John Mearsheimer: Toward All-Out War With Both Russia & Iran
Glenn Diesen | May 18, 2026
Prof. John Mearsheimer discusses the West going up the escalation ladder against both Russia and Iran, with all-out war as the logical conclusion.
Press TV – May 20, 2026
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has rejected as totally “baseless” the US Central Command (CENTCOM)’s narrative regarding the missile strike on Minab’s Shajareh Tayyebeh school, saying the US is attempting to shun accountability for the massacre of more than 170 students and teachers.
In a post on his X account early Wednesday, Esmaeil Baghaei said that the “claim by US Central Command (CENTCOM) that the targeted #Shajareh_Tayyebeh Elementary School in #Minab was located within a ‘missile launch facility’ is a baseless fabrication and an appalling lie.”
On the very first day of the unprovoked war of aggression by a US-Israeli military coalition on February 28, US Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Elementary School in Minab, in southern Iran, killing at least 175 people, most of them schoolgirls.
Baghaei’s remarks came after Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, claimed during a House committee hearing that the school was located near an active Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) cruise missile base.
“This shameless distortion is a clear attempt to obscure the severe reality of the 28 February missile attacks, which resulted in the tragic slaughtering of over 170 school children and their teachers,” Baghaei stressed.
“Targetting an active educational institution during school hours constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and is a clear war crime. The civilian nature of the site cannot be obscured by technical misrepresentations.
“The military commanders and United States authorities responsible for ordering and executing this catastrophic assault must be held fully accountable under international law,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman emphasized.
Multiple independent investigations, including visual analyses by CBC News and satellite imagery from Planet Labs, revealed a pattern of precision-guided munitions striking the school.
Former Pentagon targeting expert Wes Bryant concluded the attack was “absolutely deliberately targeted.” Leaked preliminary US military findings cited “outdated targeting data” as a factor.
Despite this, President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that “that was done by Iran, because they’re very inaccurate with their munitions.” Days later, when shown video of a US Tomahawk missile striking the site, Trump said “I haven’t seen it” and falsely asserted Iran possesses Tomahawks.
US war secretary Pete Hegseth told the BBC: “The only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
Five former US officials have criticized the Pentagon’s unprecedented lack of transparency, with Rep. Adam Smith calling Pentagon responses “pathetic and completely inadequate.”
Republican Senator John Kennedy broke with the administration, saying: “I think we made a mistake. It was a terrible, terrible mistake.” Former officials attribute the deflection to a “reluctance” to contradict Trump after he blamed Iran, a claim described as “really far-fetched and very clearly not true.”
The administration’s efforts to recast a school with children’s murals and a sports field as a military target continue as the investigation nears three months with no admission of responsibility.
By Kurt Nimmo | Another Day in the Empire | May 20, 2026
Not long after a couple kids shot up a mosque in San Diego, the Jewish American Security Act (JASA) was rolled out in the Senate by two uniparty “representatives,” Jacky Rosen (Democrat faction) and James Lankford (Republican faction).
From the Jewish Insider :
Rosen, leaders from the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee and BBYO International and local leaders whose communities have been impacted by antisemitic violence in recent years spoke in favor of the bill at a Jewish Federations of North America press conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. JFNA activists are on Capitol Hill this week meeting with more than 200 lawmakers to advocate for the bill and other legislation.
Rosen and Lankford are paid handsomely to violate your free speech. AIPAC gave Rosen $2,253,099 and Lankford received $311,655.
While you may have a difficult time filling up your car for the commute to work and are deep into foreclosure as a credit card burns a hole in your wallet, rest assured your uniparty “representatives” are poised to fork over a billion dollars in “federal support for security personnel costs that Jewish communities are forced to bear,” according to the Jewish Federations of North America.
There is not much you can do about it. Now that Thomas Massie was thrown out of Congress and a bought-and-paid-for AIPAC simp was put in his place, both chambers of the uniparty are that much closer to complete fealty to a tiny outlaw nation.
In addition to “addressing antisemitism [antizionism] on college campuses,” JASA will make sure you don’t say mean things online about ethnosupremacist baby killers. The proposed law promises to address the “spread of antisemitism online by requiring new transparency reports from social media companies.”
Addressing antisemitism online, the bill requires platforms with more than 50 million unique monthly American users to submit to the Federal Trade Commission and to share publicly a transparency report on their “content moderation practices and efforts to detect, remove, limit the visibility of, and prevent the amplification of antisemitic content” on their platform, twice each year.
