the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s drones and missiles – first. If anything, such an offensive would have been destined to trigger an enormous backlash against the Kurdish regional project, rather than do it any good.

As for the idea of this leading to Balkanisation, it is not something that appears to be possible in the foreseeable future. This is not to say that Tel Aviv and Washington won’t try. Yet, the Iranian opposition is so incredibly divided – territorially and ideologically – that the ability for groups to work together is also scarce.

Take for example the Iranians who support Israeli puppet Reza Pahlavi. These are hardline Persian Nationalists who believe that they are a superior ethnicity to Kurdish people, Afghans, Arabs and so on. Under the rule of the deposed Shah of Iran, whose son is now worshipped in a cult-like fashion by a small but vocal minority of Iranians [especially in the diaspora], the non-Persian groups inside the country were enormously undermined and discriminated against.

In fact, under the Islamic Republic, the minorities fare much better than they have under the Pahlavi monarchs and those Shahs that came before them. Their conditions are by no means perfect, and there are often complaints that the centre of Iran is prioritised by the government, which is where the majority of ethnic Persians are situated, yet there is simply no comparison between the way they are treated under the current Islamic rule and that of the previous leaderships.

In conclusion, the options for creating a Syria-style civil war in Iran were always much lower than was being claimed by some commentators, or had been presented by pro-war think tanks in Washington. As Iran is under attack, and atrocities are being carried out against civilians on a daily basis, this has worked to make the nation’s people rally behind the flag, rather than embark upon bloody sectarian revolts.

Another key factor to understand here is that the Islamic Republic is clearly holding its own against the world’s top military superpower and the region’s most advanced military. This in itself makes small militant groups more hesitant to take action. Having said this, the US and Israelis appear to be willing to sacrifice all their proxies in a bid to achieve regime change, or at least inflict a significant blow, this time around, so it is never an impossibility that some desperate action may still be ordered at some stage.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Why the CIA conspiracy to invade Iran with Kurdish militias failed

Why Are Upbeat US Claims About Mission to Rescue Pilot ‘Highly Questionable’?

Sputnik – 05.04.2026

President Donald Trump earlier wrote on Truth Social that the US carried out an operation to rescue an F-15 airman “without a single American killed, or even wounded.”

“Success in military terms is measured not only by the extraction of personnel but also by the cost incurred. If the US indeed lost aircraft and other equipment during the mission, then the operation cannot be deemed an unqualified success,” former colonel of Pakistan’s Air Force Sultan M. Hali told Sputnik.

“Rescue missions involving dozens of warplanes penetrating hostile airspace and engaging Iranian defenses are inherently dangerous. Historically, governments often downplay or delay acknowledgment of casualties to maintain morale and political optics,” Hali explained.

That’s why “it is difficult to accept at face value” Washington’s allegations on the rescue mission, according to the former colonel of Pakistan’s Air Force.

“The destruction or capture of advanced assets represents a strategic setback,” which “undermines deterrence, emboldens adversaries, and raises questions about the sustainability of such operations,” he concluded.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | , | Comments Off on Why Are Upbeat US Claims About Mission to Rescue Pilot ‘Highly Questionable’?

Aircraft destroyed during US ‘rescue’ of downed F-15 pilot cost more than $100 million each

Debris of two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 transport plane destroyed by the IRGC during a rescue mission to retrieve a pilot of a downed F-15, Isfahan Province, Iran, April 5, 2026.
The Cradle – April 5, 2026

Iran announced on 5 April the destruction of multiple US aircraft, including two military helicopters and two C-130 transport planes carrying US special forces seeking to rescue a downed US fighter pilot.

The alleged rescue operation “ended in complete failure with the timely presence of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” a statement issued by the spokesman for the Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said.

The statement said that US President Donald Trump was in a “state of panic” and trying to hide the operation’s failure, “through lies and psychological warfare.”

It also added that the helicopters and transport planes were shot down in a joint operation involving the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), Army, Basij paramilitary forces, and police commandos.

Iran released images and video Sunday showing the charred wreckage of US military aircraft destroyed at an abandoned airport south of Isfahan. US forces had apparently used the airport as a makeshift base to launch the operation to rescue a US pilot whose F-15 warplane was shot down on Friday.

