Aletho News

ΑΛΗΘΩΣ

The Straight of Hormuz is Open for Iranian Business… Oil is Moving and Iran is Getting Paid

By Larry C. Johnson | SONAR21 | June 16, 2026 

Let’s give Donald Trump credit for one thing… He kept his word and lifted the US blockade on Iranian ships and Iran is going to town with its oil tankers moving in and out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.

This does not mean that the MOU with Iran, which is supposed to be signed in Geneva on Friday, will hold, but it is a step in the direction of de-escalation. So the question we ought to ask is why did Donald Trump blink and accept the proposal that Iran proffered way back in April?

I think there are several reasons, but the principal one is that the US is running out of oil, which means Trump will not be able to artificially suppress the price of gasoline. US strategic oil reserves have fallen to their lowest level since 1983, reports CNN. The decline comes amid continued drawdowns to mitigate the impact of the conflict with Iran. Reserves have dropped to 340.3 million barrels, last seen during the Reagan administration, which was still building the stockpile. US daily consumption is 20 to 21 million barrels in 2026, which means the reserve can supply 17 days of gasoline, which falls on July 1st.

Donald Trump may be in mental decline, but he still retains enough smarts to understand that an oil shortage and soaring prices of gasoline in July is politically untenable.

Another factor is that US installations and aircraft in the Persian Gulf took a helluva beating last week. The US attacks on Iranian installations in the Strait of Hormuz on June 9 and 10 provoked a fierce Iranian response that hit targets in Iraq (CIA-bases supporting the Kurds), Kuwait (the Ali Al Salem airbase, Camp Buehring in northeastern Kuwait, as well as a makeshift operations center near the civilian port of Shuaiba), the Prince Saud Airbase adjacent to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the Mowaffaq Al Salti Airbase in Jordan. The attacks were devastating and reportedly employed some new Chinese missiles supplied to Iran.

Then there is the pressure from Gulf Arabs to end the attacks on Iran. Iran, backed by China, Russia and Pakistan, engaged in intense diplomacy with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The UAE, who has been a thorn in the side of Iran and Saudi Arabia and has been identified as an ally of Israel, sent a delegation to Iran on 9 June. Reuters reported that the UAE had agreed to release billions of dollars for Iran — two regional sources put the figure at $10 billion (including more than $3 billion already delivered), while two other sources put it at $20 billion, with the funds agreed in exchange for Iran halting attacks on the UAE. However, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically denied those reports, stating the allegations were “entirely false and unfounded” and that no frozen Iranian funds had been released, transferred, or facilitated through the UAE. What is undisputed is that the UAE sent a high-level delegation to talk to the Iranian government.

A high-level Qatari delegation arrived in Tehran on Wednesday, June 10, to hold talks on bilateral relations, regional developments, and diplomatic efforts to end the conflict between Iran and the United States. The delegation arrived at midday and the visit came after Trump accused Iran of stalling and said Tehran must now “pay the price.” AFP, citing an informed diplomat, reported the Qatari negotiating team had traveled to Tehran following consultations with American officials to help narrow remaining differences between the two sides.

A senior Pakistani source with access to information about Pakistan’s role in mediating the talks between the US and Iran, reported that Pakistan, with the encouragement of China and Russia, was making progress in its talks with the Saudis and the Qataris to stop hosting US military bases in their respective countries. These talks coincided with Saudi Arabia denying the US the use of its airspace to attack Iranian targets during Project Freedom.

Will the deal be signed on Friday? I remain skeptical simply because of the enormous Zionist backlash being visited on Donald Trump by angry Israeli officials and US politicians beholden to AIPAC. However, as I write this Monday night, the deal appears intact.

Why hasn’t Donald Trump released the text of the MOU? Two possible explanations (and I’ll be interested in what you think is the most plausible): 1) There are still areas of disagreement between Iran and the US and they are still trying to work out a compromise, 2) Trump does not want to provide the details beforehand fearing that the Zionist backlash could derail the Friday signing ceremony in Geneva. The diplomatic roller coaster is running full blast… It will be a wild ride until Friday.

Video interviews

June 16, 2026 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , | Comments Off on The Straight of Hormuz is Open for Iranian Business… Oil is Moving and Iran is Getting Paid

Biden’s Closed Circle on Russia

An excerpt from ‘The Great Betrayal’

By James W. Carden | The Realist Review | June 14, 2026

Joe Biden’s presidency may ultimately come to be seen as a cautionary tale. Here was a president who showed little interest in entertaining arguments that might have contradicted his most deeply held assumptions.[1] And there were precious few within the upper ranks of the administration who might have attempted to do so, after all, only policy hands and political operatives who had come up through the ranks of the Clinton and Obama administrations or had longstanding ties to the citadels of the foreign policy community were invited into the fold.[2]

The message BidenWorld sent early on was that heterodox voices, even tepid ones, were not welcome. Consider the case of a respected expert on Russian affairs, Dr. Matthew Rojansky, who was then serving as the director of the Kennan Institute at the Congressionally-funded Woodrow Wilson Center. Rojansky had been denied a position on the Biden NSC because he was viewed as “soft” on Russia. Administration officials feared that appointing Rojansky would, as a contemporaneous report by Politico put it, “signal a conciliatory U.S. policy toward Moscow.”[3] The incident had echoes of the 2009 Freeman affair, when a foreign lobby (Israel’s) mobilized its allies in the media and on Capitol Hill to block an appointment it deemed threatening to its agenda. This time around, another foreign lobby (Ukraine’s) slammed the door on Rojansky. From the start, Biden’s White House was a closed circle—new names, new faces, and new thinking were not welcome.