The “transparency report” on social media users outraged over genocide, the murder of paramedics, journalists, and activists in Gaza and Lebanon
would include details on the specific review mechanisms and content moderation tools the platforms use; the total number of pieces of content on the platform that were determined to violate their policies on antisemitism and what action the platforms took; the amount of antisemitic content that reached more than 100 viewers or was promoted by the platform’s algorithms; the percentage of antisemitic content that violated the platforms’ policies but remained online; and details on accounts that were suspended or removed for sharing antisemitic content.
“Platforms that do not comply with these reporting requirements would be subject to penalties by the FTC.”
The suspicious shooting in San Diego and a subsequent “manifesto” were perfectly timed to inject urgency into JASA and additional legislation designed to banish and criminalize criticism of Israel’s crimes against humanity.
The teenager Caleb Vazquez, said to be the author of the manifesto, defined himself as a “Third Positionist,” an advocate of the Third Position, a far-right political ideology that rejects both capitalism and communism and is said to be tied to fascist movements. “I’d call myself a Third Positionist specifically aligning most with Nationalist Socialism and Eco Fascism though any Third Positionism especially those that prioritize its people, nationalism, racial homogeneity, nature, traditionalist ideals, etc.,” Vasquez allegedly wrote.
I find it rather unusual that an 18-year old kid would be this politically astute, but then maybe he was a genius or an idiot savant.
The suicidal manifesto writer name-drops John Earnest, the racist Poway synagogue shooter; Patrick Crusius, the white supremacist El Paso shooter; Phillip Manhaus, the Norwegian shooter at the Al-Noor Islamic Center; and Stephan Balliet, the German perpetrator of the Halle synagogue shooting. He also mentions “Saint Tarrant,” aka Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.
“The number one goal of this New Crusade is to restart and bring back the momentum that Saint Tarrant had started, to convince many other would be Saints that the time is now, and most importantly to kick start the race war,” Vasquez writes.
Everyone has their own idea of who is to blame for all the wrong in the world, they will say its the government, the elite, the rich, the politicians, the 1%, the left, the right, the capitalists, the communists, the illuminati, the fags and trannies, the immigrants, and many more. All of them can be traced back to be or be caused by one group, the jews.
“IT’S THE JEWS,” he writes in all caps. “The Jews across all of time have been behind an EXTREMELY disproportionate amount of the world’s problems… There is no moderate option to this problem, they’ll always rise back to power or do the same again wherever you exile them to, for any sane man seeing all this the only logical solution would be to just kill them all,” he concludes.
It really is remarkable how the shooting in San Diego, Vasquez’s supposed manifesto, and JASA dovetail to create a perfect storm aimed at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
“In politics,” FDR said, “nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” I don’t have definitive evidence that the San Diego shooting was a psyop designed to push through legislation that violates the natural right of free speech, but it sure looks that way.
Press TV – May 20, 2026
Iran reports increased ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz under new arrangements to facilitate transit via the key Persian Gulf waterway.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Wednesday that a total of 26 ships had passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours.
The IRGC Navy’s command, which controls the Strait in cooperation with the Iranian Army, said in a statement that the ships that passed through the Strait during the period included “oil tankers, container ships, and other commercial vessels”.
The statement said that all passages had taken place in coordination with the IRGC Navy, adding that the force had ensured the security of passage through the waterway.
It said transit is currently flowing through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the IRGC Navy, and after ships obtain permits from the force.
The passage of 26 ships marks a major increase compared to transit rates in the Strait since the beginning of US-Israeli aggression against Iran in late February, which prompted Iranian military forces to take control of the waterway and impose restrictions on shipping through it.
The restrictions have caused a major surge in international energy and commodity prices, as the Strait is responsible for a fifth of global oil demand.
Iran said after a ceasefire was announced to halt the aggression on April 8 that it would continue to control transit via the Strait of Hormuz by banning or restricting adversarial ships and charging tolls on others seeking safe passage.
The country has also indicated that it would be ready to reopen the Strait as part of a deal that ensures the permanent end of the US-Israeli aggression and lifts all sanctions and blockades on the country.
By Alan Mosley | The Libertarian Institute | May 20, 2026
If Thomas Massie were president, there would be no American involvement in the war in Iran. Rep. Massie (R-KY) introduced a bipartisan resolution barring “unauthorized hostilities” against Iran and said flatly that, “The ongoing war between Israel and Iran is not our war.” Massie respects the Constitution: Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 grants Congress the exclusive power to declare war. A Massie presidency would not begin hostilities at the behest of a foreign nation and then pretend the War Powers Resolution clock never started when Iran didn’t turn out like Venezuela (which he also wouldn’t have started).