Footage showed the destruction of at least two C-130 transport planes and one MH-6 Little Bird special operations helicopter. The C-130 is a specially equipped plane used to carry out covert infiltrations and extract troops from behind enemy lines. The MH-6 is a lightweight helicopter used by elite commando units.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted an image from the wreckage site on X with a pointed message: “If the United States gets three more victories like this, it will be utterly ruined.”

Saturday’s special forces operation was launched after Iranian forces shot down an F-15E warplane on Friday. It was the first US fighter jet lost to enemy fire in over 20 years.

US officials claimed both F-15 crew members were successfully rescued in an operation behind enemy lines and that all US personnel had successfully exited Iran.

The first was rescued shortly after the crash, US officials claimed, while the second was allegedly rescued after hiding in the mountains for two days from Iranian forces searching for him.

Trump claimed that the second service member, a colonel, “sustained injuries,” but will be “just fine.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has not issued a statement regarding the pilot’s fate.

CNN’s national security analyst Alex Plitsas said that had the second crew member been captured, he would have become a “strategic bargaining chip” for Tehran.

US officials cited by the Wall Street Journal and other US outlets also claimed that two transport planes got “stuck” at the remote base during the rescue operation. After they were deliberately destroyed, three additional US aircraft were dispatched to extract all personnel involved in the rescue operation.

According to Fox News, at least one aircraft, possibly a C-130 Hercules, had become “stuck in the mud.”

The IRGC’s public affairs office issued a statement accusing Trump of fabricating a successful rescue to conceal “a heavy defeat.”

“Trump the gambler, the God of the sands of Tabas is still here,” the statement said.

“Tabas” is a reference to the failed US operation ordered by US President Jimmy Carter to rescue US embassy employees taken captive in Tehran shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the Shah.

In that operation, eight US special forces were killed when two of their helicopters collided in the air over the Iranian desert. The operation was an embarrassment for Carter, contributing to his defeat by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.

The Reagan White House went on to broker the sale of Israeli weapons to Iran for use in the war against Iraq. The US also sold weapons to Iraq in a bid to prolong the war and weaken both countries. According to some estimates, over a million Iraqis and Iranians were killed in the eight-year war.

This incident of the destroyed aircraft comes as Trump’s deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz approaches.

The US president claimed that “hell” will be unleashed if Iran does not open the strategic waterway by Monday.

“Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!” wrote the president, adding: “Praise be to Allah.”

US and Israeli warplanes have been bombing Iran since 28 February. According to the Pentagon, the US and Israel have struck over 12,300 targets. Iran has retaliated with multiple waves of drone and ballistic missile strikes against Israel, as well as US bases and assets in the Persian Gulf.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , | Comments Off on Aircraft destroyed during US ‘rescue’ of downed F-15 pilot cost more than $100 million each

Washington University removes professor who condemned US-Israeli war on Iran

Press TV – April 5, 2026

The University of Washington has removed a professor from his role as director of its West Asia Center after he criticized the illegal US-Israeli aggression against Iran and condemned Zionism.

Aria Fani, who will remain an associate professor at UW’s Jackson School of International Studies, said the new interim, Daniel Hoffman, told him last week he was fired from his leadership role at the West Asia Center.

Fani, who was born and raised in Iran and came to the US when he was 18 years old, said he was hired for his research on Iran. However, he told the Times that he now feels “profoundly hurt and betrayed” by his removal.

“There is a chilling effect on not just my academic freedom, but that of my colleagues; anyone who dares to speak out against the war and against aggression,” he said.

In a separate interview on Friday with My Northwest, Fani said he was removed “for improper use” of the center’s listserv, an email application.

“I sent out two memos about this atrocious war on Iran in which I offered historical analysis that’s lacking in the media,” Fani said.

“I was told that my email made ‘certain constituents feel attacked.’ By certain constituents, I assume the university means Zionists who would like to keep bombing every Middle Eastern country and continue dehumanizing their people.”

Last July Fani told the Daily UW, a student newspaper, that President Donald Trump’s militaristic foreign policy is not making the world safer.

“If you tell the dozens of children that were killed in Israeli bombardment… in Iran, or the families of the nuclear scientists who were just wiped out, I hardly imagine they would say that the world is a more peaceful place,” he said amid the first round of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran.