The parallel one reaches for to best describe the inner workings of the Biden White House is that of the Reagan White House. Back then, a chief executive of questionable sentience relied on a tight circle of political operatives to run the day-to-day operations of the White House. During Reagan’s first term, that job fell to a “Troika” consisting of Chief of Staff James Baker, Counselor to the President Ed Meese, and Deputy Chief of Staff Mike Deaver. Meese did policy, Deaver was the image-maker. Baker was in charge of everything else. Joe Biden had a Troika of his own: White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti, and Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed. Klain and Ricchetti were longtime centrist Democratic operatives. Reed was the policy wonk. No friend of progressives, Reed came up through the ranks as a centrist policy adviser to Senator Al Gore in the 1980s. He later served as a domestic policy adviser to President Clinton.

On the foreign policy side of the ledger, what was old was new again. Like Presidents Carter and Clinton—and his erstwhile Democratic rivals Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders—Biden embraced a vision of the world divided between democracy and authoritarianism. While the script had been slightly updated since the end of the Cold War, the story was a familiar one: The US and its NATO allies were now said to be threatened by an “authoritarian axis” led by Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia. The axis is also said to include Iran, North Korea and other revisionist powers. Discussions regarding our putative “friends” and “allies” that also happen to be authoritarian (Saudi Arabia, Turkey) or ethno-nationalist (Israel, Ukraine) are usually excluded from the schema. In December 2021, Biden hosted a ‘Summit for Democracy’ that brought together leaders from over 100 countries in support of a rather amorphous strategy to “defend” democracy—a cause that Biden claimed was “the defining challenge of our time.”

More thoughtful men than Biden saw things rather differently. George Kennan, for one, felt that there was nothing “more egocentric than the embattled democracy.” The problem, as Kennan correctly foresaw, was that an embattled democracy will tend “to attach to its own cause an absolute value which distorts its own vision to everything else. Its enemy becomes the embodiment of all evil. Its own side is the center of all value.”[4] While Kennan wrote those words in 1961, it would be hard to find a better description of the politics of the New Cold War. The main deliverable of Biden’s “democracy” conference was the creation of a Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, which, at a cost of nearly half-a-billion dollars to US taxpayers, would seek to promote “democracy, fight corruption, and defend human rights worldwide.”[5]

As with so many of the ideas and programs championed by the Democratic establishment since the end of the Cold War, the “autocracy vs. democracy” paradigm borrowed liberally from the neocon playbook. Biden’s old friend, the late Senator John McCain, had long called for the creation of a global “League of Democracies.” Speaking at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution in 2007, McCain said the new league would, “form the core of an international order of peace based on freedom.” It would be able to “bring concerted pressure to bear on tyrants in Burma or Zimbabwe, with or without Moscow’s and Beijing’s approval.[6] McCain’s proposal might just as easily have come from the pen of Samantha Power. As with the men and pigs at the conclusion of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, when it comes to the neocons and the Democratic elite, it is now impossible to say which is which.

***

The Great Betrayal: How The Democrats Became The Party of War, hailed by Professor Richard Sakwa as “a brilliant, timely, and important achievement,” is available now from OR x Nation Books.

NOTES:

[1] For example, no dissent on matters relating to Israel was welcome; see: https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-silencing-dissent-gaza. For reporting on Biden’s tyrannical streak, see, for example, https://thebrunswicknews.com/president-biden-has-notorious-temper-yells-curses-frequently-in-private-report/article_107fcc8f-b3f8-5dad-a447-083dbde1eaa1.html

[2] Including The Brookings Institution, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The German Marshall Fund, The Center for Strategic and International Studies, The Center for American Progress, The Center for a New American Security, and The Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.

[3] https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/19/biden-russia-expert-483000

[4] For Kennan, see: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/12/17/hang-up-the-magical-thinking-and-try-strategic-empathy-on-for-size/

[5] On the Democracy Summit and Biden’s remarks, see: https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/23/summit-for-democracy-summary-of-proceedings/

[6] For McCain’s remarks, see: https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/uploads/inline/docs/McCain_05-01-07.pdf

June 16, 2026 Posted by | Book Review, Progressive Hypocrite, Russophobia | | Comments Off on Biden’s Closed Circle on Russia

Lebanon Accuses Israel Of Violating The Chemical Weapons Convention By Spraying Toxic Herbicide Over Farmland

By Justin K.P. | The Dissident | June 15, 2026

Lebanon has officially accused Israel – in a complaint filed with the U.N. Security Council- of violating the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for using aircraft to spray glyphosate, a “toxic herbicide with serious consequences for health, soil, and crops” over farmland in Southern Lebanon, as part of its broader ethnic cleansing plan.

Lebanon said that “the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons prohibits the use of herbicides as a means of warfare”.

It noted that “Chemical analyses and laboratory tests conducted on soil samples taken from Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district), Ras Naqoura and Dhaira (Sour district) ‘confirmed the use of glyphosate at high concentrations reaching 22,750 micrograms per gram, a level far higher than the concentrations usually found in agricultural soils after farmers’ direct use of this product, which generally range between 0.5 and 2 micrograms per gram at most’”.