If Thomas Massie were president, Americans wouldn’t be funding Ukrainian oligarchs to the tune of billions of dollars. He said, “We shouldn’t send another penny to Ukraine,” and demanded an audit before another dollar moved. Congress, meanwhile, appropriated more than $174 billion for Ukraine-related purposes through FY 2024, passed another $60.84 billion package in April 2024, and oversight bodies documented serious tracking failures for sensitive equipment. A government that cannot account for what it sends abroad has not earned the moral right to demand more from taxpayers at home.
If Thomas Massie were president, there would be no more regime change wars, period. Years before Iran returned to the front page, Massie was already trying to block unauthorized aid to Syrian rebels, restrain intervention in Yemen, require congressional authorization for any action in Venezuela, and later withdraw the United States from NATO. The antiwar right is perfectly encapsulated by the non-interventionist foreign policy supported first by Dr. Ron Paul, and now by Massie. America First means supporting the troops, and supporting the troops means not sending them to police the world.
If Thomas Massie were president, a foreign government (Israel) wouldn’t control America. Massie voted against Israel’s 2024 supplemental, proposed forcing politically active organizations that principally advance foreign interests to register under FARA, and argued that federal officeholders should disclose dual citizenship and abstain from votes uniquely benefiting those countries. It was when Massie told Tucker Carlson about his colleagues in Washington having an “AIPAC Guy,” a handler to make sure they were always putting Israel’s interests first, that the Rubicon had been crossed. Israeli billionaires would then make the Republican primary in Kentucky’s 4th district the most expensive such race in America. To be Israel First is to be America Last.
If Thomas Massie were president, Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators would be in jail. He forced the U.S. House to vote on releasing the full Epstein files, gathered the signatures to bring the measure to the floor, and said Americans deserve to know “who’s implicated, and how deep this corruption goes.” Massie said we would know the movement to release the Epstein Files was a success when “rich men… powerful men are being perp-walked to the jail.” Such men have faced consequences abroad, but not in America. The Epstein class is politically active in the States.
If Thomas Massie were president, there would be no FISA Section 702, no warrantless spying on Americans. He has spent a decade attacking the “backdoor” searches that let intelligence agencies rummage through Americans’ communications without a warrant, and he warned in 2025 that, “The intelligence agencies will use these loopholes to spy on Americans.” His Republican colleagues were urged to unite behind extending Section 702, and Congress promptly bought more time for the program. A President Massie would be among the first since the days of Jefferson to repeal and restrict executive power, even when (or especially when) that executive is himself.
If Thomas Massie were president, there would be no automobile kill switch mandates. Massie authored a 2026 amendment to block federal funding for the impaired-driving technology mandate born in the 2021 infrastructure law, and he argued that a car should not become “your judge, your jury, and your executioner.” Regulators may prefer cleaner language, but the civil-liberties dispute is obvious enough: should Washington require vehicles to monitor drivers and intervene? Massie’s answer is no, and instead of being celebrated for voting to defund the Biden-era legislation, it became yet another grievance of those who prefer safety over liberty.
If Thomas Massie were president, there would have been no federal COVID mandates. He sued to end the CDC’s air-travel mask order, introduced legislation to terminate the vaccine mandate for international travelers, and condemned the “faceless bureaucrats” behind edicts Congress never enacted. The courts later blocked OSHA’s vaccine-or-test rule for large employers, and CMS eventually withdrew its healthcare-worker vaccine mandate. Massie was right earlier than most, and louder than nearly everyone who later pretended the whole episode had simply been an understandable excess.
If Thomas Massie were president, there wouldn’t have been record federal gun control prosecutions. His legislative instinct runs in the opposite direction: national constitutional carry, repeal of the Gun-Free School Zones Act, and fewer federal crimes piled onto conduct that the Second Amendment was written to protect. That outlook is irreconcilable with a Justice Department mentality that boasts it will “pursue every firearms case referred.” A Massie administration would treat gun ownership as a liberty to be secured, not as a pretext for one more bureaucratic dragnet.
If Thomas Massie were president, the national debt wouldn’t be $39 trillion and rising by trillions each year. Massie has spent years voting against omnibus bills and continuing resolutions, and he now calls the continuing resolutions ritual a “fake fight,” because both parties preserve the machinery that drives borrowing higher. The Biden-era spending levels were not only cut, but refusing to rubber-stamp said spending created yet more friction between him and the supposed party of “fiscal conservatism.” The 2025 tax-and-spending package was projected to add roughly $3.8 trillion more over a decade. In Washington, insolvency is bipartisan, but a President Massie would veto such bills, challenging Congress to keep trying until it could either balance the budget, or embrace shutdown.