Since then, many more Iranian children have been killed by US and Israeli bombing, including more than 100 students who were among around 175 people massacred in the February 28 US missile strike on a girls’ school in Minab.

“The [only] peace this secures is for weapons manufacturers, for oil companies, for drone companies,” Fani said in an implicit rebuke of Trump’s claim to be the “president of peace.”

“It secures peace for them, fills their pockets with money, and makes them fully invincible,” he added. “It’s creating a class of people that are living [on] an alternate planet.”

The US and Israel launched an unprovoked aggression against Iran in late February, by attacking 30 targets across Tehran and assassinating the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with several senior Iranian officials.

Since then, Iranian armed forces have retaliated strongly by launching barrages of missiles and drones at Israeli-occupied territories, as well as US bases across the region.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Comments Off on Washington University removes professor who condemned US-Israeli war on Iran

Russia Warns of Retaliation as UK Authorizes Seizure of Vessels

teleSUR – April 5, 2026

Russia has warned that British government attempts to seize vessels linked to Moscow will trigger retaliatory measures currently being prepared, with the Russian ambassador stating that London authorities will face a surprise response.

The warning came from Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrei Kelin, who urged the British government to consider the consequences of its actions and the fate of illegally seized cargo. He added that shipowners will inevitably turn to international courts to demand payment of damages and related costs stemming from any seizures.

Last March, London authorized its military forces to board sanctioned vessels transiting British territorial waters. The UK plan also includes closing the English Channel passage to the so‑called shadow fleet, which transports Russian energy products to international markets.

The seizure policy follows an expansion of the UK sanctions list on February 26, which added 297 new entries. That round affected 240 legal entities, seven individuals, and 50 merchant marine vessels linked to Moscow.

According to the Castellum.AI database updated as of August 15, approximately 23,960 individual and sectoral sanctions have been imposed against Russia. That volume of punitive measures has accumulated since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced the Western containment policy as not a situational reaction but a long‑term strategy. He maintains that the imposition of unilateral sanctions deals a structural blow to global economic stability and supply chains.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Economics, War Crimes | , | Comments Off on Russia Warns of Retaliation as UK Authorizes Seizure of Vessels

Serbia thwarts plot to bomb Russia-Hungary gas pipeline – Vucic

RT | April 5, 2026

The Serbian authorities have discovered explosives of “devastating power” planted near a key gas pipeline transporting Russian energy to Hungary, President Aleksandar Vucic has announced, adding that he has briefed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the matter. This comes after Ukraine essentially shut down Russian oil supplies to Hungary through its territory.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Vucic said “two large packages of explosives with sticks” were found in the municipality of Kanjiza, around 10 km from the Hungarian border.

The city of Kanjiza is located near the Balkan Stream gas pipeline – the regional extension of the TurkStream pipeline. The Balkan Stream runs through Türkiye, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, and currently ends at Slovakia’s border. Hungary imports 7.4-7.6 billion cubic meters of gas annually via Serbia.

Vucic said the Serbian intelligence agencies “fortunately, did a good job” and vowed to ramp up energy security in the area. “We will deal mercilessly with anyone who thinks they are endangering the vital infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia,” he said.

The president did not assign blame but said he spoke with Orban about the situation, noting that an explosion would have caused gas outages in Hungary and northern Serbia.

Orban has confirmed the phone call, saying “the investigation is ongoing” and that he “has called an emergency defense council for this afternoon.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has suggested that the masterminds of the plot are seeking “to strip Hungary of its sovereignty.”

“They are doing this in various ways: Politically, by trying to interfere in internal affairs and elections; economically, by forcing it to make decisions under pressure that harm the economy and the well-being of Hungarians, and through energy, by trying to prevent Hungary from obtaining quality resources at reasonable prices.”

Hungary and Ukraine have for months butted heads over supplies of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. In January, Kiev shut down the pipeline, citing a Russian drone strike on the infrastructure. Moscow has dismissed the claim; Hungary and Slovakia accused Kiev of lying and using the purported strike as grounds for political blackmail.