For context, Lebanon’s agriculture minister, Nizar Hani, revealed in February that “Laboratory tests have identified the chemical sprayed by Israeli aircraft in southern Lebanon as glyphosate, a widely used herbicide that can destroy vegetation when applied intensively,” adding that “the substance was used at abnormally high concentrations along the border with Israel”.

Nizar Hani noted that, “glyphosate, like other herbicides, eliminates vegetation when used at such high levels, directly affecting soil and water and causing negative repercussions for human health” and “the substance is classified as having carcinogenic effects and poses serious risks, particularly to agriculture and plant ecosystems” adding, “the incident was consistent with known practices along the border, where such substances are used to create vegetation-free zones, effectively resulting in systematic desertification.”

The Guardian reported that glyphosate was “in 2015 classified by the World Health Organization as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’.”

In January, Israel similarly sprayed glyphosate over farmland in the southern Quneitra province in Syria and soon after, “A second incident occurred two days later, during which the visible release of substances led to outcries from Syrian farmers in occupied areas near Quneitra, southwest of Damascus and along the border with Israel.”

Israel, through spraying this carcinogenic herbicide, is attempting to kill off the farms and crops needed to sustain life in areas of Syria and Lebanon targeted for Israeli annexation in the Greater Israel Project.

June 16, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Comments Off on Lebanon Accuses Israel Of Violating The Chemical Weapons Convention By Spraying Toxic Herbicide Over Farmland

Did the 9/11 Hijackers Really Fly the Planes?

@IC911Justice

Full video:

9/11 Flight Simulator Study Preliminary Results | Dr. Piers Robinson

June 15, 2026 Posted by | False Flag Terrorism, Timeless or most popular, Video | , | Comments Off on Did the 9/11 Hijackers Really Fly the Planes?

‘Jewish lobby’ deceived Putin – Lukashenko

RT | June 15, 2026

Russian President Vladimir Putin was deceived into withdrawing troops from near Kiev in 2022 by forces claiming to represent Vladimir Zelensky’s willingness to seek peace, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said.

Speaking in an interview with Al Arabiya, Lukashenko said the conflict could have ended quickly in its early stages, when Moscow’s forces were near the Ukrainian capital.

“At the time, not only I, but everyone in the world understood that the war would end quickly with a Russian victory. This was primarily because the Russians were in Kiev,” the Belarusian leader said, according to BelTA.

However, Lukashenko claimed that “certain politicians and forces” then asked Putin to stop, pull troops back from Kiev, and conclude a peace agreement. “Before that withdrawal, everyone understood that Ukraine’s days were numbered.”

The Belarusian president argued that Moscow had been acting on what appeared to be a genuine opportunity to reach a settlement, adding: “Judge for yourselves who was right and who was wrong in this matter.”

“Once again, probably, these forces deceived him. It was the Vatican. And, surprisingly, the Jewish lobby, the Israelis,” Lukashenko said. “They said on behalf of Zelensky: that’s it, we are moving toward peace, we agree. And others as well.”

It was not immediately clear what exactly Lukashenko meant by the “Jewish lobby.” In the early days of the conflict, then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett acted as a mediator between Moscow and Kiev, meeting Putin in Moscow and holding multiple phone calls with Zelensky. Media reports at the time claimed that Bennett had urged Zelensky to accept Moscow’s terms.

Lukashenko also did not elaborate on the Vatican’s alleged role. In March 2022, however, Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill held a video call in which they stressed the “exceptional importance” of the negotiation process.

Moscow and Kiev held several rounds of peace talks in Istanbul in March 2022. Putin said in June 2023 that Ukrainian negotiators had initialed a draft treaty on permanent neutrality and security guarantees, but that Kiev later abandoned the deal after Russian troops pulled back from areas near the Ukrainian capital.

Moscow has argued that Ukraine walked away from the agreement under Western pressure, including from then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who reportedly urged Kiev not to sign any deal with Moscow and to “continue fighting.”

Kiev has disputed Moscow’s account of the failed talks, even though its former chief negotiator, David Arakhamia, has acknowledged Johnson’s role. Ukraine has since formally applied to join NATO and abandoned discussions of neutrality.

June 15, 2026 Posted by | Deception | , , , , | Comments Off on ‘Jewish lobby’ deceived Putin – Lukashenko

The UK Joins the Pirates

By Craig Murray | June 15, 2026

I was genuinely surprised by the Starmer regime’s refusal to state that the Israeli boarding of the Global Sumud flotilla on the High Seas was illegal. I did not realise it was because the UK was planning to undertake similar illegal seizure itself.

The Gaza Flotilla seizure was illegal: while for obvious reasons freedom of navigation had been the undisputed basis of UK maritime policy for centuries. The UK is a set of islands whose population is dependent on food imports to stay alive. Freedom of navigation is a core strategic interest of the UK. The relevant provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea were very heavily UK driven, including on passage through straits.

Abandoning the primacy of freedom of navigation is absolutely a radical policy departure for the UK, driven like so many other changes to traditional British legal positions by the Starmer regime’s extreme support for Israel.