If Thomas Massie were president, gas prices would be cheaper. His politics point toward more supply, fewer regulatory affectations, and less willingness to destabilize oil-producing regions in the name of grand strategy. In Congress he backed cross-border energy infrastructure, while current inflation data show energy prices surging and gasoline costs jumping as the Iran war drove up oil. A government that constrains energy at home and jeopardizes it abroad should not affect surprise when the reckoning arrives at the pump.
If Thomas Massie were president, grocery store prices would be cheaper. He has long argued that Washington makes food needlessly dear by burdening local production and intrastate processing, backing the PRIME Act, interstate raw-milk legislation, and country-of-origin transparency. USDA still shows food-at-home prices above year-earlier levels, and Federal Reserve research has noted that modern food inflation is driven heavily by supply-chain and processing costs, not merely by raw commodities. Massie attacks the most important problem facing everyday Americans, cost of living, from multiple angles, be it tackling inflation or clearing the path between producers and consumers.
If Thomas Massie were president, the swamp wouldn’t be bigger than ever. He calls out the political theater of Washington, attacks taxpayer-funded censorship programs, presses for foreign-agent transparency, and treats debt monetization as a racket and a ponzi scheme. In his view, the swamp is manned from all corners of DC: lobbyists, bureaucracies, intelligence agencies, subsidy-seekers, and legislators. A Massie presidency would work to dismantle the managerial state which is full to bursting with progressive lifers who somehow manage to retain their positions with each passing administration, both Democrat and Republican alike.
But with Donald Trump as president, the opposite is true. Under Trump, America enjoys new wars along with its decades-long police actions. It features extensions for spying apparati, even those used against Trump. It stares at $40 trillion in debt, not only without tapping the brakes, but with calls for even more spending. It navigates an evolving narrative on Epstein from releasing the files, to calling them a hoax, to then attacking those who demand justice. Above all else, America under President Trump puts the needs of Israel before the needs of its own citizens. And should a single Congressman from rural Kentucky both say America First and mean it, then he is Public Enemy #1.
If only Thomas Massie were president and not exiting Congress.
Press TV – May 19, 2026
The Kata’ib Hezbollah resistance movement has warned the Amman government against ongoing reconnaissance missions launched by the United States and Israel from Jordanian soil against Iraqi resistance fighters, particularly the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).
“In the wake of unfolding developments across the region and US-Israeli actions against Iraq’s security and stability, the enemies are aggressively seeking to escalate tensions against the (Iraqi) resistance front and the PMU,” Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, the security chief of the group, said in a statement on Monday evening.
He warned that the patience of heroic resistance fighters in the face of blatant Israeli violations of ceasefire agreements and recurrent acts of aggression against Iraq’s national sovereignty is about to run out.
Assaf noted that the bulk of US and Israeli surveillance missions are being launched from Jordan, warning that this serves as a prelude for attacks against Iraq.
The Jordanian government, therefore, is strongly advised to take lessons from missile and drone operations conducted in retaliation for the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, as “patience is starting to run out,” the senior Kata’ib Hezbollah official emphasized.
He further said that the US and Israel, based on received information, are preparing for a fresh round of strikes against commanders of Iraqi resistance groups and the PMU, commonly known by its Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi.
Assaf warned Washington and Tel Aviv against any strikes on Iraq, stressing that the response to such a folly would be comprehensive, and the United States would have to shoulder responsibility for all serious repercussions in such a case.
The remarks come as US military aircraft have been scrambling over the past few days to transfer personnel and munitions from one military installation to another across Iraq.
Al Mayadeen | May 19, 2026
China reaffirmed its support for Cuba on Tuesday, condemning US sanctions and calling on Washington to end coercive measures against the island nation, Global Times reported.
Speaking during a regular press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Beijing opposes unilateral sanctions that are not authorized under international law and expressed support for Cuba’s efforts to protect its sovereignty and national security.
“China has consistently opposed illegal unilateral sanctions lacking basis in international law,” Lin stated, while urging the United States to “immediately end its blockade against Cuba and all forms of coercion and pressure.”
He further accused Washington of undermining the Cuban people’s rights to development and basic living conditions.
Cuba targeted
The remarks came after Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned Monday that Cuba was facing threats of military aggression from the United States, describing such threats as an international crime that could lead to bloodshed and destabilize regional peace.
Díaz-Canel stressed that Cuba does not seek aggression against any country, including the United States, but said the island has been subjected to “multidimensional aggression” by Washington and therefore possesses the legitimate right to self-defense.
The diplomatic dispute follows a new round of sanctions announced Monday by the US Department of the Treasury targeting nine individuals allegedly linked to Cuba’s intelligence services.