Ukraine has on numerous occasions also attempted to attack TurkStream infrastructure. Russia has accused Ukrainian saboteurs of blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022, suggesting that the attack was supported by Western intelligence services.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | War Crimes | , , | Comments Off on Serbia thwarts plot to bomb Russia-Hungary gas pipeline – Vucic

Al Mayadeen voices solidarity with Dr. Marandi amid death threats

Al Mayadeen | April 5, 2026

Al Mayadeen Media Network has expressed full and unwavering solidarity with Professor Mohammad Marandi in response to online campaigns openly calling for his assassination.

Professor Mohammad Marandi, a distinguished Iranian academic with global recognition, has been targeted by pro-Israeli accounts on X, including a verified account that posted a $1 million bounty explicitly calling for his assassination.

Despite repeated requests for the post’s removal and the suspension of the account, the platform and its CEO, Elon Musk, have taken no action.

Al Mayadeen characterized the spread of such content on global media platforms as ‘blatant, intelligence-driven terrorism,’ expressing profound outrage and disbelief that US-owned media outlets would permit calls for the extrajudicial killing of academics and scientists.

The network condemned these assassination threats as a manifestation of ‘cowboy-era barbarism,’ underscoring that Professor Marandi wields only his voice and his commitment to independent thought.

Al Mayadeen further highlighted the stark hypocrisy in permitting such threats against a peaceful academic while systematically curtailing the voices of those associated with resistance movements.

Call for global solidarity

Al Mayadeen called on the global academic, scientific, and media communities to publicly support Dr. Marandi and condemn the policies of major digital platforms that tolerate incitement to violence while suppressing legitimate expression.

The network warned that such practices foster a perilous environment in which intimidation and assassination threats can flourish unchecked.

“The threats against Professor Marandi are a stark example of how media platforms enable terror under the guise of free expression, while silencing those who challenge the status quo”, Al Mayadeen stated.

Professor Mohammad Marandi continues to be a leading authority on Iranian and regional affairs, and Al Mayadeen reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding his right to speak freely, free from threats of violence or state-orchestrated harassment.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , | Comments Off on Al Mayadeen voices solidarity with Dr. Marandi amid death threats

US dismantling international law in its war against Iran while claiming ‘false’ victory: Legal scholar

Press TV | April 4, 2026

The Trump administration is declaring “false victory” in its war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran while actively dismantling international humanitarian law (IHL), says a legal scholar at Queen’s University Belfast.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Alannah Travers, a PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast School of Law, said the US President Donald Trump’s warning to “bomb Iran back to the Stone Age” reveals a dangerous disregard for legal norms.

She noted the irony that Iran was actually a cradle of innovation during the real Stone Age.

“Listening to President Trump declare a false victory (yet again) while simultaneously threatening to bomb a nation of 90 million people back to the Stone Age made me think of what legal scholars have termed the ‘warification’ of international humanitarian law,” Travers said.

Travers’ PhD is on Algorithmic Warfare and Civilian Harm – working with the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, an international initiative to develop civilian-led monitoring of violations of international humanitarian law or human rights; to secure accountability and reparation for those violations; and to develop the practice of civilian rights.

She pointed to Trump’s explicit threat to destroy “each and every” electricity-generating plant in Iran as a clear signal that his administration views the Geneva Conventions as optional. Under Article 52 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, civilian objects such as power plants and bridges must be protected.

“By targeting infrastructure essential for meeting the basic needs of tens of millions of Iranian civilians, the administration is moving towards a campaign of collective punishment with the sort of reverberating effects IHL once sought to prevent,” she said.

Travers also condemned the US military’s practice of housing troops in hotels in the Persian Gulf countries, calling it a breach of IHL that effectively uses local civilians as human shields.

Thirty-five days into the unprovoked and illegal war on Iran, Travers said it was difficult to identify any legitimate American war goals.

Instead, she pointed to measurable destruction: over 15,000 strikes, at least 1,900 killed, 20,000 injured, more than 600 schools hit, and 60 hospitals damaged – including the Pasteur Institute, which had been working on global health security.

“Are these, then, the war goals?” she asked. “Rather than neutralizing a threat, the US and Israel have waged war against civilian infrastructure.”

She noted that 2,100 children had been killed or injured by day 23 of the war, an average of 87 per day, including over 170 children at a school in southern Iran’s Minab city.