It is not generally understood how profound a change this is. Even the Tory government of David Cameron, with William Hague as Foreign Secretary, had opposed the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and particularly Israeli seizure of vessels on the High Seas. William Hague stated in 2010 to the House of Commons of the boarding of the Mavi Marmara:

We are seriously concerned about the seizure of British nationals in international waters,

This is a long term British legal position now directly repudiated by Starmer, Lammy and Cooper.

I had not realised that not only was the UK now supporting the campaigns of illegal blockade and seizure of vessels being openly pursued by Israel and by Trump, but Starmer was actually intending to abandon freedom of navigation and join the Trump/Netanyahu doctrine.

That is what the UK has now done by its seizure of the Smyrtos as it had passed through the Straits of Dover en route to Sikka in India.

The Dover Strait is a strait. The clue is in the name. The UK has absolutely no right to close it to Russian shipping. This is in Article 39 of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea:

Transit of international straits “shall not be impeded” is pretty plain. This is the applicable legal regime for both the Strait of Dover and the Strait of Hormuz. Obviously in time of war different considerations apply, and commercial shipping of belligerent states – and to and from belligerent states – becomes a legitimate target. Iran is fully justified in also treating states permitting attacks launched from their territory as belligerent states.

If hostilities end this Article 39 regime that should apply again in the Strait of Hormuz.

It is worth a footnote to say that Iran had, until the recent illegal aggression by Israel and the United States, always strictly observed the international law on straits even though Iran did not sign the Convention and actually had entered a formal reservation on passage through straits. Even during the war, Iran had attempted, in extremely difficult circumstances, to establish a system for passage of genuinely neutral vessels.

It is astonishing that at this moment, when navigation of the Strait of Hormuz is arguably the single most live question in all of international politics, the UK has decided to abandon the principle of free transit through straits.

It takes hypocrisy to an entire new level, it truly beggars belief, that the day after closing the Dover Strait to Russian shipping, Starmer issued a joint statement with Germany, France and Italy insisting on “Freedom of Navigation” in the strait of Hormuz.

Even if you don’t care about international law and believe that Trumpian realpolitik is better, to act against freedom of navigation now would seem an unwise decision. The UK is now copying actions like the United States naval blockades of Cuba and Venezuela, and the Israeli genocidal blockade of Gaza. These are gross violations of the Law of the Sea.

UK Government minister Lisa Nandy was on television news last night as the government pumped out militaristic propaganda. The Royal Navy’s action in boarding and capturing an entirely unarmed and peaceful merchant vessel was portrayed as an act of Nelsonian brilliance. Nandy justified the seizure on the grounds that Russia’s oil sales pay for its war with Ukraine, and that the UK was enforcing sanctions against Russia.

Neither provides an atom of legal justification for seizing the vessel. The UK is not at war with Russia. Ukraine is, and the Ukrainian navy would have been entitled to seize the vessel. For reasons of cheap popularity and to increase the massive amounts of public money swirling around the corruption honeypot of military spending, UK ministers seem determined to move us to the brink of war with Russia. But we are still not at war, and the UK accordingly has no right to seize peaceful and innocent Russian bound, owned or flagged commercial vessels.

The UK is legally entitled to put whatever sanctions it wishes on Russia. But it can only enforce those within its legitimate jurisdiction. A foreign vessel, even when engaged in innocent passage or transit passage through a UK strait or other territorial waters, is not under UK jurisdiction. The Smyrtos was in fact in international waters south of the UK when seized.

In fact this attempt to enforce western sanctions in areas where western powers have no jurisdiction is a classical example of the current aggressive resurgence of imperialism, where the “rules based order”, meaning rules imposed by the imperialists, replaces international law.

Nandy also stated that the Smyrtos was a member of the “Russian shadow fleet”. This is a term that the Starmer regime and their client mainstream and corporate media have relied upon repeatedly to demonise the Russian owned or directed merchant fleet.

Russia sells oil to countries like India and China perfectly lawfully. That this oil is carried in ships bearing flags other than Russian is perfectly normal.

Nil or close to nil of those ships carrying hydrocarbons to and from the UK are UK registered and flagged.

It has been a sad truth of international shipping for many decades that commercial vessels bear flags of convenience, and that jurisdictions compete to offer the very lowest standards of crew salary and welfare regulations, officer and crew training, vehicle condition and maritime safety and inspection regimes.

Most of the registries of well-known international flag of convenience states such as Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands, do not really exist in the sense of being government departments of those countries, as they should be. They are private companies with almost no real world footprint, which pay a fee to the government to operate the registry, and collect the fees from the shipowners registering. The register is just names in a laptop – and very often that laptop is in London.

UK colonies often have substantial such fake registries. The UK is a strong opponent of the International Transport Workers Federation, which has struggled against this system to improve mariners’ rights.

The system evolved for wealthy shipowners to avoid all maritime safety, environmental and welfare regulation, and the UK and other western countries which pander to the needs of the ultra wealthy have always been complicit. The incredible hypocrisy of western states pointing fingers at Russia for running “Flags of convenience” is breathtaking.

The West has spent decades building and profiting from the global flags of convenience system. Russia is simply using the same system that Western companies created and still dominate.

Incidentally the MOD’s own propaganda footage, shown by all UK mainstream media yesterday, proves that the Smyrtos is a modern, clean, well-equipped and comfortable vessel and all the propaganda about ancient rustbucket is completely untrue.

