vanessa_ca
vanessa_ca's JournalU.S. Dollar share of global foreign currency reserves have fallen to its lowest level this century
Our entire country is Trump’s latest bankruptcy.
https://x.com/Barchart/status/2038578398046429641
Pentagon prepares for weeks of ground operations in Iran
Source: Washington Post
If President Donald Trump approves the plans, such an effort would mark a new phase of the war that could be significantly more dangerous to U.S. troops than the first four weeks.
41 minutes ago
The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, U.S. officials said, as thousands of American soldiers and Marines arrive in the Middle East for what could become a dangerous new phase of the war should President Donald Trump choose to escalate.
Any potential ground operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could instead involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops, said the officials. All spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive military plans that have been in development for weeks.
Such a mission could expose U.S. personnel to an array of threats, including Iranian drones and missiles, ground fire and improvised explosives. It was unclear Saturday whether Trump would approve all, some or none of the Pentagon’s plans.
The Trump administration in recent days has vacillated between declaring that the war is winding down and threatening to amplify it. While the president has signaled a desire to negotiate an end to the conflict, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Tuesday that if the regime in Tehran does not end its nuclear ambitions and cease its threats against the United States and its allies, Trump is “prepared to unleash hell” against them.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/28/trump-iran-ground-troops-marines/
Correct. According to Iran there has been no contact, either direct or indirect
Iran simply tweeted back a long list of all the power stations they'd obliterate in response, along with maps. And the promise of a new weapon. I'd post links but it's too hit or miss here.
“There are no negotiations underway with the United States.”
“We reject Trump’s claim about ongoing talks, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will not accept any negotiations until its objectives in the war are achieved. Trump’s remarks are a retreat from his earlier threats, but Iran’s position has not changed. As for the Strait of Hormuz, we reaffirm that this passage will remain closed to aggressors.”
Ras Al-Khair Desalination → LARGEST in the world → millions lose water
Shuqaiq Power Plant → southern Saudi grid GONE
Al Kharsaah Power Plant → Qatar grid hit
Ras Laffan C Power + Water → Qatar's lifeline GONE
UAE Taweelah Desalination → one of Gulf's biggest → UAE water supply hit
UAE Barakah Power Plant → UAE's NUCLEAR plant → strike = fallout risk
Bahrain’s Al Dur Power + Water → Bahrain's PRIMARY water source → 60% dependent
North Zour Power Plant → Kuwait's largest → 90% desalination dependent
Aqaba Thermal → Jordan's south grid
Samra Power Plant → 40% of Jordan's total electricity
Netanyahu: Route gas pipelines to our ports in Israel.
https://x.com/clashreport/status/2034709673484407153
Qatar: "This war needs to stop immediately. The aggression needs to stop immediately."
Qatar’s Prime Minister:
This war needs to stop immediately. The aggression needs to stop immediately.
Because everyone knows who the main beneficiary of this war is, and dragging the whole region into this conflict is.
https://x.com/clashreport/status/2034642328963432577
https://x.com/AlternatNews/status/2034684646877728990
https://x.com/tparsi/status/2034701178387210695
Press Release: Some allies ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait"
And so it begins
Joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan on the Strait of Hormuz.
From:
Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street and The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP
Published 19 March 2026
We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces.
We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict. We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817.
Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The effects of Iran’s actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable.
Consistent with UNSC Resolution 2817, we emphasise that such interference with international shipping and the disruption of global energy supply chains constitute a threat to international peace and security. In this regard, we call for an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations.
We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning.
We welcome the International Energy Agency decision to authorise a coordinated release of strategic petroleum reserves. We will take other steps to stabilise energy markets, including working with certain producing nations to increase output.
We will also work to provide support for the most affected nations, including through the United Nations and the IFIs.
Maritime security and freedom of navigation benefit all countries. We call on all states to respect international law and uphold the fundamental principles of international prosperity and security.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-from-the-leaders-of-the-united-kingdom-france-germany-italy-the-netherlands-and-japan-on-the-strait-of-hormuz-19-march-2026
While the world watches Palestine and Iran, Lebanon is also burning
ᗰᗩƳᖇᗩ
@LePapillonBlu2
BREAKING: Israel has committed its largest war crime in recent history by murdering over 1,000 civilians in Lebanon, including over 200 children.
https://x.com/LePapillonBlu2/status/2034419760541134874
Good report, but the Gaza genocide is a larger war crime. For the moment.