Travers said the US and Israel have fallen for their own fantasies about superior AI-driven military technology, comparing the miscalculation to the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“It’s the same racist miscalculation that paved the road for the 2003 invasion of Iraq,” she said. “Most citizens of the region could explain it far better than I, having lived this violent ignorance with their bodies.”

She slammed Washington over institutionalized ignorance bordering on “overt racism and colonial arrogance,” particularly in its surprise that Iran’s retaliation has persisted for 34 days.

Travers referenced an open letter from over 100 legal scholars challenging the US and Israel’s conduct, noting there was no credible evidence of an imminent threat to justify a “self-defense” claim made by officials in Washington and Tel Aviv.

The letter also raised alarms about War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “gloves off” approach, which has included removing senior military lawyers and weakening IHL compliance.

Travers also highlighted rare public rebukes from Catholic leaders. Pope Leo has condemned the US and Israel, saying God rejects the prayers of leaders whose “hands are full of blood.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the US Military Services since 2008, publicly rebuked Hegseth’s theology, telling troops to minimize participation in what he called an unjust war.

“When I met Broglio in January, my impression was he took a far more conservative view,” Travers said. “That he is now so clearly troubled is extremely telling.”

Travers also condemned Israeli military affairs minister Israel Katz’s vow to bring “Gaza-like destruction” to Lebanon, as well as Israel’s refusal to acknowledge its status as an occupying power.

She said that by keeping southern Lebanon in a state of perpetual armed conflict, Israel falsely claims military necessity under Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to justify forced displacements – a breach of Article 49.

“There is no such thing as a legal buffer zone on sovereign foreign soil,” she said. “These are more war crimes.”

Travers concluded that the lack of accountability in Palestine has directly enabled the current lawlessness across Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Gulf. She called on the international community to move beyond “concerned statements” and take action.

“The Iranian people are navigating their survival in this crazed and lawless war amid their own domestic repression,” she said. “They deserve so much better. We have to stop this senseless war and ensure that those who waged it will face the full consequences of their illegal action.

April 4, 2026 Posted by | War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Comments Off on US dismantling international law in its war against Iran while claiming ‘false’ victory: Legal scholar

One martyr, 5 injuries in US attack on Iraqi border crossing with Iran

Al Mayadeen | April 4, 2026

On Saturday, Major General Omar Al-Waeli, head of the Iraqi Border Ports Authority, confirmed the martyrdom of one person and injuries to five others following an attack on the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran.

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Basra reported that movement at the crossing has been completely suspended, adding that US warplanes targeted the Iranian passport hall at the border point.

Since the onset of the US-Israeli war on Iran, American attacks have relentlessly targeted Iraq, including Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) units and centers.

PMF martyr, injruies in US attack earlier today

Earlier today, the PMF reported that its 45th Brigade, part of the Jazira Operations Sector, was attacked at the al-Qaim border crossing. The assault left one PMF member martyred, four others injured, and one Ministry of Defense employee wounded.

In response to the repeated aggression, the Iraqi Cabinet directed the armed forces and the Popular Mobilization Forces to defend themselves and respond to any attacks on their positions.

The cabinet also instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit an official complaint to the UN Security Council, condemning the attacks and demanding they be stopped.

Iraqi Resistance calls for action against US-Israeli regional allies

Similarly, the Iraqi Resistance Coordination Committee praised the Iraqi people’s positions in support of the Axis of Resistance, while calling for punitive measures against countries that enable US-Israeli aggressions in the region.

In a statement, the Committee said that “the alignment of the rulers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE with the criminality of the Zionist-American enemy against the Islamic Republic and their betrayal of the honorable free people of Iraq represent the height of baseness and vileness.”

It stressed that this “requires a firm deterrent response from the Iraqi government,” adding that such measures should begin with “punishing Jordan in particular, as it serves as a launch point for enemy aircraft targeting the fighters of the Popular Mobilization Forces and Iraqi security forces,” calling for “the complete closure of the land border crossing and the suspension of Iraqi oil grants.”

The Committee also stated that the Iraqi Resistance has avoided harming Kuwait’s economic interests and infrastructure while targeting US forces in the country. It further called for avoiding harm to Qatar’s interests, excluding US bases, “in appreciation of Doha’s responsible positions toward the Palestinian cause and the Axis of Resistance.”

April 4, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on One martyr, 5 injuries in US attack on Iraqi border crossing with Iran

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