I have finally managed to pin down the alleged legal basis of the seizure of the Smyrtos, and it is that the vessel was stateless and thus subject to boarding under Article 110 of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.

The UK is claiming that the Smyrtos fell foul of Article 110.1 (d) that it was “without nationality”.

We will inspect that claim more closely in a moment. But, assuming it for a moment to be true, note that you only have a right to visit and inspect on the High Seas a ship that is without nationality. Article 110 absolutely does not confer any right to seize a ship on the High Seas not found on inspection to be in unlawful activity. The UK has seized the Smyrtos, brought it into UK territorial waters and then claimed it is under UK jurisdiction.

Nowhere is that allowed in the Convention.

Now let us look at the claim that the Smyrtos is without nationality. This is an astonishing story which the media will not tell you.

When the Smyrtos set sail from Russia it was flying the Cameroonian flag, and on the Cameroonian register. That is not in doubt.

While the ship was on its voyage, on 10 June Cameroon withdrew its registration. It did so because the EU and UK threatened to halt development aid to Cameroon unless they removed Russian vessels from their shipping register.

So the UK blackmailed Cameroon into deregistering the ship. Then, before the ship could reach a friendly port, the UK boarded it because it had been deregistered.

Now doubtless there are chortling people in the UK security and military industries self-congratulating themselves over how clever they are. But while this may be a clever ruse de guerre, it is hardly a ruse de paix. It is not going to survive scrutiny by an international court. An unexpected change of registration, forced upon the owners, is very difficult to complete instantly, but doubtless one was in train and perhaps finished. The UK actions are patently – and deliberately – unreasonable.

Politicians seek to drum up cheap popularity by stupid jingoism. Starmer has won a cheap headline. The world inches closer to the next world war. The UK loses yet more legitimacy in the eyes of the wider world.

Meantime Trump claims as a great victory a possible return of the Strait of Hormuz to the open status it enjoyed before he started an illegal war in the interests of Israel.

Freedom of navigation was a principle worth defending. It has been abandoned in favour of a return to the rule of the seas by those with the strongest navies. Fortunately Putin is neither as war hungry nor as politically desperate as Starmer. However Russia will now be obliged to send at least a frigate to keep the Strait of Dover open. The drums of war beat ever closer.

Craig Murray is a former Head of Maritime Section of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He is a former Alternate Head of the UK Delegation at the UN Preparatory Commission for the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

June 15, 2026 Posted by | War Crimes | , , | Comments Off on The UK Joins the Pirates

Israeli government plans to fund extremist occupier group in occupied West Bank with $1.89M: Report

MEMO | June 15, 2026

The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to allocate 5.5 million shekels ($1.89 million) in state funding to the extremist occupier group known as the “Hilltop Youth,” the Yedioth Ahronoth daily said Monday.

The newspaper said the budget was outlined in a document issued by the Settlement and National Missions Ministry, headed by Minister Orit Strock, which will oversee the transfer of funds through regional settlement councils in the occupied West Bank.

The funding plan is scheduled to run from June through the end of the year and totals 5.5 million shekels, it added.

According to the newspaper, each member of the Hilltop Youth movement would receive the equivalent of approximately $550 per month to help cover food, clothing and living expenses for more than 650 youths living in hilltop outposts and pastoral settlement sites across the occupied West Bank.

The Hilltop Youth is an occupier movement whose members primarily live in unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank and are known for opposing efforts to evacuate them.

The group has frequently been linked to attacks against Palestinians and is considered the ideological nucleus of the extremist “Price Tag” movement, which has carried out retaliatory attacks against Palestinians and their property.

Founded in 1998, the movement is largely composed of Israeli occupiers aged between 16 and 26, who left their homes and schools to live in illegal settlement outposts built on hilltops overlooking Palestinian communities.

The group is considered an offshoot of the extremist movement Gush Emunim, which advocates expanded Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.

According to Israeli and Palestinian rights groups, violence by Israeli occupiers in the occupied West Bank has increased significantly in recent years, including attacks on Palestinian communities, farmland and property.

Since Oct. 8, 2023, at least 1,169 Palestinians have been killed, 12,666 injured, around 23,000 arrested and approximately 33,000 displaced in the occupied West Bank amid intensified Israeli military operations and occupier attacks, according to Palestinian figures.

June 15, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Comments Off on Israeli government plans to fund extremist occupier group in occupied West Bank with $1.89M: Report

Press TV reporter wounded in Israeli drone strike on southern Lebanon

Hadi Hoteit, Press TV correspondent in southern Lebanon
Press TV – June 15, 2026

A Press TV correspondent has been struck by an Israeli drone while reporting in southern Lebanon, despite wearing a clearly marked press vest.

Israeli forces deliberately targeted Hadi Hoteit in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Tebnit on Monday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), despite the journalist wearing clearly marked press gear.

Hoteit sustained a shrapnel wound to his foot and was transported to Al-Najda Al-Shaabia Hospital in Nabatieh, where he underwent surgery and is receiving medical treatment.

The NNA reported that the Israeli military fired a shell that landed near the journalist.

The strike comes just one day after Iran and the United States finalized a memorandum of understanding to end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

Despite the announcement, Israeli forces continue to attack areas in southern Lebanon.