US weighs intervention
The latest tensions also come days after reports emerged alleging that senior officials within the Trump administration were examining possible regime-change options against Cuba. Reports published over the weekend claimed US officials had discussed scenarios ranging from intensified pressure campaigns to potential military action, while another report said a criminal indictment against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro was under consideration.
Separately, reports published early Tuesday said Washington was evaluating broader military contingency plans after concluding that sanctions and fuel restrictions had failed to force political concessions from Havana.
Cuban authorities have repeatedly rejected US accusations and described Washington’s sanctions regime as an economic blockade designed to worsen living conditions on the island.
Press TV – May 19, 2026
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif says that a resumption of the US‑Israeli war on Iran is unlikely given the widespread global opposition and lack of public support in the United States for another war in West Asia.
In an interview with Geo News’ “Capital Talk” program on Monday, Asif said Israel strongly desires the war to restart and be fought by America on its side, but “my hunch says that this war will not happen again.”
“Wars are fought when the public stands behind them. When the public does not support them, wars are not fought,” he added.
The defense minister noted that even Iran’s neighbors across the Persian Gulf are not in favor of aggression against the Islamic Republic.
He highlighted Pakistan’s ancient linguistic and neighborly ties with Iran and expressed gratitude for Tehran’s trust in Islamabad’s mediation efforts.
Israel ‘left alone’ as world rejects war
Asif argued that Israel has been left alone in its push for a prolonged conflict.
“Israel or maybe two or three countries want the war to be prolonged and for America to fight on their behalf,” he said, stressing that the overwhelming international mood is against it.
He said the positions of China and Russia are very clear in that they, along with other nations, are not supporters of war against Iran.
The defense minister also praised Iran’s strong spirit during the imposed war, which began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched joint assaults that assassinated Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and targeted civilian infrastructure.
Trump still threatens military action
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened that military action remains possible if diplomacy fails.
On Monday, Trump said he had paused plans for a major assault at the request of Persian Gulf Arab allies, but threatened to launch a “full, large‑scale assault” if no agreement is reached.
Despite the recurring threats, Iran has consistently rejected US proposals that undermine its sovereignty.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed on Monday that exchanges with Washington continue through Pakistani mediation, with Tehran having conveyed its concerns.
Glenn Diesen | May 18, 2026
Trita Parsi is the co-founder and Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Parsi discusses why a peace deal can be achieved, yet it seems more likely that the US will restart the war.
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Glenn Diesen | May 18, 2026
Prof. John Mearsheimer discusses the West going up the escalation ladder against both Russia and Iran, with all-out war as the logical conclusion.
Press TV – May 18, 2026
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has said that any possible agreement with the US must ensure an end to the war on all fronts and lift the naval blockade and sanctions imposed against the country.
Gharibabadi laid out Iran’s conditions for an agreement with the United States to end the war as he briefed members of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Monday, according to Ebrahim Rezae, the committee’s spokesman.
Rezaei said the deputy foreign minister updated lawmakers on the ongoing indirect negotiations between Iran and the US and the proposals exchanged between the two sides through Pakistan.
“Gharibabadi emphasizes that in any possible agreement, [it must be stipulated that] the war must end on all fronts, including Lebanon, US forces must withdraw from the region surrounding Iran, the naval blockade must be lifted, sanctions must be cancelled, and Iranian assets must be released,” the spokesman said.
He quoted Gharibabadi as saying that the Islamic Republic has sent its latest proposal to the American side, and is yet to receive an official response.
The deputy foreign minister also stressed that it was the US that requested a ceasefire and negotiations, and that the Islamic Republic never sought negotiations with Washington during this war.
“It was also emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the definitive winner of the 40-day war, and that the United States and the Zionist regime were defeated,” Rezaei said.
According to Rezaei’s remarks, the commission’s members presented their suggestions during the session and stressed that Iran’s negotiating team should not back down from the Iranian nation’s legitimate demands and should negotiate “from a victorious position”.
They warned of the US history of breaking promises, including its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), calling for the continuation of Iran’s management of the Strait of Hormuz and the official recognition of this role.
Meanwhile, the commission’s members also rejected the UAE’s hostile actions and called for a “serious” response to the UAE.
They also emphasized the need to pursue justice for the assassination of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, in international forums and courts, stating that “diplomacy should be used to stabilize the capacities resulting from the war.”
The US and Israel started a fresh round of aerial aggression on Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country.
Iran began to swiftly retaliate against the strikes by launching barrages of missiles and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases and interests in regional countries.
On April 8, a Pakistan-brokered temporary ceasefire between Iran and the US took effect. However, subsequent peace negotiations in Islamabad ultimately stalled amid Washington’s maximalist demands and insistence on unreasonable positions.
Al Mayadeen | May 18, 2026
Tehran has signaled that, under Iran’s sovereign rights over its territorial seabed, the country could regulate optical fiber cables crossing the Strait of Hormuz through permits, oversight mechanisms, and transit fees, highlighting the strategic importance of the waterway in global communications and finance, Iran’s Fars News Agency has reported.
Iran could require sovereign permits, impose oversight measures, and levy fees on subsea communications infrastructure passing through the strategic waterway, as per the report.
The report underscores the growing geopolitical importance of undersea digital networks alongside the strait’s longstanding role in global energy transit.
Fiber-optic cables routed through the Strait of Hormuz facilitate more than $10tn in daily financial transactions worldwide, the news agency reported, citing a report by the UK-based Policy Exchange research center. The corridor reportedly serves as a critical link connecting Gulf states, Asia, and Europe through high-capacity telecommunications systems.
Iran’s subsea leverage
The agency further warned that any disruption involving protected dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) cables in the strait could trigger substantial economic fallout, with losses potentially reaching tens or hundreds of millions of dollars per day through direct and indirect impacts on regional and global markets.
The report comes as Iran is reportedly looking to expand its control over the Strait of Hormuz by eyeing the vast network of subsea communication cables running beneath the vital waterway amid the US-Israeli ongoing threats.
Following a successful demonstration of leverage during recent US-Israeli aggression, Iranian officials and state-linked media are now focusing on underwater internet infrastructure that carries major volumes of global digital and financial traffic between Europe, Asia, and the Gulf.
Iranian authorities are discussing plans to impose charges on international companies using submarine internet cables that pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari stated on X last week, “We will impose fees on internet cables.”
Media outlets said the proposal could require major technology firms, including Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon, to follow Iranian regulations regarding cable operations in the region. Reports also suggested submarine cable operators could face licensing fees, while maintenance and repair activities may be limited to Iranian companies.
Several of the companies referenced have financial interests tied to cable systems operating through the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. However, it remains uncertain whether those specific routes pass directly through Iranian territorial waters.
At the same time, Iranian media have hinted at the possibility of disruptions to subsea cable traffic, raising concerns about the vulnerability of infrastructure responsible for trillions of dollars in global data transmission and international internet connectivity.
Strait of Hormuz gains new strategic importance
Concerns over renewed US-Israeli aggression have intensified following US President Donald Trump’s return from China, with Tehran increasingly emphasizing the strategic tools it possesses beyond conventional military capabilities, CNN reported.
The latest rhetoric highlights the growing geopolitical significance of the Strait of Hormuz not only as a major energy corridor but also as a critical digital passageway. Iran appears intent on converting its geographic position into broader economic and strategic influence.
Subsea communication cables are essential to the modern global economy, carrying most international internet and data traffic. Any major disruption could affect banking operations, military communications, cloud computing systems, AI infrastructure, remote work networks, online gaming platforms, and streaming services worldwide.
Dina Esfandiary, Middle East lead at Bloomberg Economics, said Iran’s messaging is intended to showcase its leverage over the strategic waterway and protect the Islamic Republic from future aggressions.
“It aims to impose such a hefty cost on the global economy that no-one will dare attack Iran again,” she said.
Concerns over potential cable attacks
A number of key intercontinental subsea cables pass through the Strait of Hormuz. According to Mostafa Ahmed, a senior researcher at the UAE-based Habtoor Research Center, international operators have historically avoided Iranian waters because of long-standing security concerns. Instead, many cables are concentrated near the Omani side of the strait.
Still, Alan Mauldin, research director at telecom research company TeleGeography, noted that two systems, Falcon and Gulf Bridge International (GBI), cross Iranian territorial waters.
Although Iranian officials have not directly threatened to damage the cables, Tehran has repeatedly warned Washington’s regional allies that it possesses multiple ways to respond to pressure. Experts say this reflects a broader pattern of asymmetric tactics employed by the Islamic Republic.
Ahmed warned that Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), equipped with combat divers, mini-submarines, and underwater drones, could pose a threat to underwater communications infrastructure. He said a major strike on subsea systems could trigger a “digital catastrophe” affecting multiple regions simultaneously.
Global economic risks
Countries along the Gulf could experience severe internet disruptions in the event of cable damage, potentially affecting banking systems and critical oil and gas exports. Ahmed also noted that India could face significant interruptions to internet traffic, placing billions of dollars in outsourcing services at risk.
Because the Strait of Hormuz serves as a major digital corridor connecting Asian hubs such as Singapore with European cable landing stations, disruptions could also slow financial trading and international transactions between Europe and Asia. Some areas in East Africa could even experience internet outages.
Experts further warned that similar tactics in the Red Sea by the Yemeni Armed Forces could magnify the threat.
In 2024, three subsea cables were damaged after a vessel hit by Yemen’s resistance movement dragged its anchor across the seabed while sinking. According to Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications, the incident disrupted nearly 25% of internet traffic in the surrounding region.
Despite these risks, TeleGeography said cables running through the Strait of Hormuz represented “less than 1% of global international bandwidth as of 2025.”
Undersea cable warfare has deep roots
The strategic importance of underwater communication lines dates back to the 19th century. The first transatlantic telegram was transmitted in 1858, carrying a 98-word message from Britain’s Queen Victoria to US President James Buchanan that took more than 16 hours to arrive.
Today, modern submarine fiber-optic cables can transmit enormous amounts of information at extraordinary speeds. According to the International Cable Protection Committee, a single optical fiber can carry data equivalent to around 150 million simultaneous phone calls.
The targeting of undersea communication infrastructure is also not new. During World War I, Britain cut Germany’s key telegraph cables in one of the conflict’s earliest moves, isolating German military communications.
While most modern cable failures cause limited disruption because traffic can be rerouted through alternative networks, experts caution that a large-scale attack today would carry far greater consequences due to the world’s heavy dependence on digital connectivity.
Repair operations could also become more difficult during ongoing regional instability. Maintenance vessels must remain stationary for long periods while fixing damaged cables, making them vulnerable in conflict zones. Mauldin said only one of the five repair ships usually operating in the region currently remains inside the Gulf.
Iran looks to the Suez Model
Iranian media outlets have defended the proposal to charge for subsea cables by citing international maritime law, particularly provisions within the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Although Tehran signed but never formally ratified the convention, many legal experts regard parts of it as customary international law. Article 79 of UNCLOS allows coastal states to set conditions for cables and pipelines entering their territorial waters.
Iranian commentators have compared the initiative to Egypt’s management of the Suez Canal, which hosts numerous subsea cables connecting Europe and Asia and generates substantial annual revenue through transit and licensing fees.
“Of course, for existing cables, Iran has to abide by the contract that had been made when the cable was laid,” said Irini Papanicolopulu, a professor of international law at SOAS University of London. “But for new ones, any state, including Iran, can decide if and under what conditions, cables can be laid in its territorial sea.”
Esfandiary said Tehran may have previously understood its strategic leverage over the strait only in theory, but recent developments appear to have reinforced its confidence.
Now, she said, Iran “has discovered the impact.”
blueapples on X | May 18, 2026
Ahead of a monumental primary on Tuesday, May 19th, which will determine whether or not the dying embers of America’s democratic process will be completely extinguished by the pro-Israel lobby, Kentucky representative Thomas Massie has introduced a bill into Congress that could deter future politicians actually willing to put America before Israel from suffering his same fate. On May 14th, Massie introduced the Americans Insist on Political Agent Clarity Act (”AIPAC Act”) in an effort to finally force the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (”AIPAC”) to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (”FARA”). The proposed legislation is the apotheosis of a crusade fought by Massie that has opened the eyes of the American people to see how the pro-Israel lobby has taken control over the country’s electoral process. Yet, despite widespread public support to force AIPAC to register as a foreign agent under FARA, the pro-Israel lobby’s stranglehold over Congress stands as a seemingly insurmountable obstacle keeping Massie’s proposed legislation from turning that into a reality.
The express aim of the AIPAC Act is to “amend the Foreign Registration Act of 1938… to clarify the definition of ‘foreign principal’ and ensure transparency in lobbying on behalf of foreign interests.” Under FARA, a foreign principal is defined as:
(1) a government of a foreign country and a foreign political party;
(2) a person outside of the United States, unless it is established that such person is an individual and a citizen of and domiciled within the United States, or that such person is not an individual and is organized under or created by the laws of the United States or of any State or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and has its principal place of business within the United States; and
(3) a partnership, association, corporation, organization, or other combination of persons organized under the laws of or having its principal place of business in a foreign country.
Since its inception in 1954, AIPAC has circumvented the registration requirements under FARA by virtue of being established as a domestic lobbying organization legally distinct from the parameters that the act uses to designate a foreign principal. AIPAC was created by Isaiah L. Kenen, a lobbyist for the Israeli government that previously served under the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who worked as the information director of the American Zionist Council (”AZC”). After raising $65 million and $73 million in U.S. aid for Israel in 1951 and 1952, respectively, Kenen grew weary that he would be investigated by the U.S. State Department for not registering as a foreign agent under FARA. Kenen created the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs (”AZCPA”) to navigate around the registration requirements under FARA in response to that concern. The AZPCA was renamed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1959 and became the preeminent political vehicle for the pro-Israel lobby in the decades that followed its creation.