"Is Iran winning the war?" ( Professor Robert Pape) excellent strategic analysis
Yesterday, I had an extensive conversation on Unherd on the strong reasons to think Iran is winning — up over $1 billion in oil sales, controlling Hormuz, shocking energy markets, and exerting real pressure on the Gulf states to distance themselves from US and Israel’s war.
UnHerd's Freddie Sayers speaks with Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, Robert Pape, to discuss the high-stakes ‘escalation trap’ unfolding between the United States and Iran - breaking down the tactical successes and failures of the US military campaign and analysing how Iran is leveraging its geographical position and control of the Strait of Hormuz through low-cost drone and missile harassment. As Professor Pape draws comparisons to the Vietnam War and 1973 oil crisis, has the Trump administration lost control of the conflict's trajectory, and are we moving toward a dangerous ground power dilemma that threatens the global economy and the stability of the Western alliance?
Nobody Knows More' Than Trump About Anything
Trump Erupts in Fury as Damning New Leaks on His War Blunders Hit Hard
As media scrutiny intensifies on Trump’s Iran war blunders, an international relations expert explains the extraordinary depths of failure here—and why Trump may now attempt a domestic information crackdown.
Over the weekend, Donald Trump unleashed two crazed tirades at the media over Iran. In one, he angrily accused news organizations of rooting for the United States to “lose the war.” In another, he openly urged his Federal Communications Commission chair to deploy state power against media outlets that displease him. And in a weird rant to reporters, he angrily rebuked other countries for refusing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. All this comes as a New York Times exposé reveals shocking details about Trump’s failings: In internal conversations, he appeared disconnected from basic realities about the strait and unable to grasp why his alienating of our allies is working against him. He also apparently got badly played by Benjamin Netanyahu. We talked to international relations expert Molly McKew, author of a good piece on the stakes of the moment. She explains how Trump’s treatment of allies is backfiring on him, why Trump might attempt a domestic press crackdown, and what to expect next in the war. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.
Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/39bB7ap7275oJsA1b0BEO4
Listen on Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily-blast-with-greg-sargent/id1728152109
https://newrepublic.com/article/207837/trump-erupts-fury-damning-leaks-botching-war-hit-hard
Excerpt of transcript
-snip-
McKew: He even sort of says it in that block of text. It’s, Well, I’m just trying to prove the point I’ve always made that absolutely no one is going to show up and help us. Obviously, this is a false narrative, which he presents constantly. He has campaigned on it three times now, and it does resonate with a number of Americans who do believe that the American defense budget and other support outweighs those of our allies. I think that is a misrepresentation of history and the purpose of the alliance and the ways that our allies have responded to our calls for help over the past 30 years.
That aside, this notion that no one’s going to come—and it will prove that they were never going to come and we don’t need anybody anyway—is absolutely ridiculous and juvenile, but also so dangerous and fraught. Everything that we have learned from Russia’s war in Ukraine—what we should have learned from that on what the future of warfare is, on what the current state of warfare is, on how we will need to prepare to fight wars, is that we need allies. We need supply lines. We need integrated systems of interoperability and control. Anybody who walks away from what we should be learning—but clearly aren’t—with we’re just going to go it alone is absolutely missing the point.
And Trump knows this, because not just from the current phase of conflict—whatever we want to call it—in Iran, where we and our allies are shooting incredibly expensive missiles and interceptors at crap Iranian drones and much cheaper Iranian missiles to try to defend our people and facilities from attacks by them. We had this previous year of the same kinds of asymmetric warfare in the Red Sea, where the Houthis are shooting barrels of fireworks at us and we’re using a $4 million missile to stop one from blowing up a NATO ship.
https://newrepublic.com/article/207842/transcript-trump-erupts-damning-leaks-war-blunders-hit-hard
Who would have thunk winging it would be so hard?
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