Shortly before the attack, Hoteit posted on X, “We are back to South Lebanon, and hopefully the ceasefire this time will be different. This is my understanding of the situation and possible scenarios.”

Also on Monday, an Israeli drone struck another car at a roundabout in Kfar Tebnit, killing one person.

June 15, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , | Comments Off on Press TV reporter wounded in Israeli drone strike on southern Lebanon

Time for Trump to Tell Benjamin Netanyahu to Go Away!

Netanyahu always says “What you own belongs to me”

By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • June 14, 2026

In addition to the regular lethal American and Israeli attacks on Iran, last week alone the Israeli military killed 13 Gazans and 13 Lebanese. Gaza is now 70% Israeli occupied, contrary to what was agreed upon in the ceasefire arrangement, as is much of south Lebanon. More than 1,000 Gazans have been murdered by Israel since the temporary ceasefire was declared in October 2025. And one might add to the toll the constant aggression in south Syria, where Israel is creating an army base presence to be followed by settlers that creeps ever closer to the capital Damascus. It is an encroachment that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his band of war criminals intend to turn into a component of “Greater Israel” together with Gaza and Lebanon.

Armed Jewish settlers are meanwhile devastating what remains of the Palestinian West Bank, destroying farms and livelihoods as well as entire villages. Taybeh, the last Christian village, was made uninhabitable last week after weeks of raids killing livestock, poisoning water and cutting down olive trees. If a Palestinian tried to intervene he was beaten and in some cases killed. Churches and Mosques on the West Bank are routinely desecrated and non-Jews in religious attire or trying to enter a holy site are frequently spat upon particularly in Jerusalem. The Israel Defense Force (IDF), meanwhile, regularly stands by and watches the displays of wanton brutality and does nothing. Lest there be any confusion regarding what is coming, the Knesset has now authorized $51 million to build more than 60 new completely illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

What all these places have in common apart from the cruel Israeli hand is that the United States, often in the form of Trump personally, has been a guarantor of the ceasefires as well as the source of the so-called but utterly dysfunctional Board of Peace, has done nothing to stop the slaughter. Rather, it is continuing to provide Israel with weapons, money and political cover. It is therefore complicit in the war crimes. Here at home, Trump is promoting the Israeli program by supporting the criminalization of anyone who speaks up against the crimes against humanity being committed by his “best friend” Bibi, choosing to destroy freedom of speech rather than allowing any exposure of Israel’s crimes. This is reminiscent of June 8th 1967, when Israel attacked the USS Liberty, killing 34 American crewmen and injuring 172 more. A cover-up followed to protect Israel, coordinated by President Lyndon B Johnson, a hideous excuse for a human being who would likely have found it pleasant to have a chat about “values” with Trump.

If there is one thing that is most definitely true it is that the United States gains absolutely nothing in either the national interest nor in the well being of the average American from the bondage to Israel and Netanyahu. If opinion polls mean anything, the public in the US has figured that out and has turned sharply against the Jewish state and now favors both the Palestinian cause and the drive to end the totally meaningless war against Iran. That means that it is past time for the United States to cut the tie that binds with Israel and look to its own interests. That is necessary even if Congress and President Donald Trump continue to push in the opposite direction to complete their subjugation by the Israelis, which now includes a planned fusion of the US and Israeli defense and intel bureaucracies.

If we have learned anything from all of the above and more, there is one thing true about the President Donald Trump administration and that is its particular incompetence at foreign relations, i.e. how it deals with other nations, and, by extension, how it mismanages national security. Part of the blame surely belongs to Trump himself as he has little or no empathy for other human beings unless they are either capable of doing him harm or profiting him personally, as do Netanyahu and the Jewish billionaires. And he also has a tendency to change direction spontaneously and without much concern for the actual issues that might be important to his audience. All that matters is whatever he happens to think will make him look good at any given moment, which recently has manifested itself as plastering his own name on public buildings. Responding to a recent journalist’s question about the rising inflation rate, he answered that he “Loved the inflation!” It was like saying “Goodbye midterms!”

Witness for example how on Thursday last week Trump announced in the morning that he would be attacking Iran that night to seize its major oil export facility on Kharg Island as part of a plan to cripple the country’s ability to sustain energy shipments. By 2 o’clock in the afternoon, however, he had called off the planned attack due to his perception that the US and Iran are now on the verge of an agreement to end the fighting and settle the various issues that have created the conflict in the first place. The mediating Pakistani Prime Minister did, for what it’s worth, confirm a possible peace agreement on Friday even though knowledgeable observers immediately commented that the claim was unsustainable as no negotiations were actually going on between parties and Iran has denied any such progress over key issues. As of Saturday, nothing was confirmed but Trump again asserted that there would be a “signing” of a “memorandum of understanding” as a first step to a peace agreement on Sunday, presumably to coincide with his birthday. Most observers however continue to argue that a weak-kneed and vulnerable Trump, though desperate to disengage from a disastrous Iran war, is only staying with it due to intense pressure from Israel and its domestic US lobby which may be prepared to employ “Epstein” blackmail on the president to maintain American participation in the conflict. If Trump were even to consider withdrawing from his ring of fire around Iran Israel would immediately take whatever steps are necessary to blow-up the agreement and resume fighting, be it by way of a false flag to drag the US back in or possibly exploiting the “Iran has a nuke” lie.