The AIPAC Act would amend FARA by adding a fourth paragraph that would additionally define a foreign principal as “any organization, association, corporation, or other entity….whose lobbying activities or stated mission is, either wholly or in part, to influence United States public policy or government action in furtherance of the political or economic interests of a foreign country or recognized state-affiliated political entity.” That language included in Massie’s proposed legislation would broaden the definition of a foreign principal to encompass domestic lobbying firms in the U.S. like AIPAC. The proposed legislation would also establish indicators for determining the foreign political alignment of lobbying firms and allow American citizens to file complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice to request investigations into potential FARA violations.
Massie explained the calculus behind the proposed legislation designed to require AIPAC to register as a foreign agent shortly after introducing it into Congress on May 14th in an interview with Redacted News. “For some reason, they’re immune right now, and I think not just the money that’s spent in politics but the lobbying that happens on Capitol Hill should be reported if it’s a foreign country. Whether it’s Great Britain, Australia, Turkey, Qatar, or Israel, it needs to be reported,” he stated, clarifying the amendment to FARA would apply to foreign principals lobbying on behalf of any nation.
Although the expanded definition of a foreign principal under FARA in the AIPAC Act would apply to lobbyists working on behalf of any nation, the material reality is that the legislation is designed to address the unrestrained power and influence of the pro-Israel lobby. In 2021, AIPAC changed its lobbying strategy by moving away from funding political candidates indirectly by working with unaffiliated political action committees (PACs) and instead created its own PAC to raise and contribute funds directly. In the 2024 election cycle alone, AIPAC backed candidates using its own PAC and super PAC, the United Democracy Project, in 389 congressional races through either official endorsements and/or campaign contributions. AIPAC-backed candidates won 318 of those 389 congressional races, expanding the roster of pro-Israel politicians in Congress even further. Presently, 80 members of Congress, or 15%, list AIPAC as their all-time top contributor.
Nowhere is the unyielding influence of the pro-Israel lobby on American elections more apparent than in Massie’s current bid for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Massie, who has held the seat for the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky since first being elected to Congress in 2012, has seen the broader pro-Israel lobby spend tens of millions of dollars in an effort to depose him. Ed Gallrein, Massie’s opponent in the May 19th primary for the seat representing the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky, has received over $15.5 million in campaign contributions from pro-Israel PACs, including donations from the MAGA Kentucky PAC, created by Jewish billionaires Paul Singer, John Paulsen, and Donald Trump’s biggest political donor, casino magnate and fervent Zionist Miriam Adelson, expressly for the purpose of defeating Massie.
The race between Massie and Gallrein has eclipsed more than $30 million in spending, making it the most expensive congressional campaign in U.S. history. The majority of that spending has been made in an effort to unseat Massie, as the pro-Israel lobby’s expenditures against him have surpassed the $14.5 million dollars AIPAC spent to successfully replace former representative of New York’s 16th Congressional District, Democrat Jamaal Bowman, with pro-Israel candidate George Latimer in 2024. AIPAC also succeeded that year in unseating Democratic representative from Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, Cori Bush, with pro-Israel candidate Wesley Ball, thanks to $9 million of spending against her.
The defeats of Bowman and Bush were engineered by AIPAC to remove two of the most outspoken critics of Israel from Congress. However, neither Bowman nor Bush was as outspoken against the political malfeasance of the pro-Israel lobby as Massie has been. In recent years, Massie has shifted the Overton Window by exposing the inner machinations of the pro-Israel political machine toward a perspective that has accelerated the decline in public support for Israel from American citizens. In doing so, he has also amplified the efforts of AIPAC and the broader pro-Israel lobby inextricably tied to the Trump administration to replace him in Congress with a Zionist puppet, who has taken the form of Ed Gallrein.
While Massie had coasted to re-election in each of his previous campaigns, the spending against him by the pro-Israel lobby has created the realistic possibility that he could be ousted from Congress. If Massie fails at defeating Gallrein in the primary for his congressional seat, then it would render the AIPAC Act he has introduced to Congress as his last stand against a Zionist Occupied Government that has shown it will spend every resource at its disposal to subvert the American democratic process. That stranglehold that the pro-Israel lobby has over the American political system is clear as the AIPAC Act currently only has a 2% chance of being passed following its referral to the House Committee on the Judiciary. The dynamic cultivated by Massie that has led to the boundless spending against him by the pro-Israel lobby shows that even if he is defeated, then it may be little more than a Pyrrhic victory for AIPAC, as Massie’s demise would only prove how justified the crusade he fought against them was to begin with.