So it would be wise to accept that Donald Trump is a ship without a rudder and interactions with most of the Middle East will continue to be driven by Israel while bilateral talks elsewhere with major players like Russia and China appear to have dried up completely. Appointing real estate billionaires Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner as personal presidential representatives, both of whom are inexperienced and ardent Zionists, certainly did not improve prospects for what passed for negotiations with anyone. No one can trust Trump.

Israel’s reach far exceeds the country’s size and real power. A recent “friend” of Trump is Argentine Prime Minister Javier Milei, who, surprise-surprise, is also a great friend of Israel, having made the usual obeisance trip to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem during a State Visit to Israel shortly after being elected. Raised a Catholic, Milei reportedly wanted to convert to Judaism but decided not to as its “no work on Saturday” rule would have interfered with serving as prime minister. Not content with taking all the Middle East, Israel’s Jews are also looking farther afield. Patagonia in Argentina has reportedly been particularly targeted by Israeli buyers with the assistance of the Milei regime which helped get around environmental restrictions. Israelis are also buying up numerous properties in Cyprus as well as in Greece, nearby states which would be convenient as refuges if Israel finally provokes one too many of its neighbors and it finds itself on the receiving end of a nuke. Benjamin Netanyahu’s resident American spy Jonathan Pollard reportedly has mentioned both Turkey and Egypt as “next” to feel the wrath of Zion after Iran is finished off. Either army could easily defeat the chickenshits in the Israeli army who are better at raping and torturing than they are at fighting.

But one story that has caught some attention illustrates clearly the Israeli manic desire to steal other peoples’ property, most particularly land, no matter what it takes to carry out the theft. As is always the case, they are not held accountable for their criminality by Donald Trump who has his own soft spot for stealing the property of others and chooses to cut corners, witness the grandiose plans for a Trump Riviera luxury development on the beachfront of Gaza. And then there are the current shenanigans on an island off Albania which is being multi-billion dollar “developed” by daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner using United Arab Emirates (UAE) cash to become a major resort for the rich and famous. Kushner got the money as a benefit derived from his family connection and fortunately a lot of Albanians are mad as hell about the deal that was struck and are demonstrating!

But the story out of the United States and Canada as well as over the weekend in London tops many of the Trump/Israeli tricks due to its sheer audacity and criminality. Amnesty International UK is demanding the British government stop a real estate event scheduled to take place in London that includes companies openly advertising the sale of land in Israeli settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank.

The ‘Great Israeli Real Estate Event’ is a traveling roadshow that has held events in Canada and the United States and has now been planning for the sale in London on Sunday. The events are organized by Israeli real estate firm called My Home in Israel. It sells land to prospective buyers through a team of US-based real estate agents with the sales normally taking place in synagogues or other Jewish-owned and operated buildings. There have inevitably been protests against the sales in cities like Los Angeles and New York, where the “lots” have been promoted to the local Jewish communities. The lots being sold include considerable sections located in illegal settlements on the Palestinian West Bank, land that has been stolen from its owners. The Amnesty International report published last week in opposition to the London show exposed Israel’s state-led ethnic cleansing campaign in the West Bank – “documenting the displacement of at least 5,910 Palestinian Bedouin and herding community members since 2023, the demolition of over 3,400 homes and structures in [Palestinian West Bank] Area C, and an unprecedented surge in state-backed settler violence and land grabs.”

So there you have it, whatever Israel wants Israel takes without any concern for those who die or lose their homes in the process. And the United States government sits by and watches as Netanyahu spins lie after lie. Well, enough is enough. America is hated almost as much as Israel for its behavior and if it continues there will be severe consequences. Time to show Netanyahu the door and tell him and his supporting cast of AIPAC and Jewish billionaire buddies to get the hell out.

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is https://councilforthenationalinterest.org address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.

June 15, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Comments Off on Time for Trump to Tell Benjamin Netanyahu to Go Away!

Israeli officials: ‘Security zones’ to remain in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza

Al Mayadeen | June 15, 2026

Israeli War Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli army will continue to hold so-called “security zones” in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza indefinitely, asserting that what he described as border security requirements take precedence over any political or diplomatic arrangements.

He stated that the policy is being pursued in coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that the IOF would remain deployed in these areas without a defined timeline.

According to Katz, the stated objective of maintaining these zones is to prevent what he described as threats from armed groups operating near the borders.

He said Israeli forces would remain in the “security zones” in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza in order to protect Israeli settlements and border areas, framing the deployments as a defensive necessity to mask its colonial nature.

“We will not compromise on the vital interests of Israel’s security and the protection of our citizens, and we will not leave the security zones,” Katz said.

He also stated that this position had been communicated to US President Donald Trump, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other senior officials.

Netanyahu signals rejection of withdrawal from Lebanon

Separately, Israeli media cited officials close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that he informed Trump that “Israel” does not intend to withdraw from Lebanon under any emerging understandings linked to regional negotiations.

According to these reports, Israeli forces will remain in their current positions in southern Lebanon and continue what Tel Aviv describes as operations aimed at preventing threats from Hezbollah.

Netanyahu also reportedly rejected any linkage between developments on the Lebanese front and broader US-Iran diplomatic arrangements, insisting that “Israel” would not be bound by agreements affecting its military posture.

Internal political backing for hardline stance

Israeli political figures across the governing coalition expressed support for maintaining occupation deployments in Lebanon and other theaters.

“Israel’s” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was quoted in Israeli media as arguing that any attempt to connect the Lebanese and Iranian fronts should be resisted, while also emphasizing the importance of preserving military deterrence without direct confrontation with Washington.

Other ministers, including Itamar Ben-Gvir, reportedly stated that any US-brokered agreement with Iran would not be binding on “Israel”, asserting that Tel Aviv would continue to determine its own security policy independently.

Energy Minister Eli Cohen and Transport Minister Miri Regev also stressed the need to maintain what they described as clear deterrence while avoiding unnecessary escalation with the US administration.

June 15, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Comments Off on Israeli officials: ‘Security zones’ to remain in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza

Israel Fails to Sabotage Islamabad Accord… At Least for Now

By Larry C. Johnson | SONAR21 | June 14, 2026 

Well, when news broke that Israel had bombed the southern suburb of Beirut on Sunday afternoon, the Iranians started gearing up for promised retaliation only to be dissuaded by a Donald Trump bribe. Iran and the US reportedly were closing in on an agreement based on Iran’s 14-point plan when the Israeli strike in Lebanon threw everything into chaos. Iran quickly started ramping up for a renewed missile strike on Israel, but Donald Trump rump reportedly offered Iran financial incentives to not attack Israel.

Iranian media outlet Mehr reported that a 14-point memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran calls for the release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets during a 60-day negotiation period, with half of that — $12 billion — required to be made available to Iran before negotiations even begin. The MOU also reportedly includes immediate and permanent cessation of war on all fronts including Lebanon, a US commitment not to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs, lifting of the naval blockade within 30 days, and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian arrangements.

Trump essentially offered Iran a bribe to not attack Israel. Hedeclared on Truth Social that the US deal with Iran was “now complete,” authorizing the toll-free reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the immediate removal of the US.naval blockade, instead of waiting 30 days. He also agreed that Iran could receive the $12 billion as soon as the ceasefire agreement was signed on Friday.

With that change, the Supreme National Security Council of Iran confirmed the achievement of an agreement between the United States and Iran:

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, under the leadership of its martyred leader, has completed its success over the American-Zionist enemy and, under the guidance of the Supreme Leader of the system (may God protect him), with the support of the entire nation and the diligent efforts of Islam’s warriors, after a difficult and intensive several months of negotiations and based on the resolution of the Supreme National Security Council, finalized the text of the Memorandum of Understanding regarding negotiations to end the war (negotiations in Islamabad) between Iran and the United States on the evening of June 14.

According to the agreements reached, the war and military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, will end immediately and forever from tonight, and the naval blockade against Iran will be immediately and fully lifted. The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding will be officially carried out on Friday, June 19. Negotiations for the final agreement will be postponed until the other party fulfills its obligations in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding. The Islamic Republic of Iran highly values the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the government of Qatar.”

But before you start popping champagne corks you must understand that Trump administration officials — mostly unnamed — are painting a different picture of the agreement. For example, asenior U.S. official rejected Iran’s claim that it would receive $12 billion in frozen assets unconditionally before the start of the 60-day negotiations, describing the assertion as “a spin,” Axios reports:

This is completely not true. This is a pay-for-performance deal, and no frozen funds will be released without the Iranians implementing their commitments,” the official said.

The point is simple… Major differences remain between the US and Iran regarding the details of the proposed MOU. Even if those details are eventually ironed out and a letter signed on Friday with both sides confirming their mutual agreement to the 14 prinicipals spelled out in the final MOU, this will mark the start of a negotiations process that will last at least two months, if not longer. And, at any time in the succeeding days, a US or Israeli violation of the MOU will likely lead Iran to renew its attacks on Israeli and/or US military targets.

June 15, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Comments Off on Israel Fails to Sabotage Islamabad Accord… At Least for Now

Araghchi: US Responsible for Implementing MoU with Iran

Al-Manar | June 15, 2026

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has stressed the US’ responsibility regarding the implementation of the MoU with Iran as well as a complete halt to the Israeli regime’s attacks against Lebanon.

Araghchi made the remarks in his separate phone calls with Turkish, Iraq, and Egyptian counterparts Hakan Fidan, Fuad Hussein, and Badr Abdelatty.

He reviewed the process and provisions of the Islamabad understanding and lauded the positions and role of Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt in supporting the establishment of a ceasefire, reducing tensions, and diplomatic efforts to achieve stability and security in the region.

All sides emphasized the continuation of close consultations on regional developments and strengthening diplomatic efforts to maintain peace and stability.

Iran and the United States, after announcing a ceasefire on April 8, 2026, began negotiations with the mediation of Pakistan to definitively end the war.

The text of the memorandum of understanding that was signed, the foundation of which was Iran’s 14-point proposals at the very beginning of the ceasefire, was reviewed multiple times over the past 60 days in the capitals of the two countries.

Despite all the pressures, the violation of the ceasefire, and the repeated changes of position by the United States, Iran persisted in its stances.

After signing the MoU text, the two countries will put a series of intensive negotiations on their agenda over the next 60 days in order to reach a comprehensive agreement on the disputed issues.

June 15, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , | Comments Off on Araghchi: US Responsible for Implementing MoU with Iran

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »