news

Imagine this guy being an actual "Russian spy". He would say it out loud in the first week of campaigning in 2015.

This is a great NYT update summary of Trump's speech.

Trump has concluded speaking after 19 minutes. Nothing new was said tonight. This was a rehash of his Truth Social posts over the past month.

I'm amazed that an editor didn't jump in and nuke it or force the reporter to make it ten times as long.

Got this very bad vibes report from a comrade visiting Cuba:

Situation here in Cuba is quite grim.

Poverty rampant. Huge piles of garbage in Havana because of no trash pick-up. The vendors are desperate for tourists, so many will harass [Partner] and I (sometimes for blocks). Many people in rags, begging for money. We were warned that a lot of people will try to scam us. We quickly learned most people being friendly to us just wanted money—i’m probably said “no dinero” 100 times in the several days. We were told not trust buying water off the street and that drinking the tap water will make us sick. [Partner] also had her Cross necklace stolen off her neck; I wasn’t able to catch the thief, and she was very upset (her mom gave her that necklace as a gift).

There aren’t grocery stores like we have in the states. The street food is… questionable. The garbage piles create sanitation and heath problems.

In sum: we don’t hate imperialism enough for what it did to this country.

Written on an Iranian drone launched at the Zionist entity:

"I, Shahed-136, am going to Tel Aviv for negotiations on behalf of the noble people of Iran."

This was probably the worst day of the war for us Lebanese. The scenes in Beirut today are just brutal, and it's even worse in Sour and the rest of the abandoned South. Our government is nothing more than a Zionist tool against the Shia of Lebanon, and I can't help but feeling backstabbed by the shortsightedness and naivety of Iranian negotiators. What is the value of a ceasefire that doesn't lift the burden of the most vulnerable and wartorn part of the Axis of Resistance? God help us

Iranian General Seyed Majid Moosavi responded to US imperialist threats:

"You will not send Iran back to the Stone Age, you will send your soldiers under the tombstone instead. The Hollywood fantasies have twisted your thinking so that you, having a modest 250-year history, threaten a civilization that is more than 6,000 years old."

https://tass.com/world/2110991

@NYTimesPR:

A correction will appear in tomorrow's print edition:

"A headline with an article on Friday about President Trump’s threats to leave NATO misstated the full name of the body. It is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, not the North American Treaty Organization."

Top minds over there.

Israel is warning Christian and Druze communities in southern Lebanon not to harbor Shiite Muslims, apparently confirming their intent to ethnically cleanse the area

is it just me, or has this war brought the logic of empire into open public discourse?

From account close to Tehran—not saying it’s correct, but it’s the first real colour we’re getting on what any interim Hormuz reopening during the ceasefire could look like:

"During the two-week 'ceasefire,' only about 10 to 15 ships will be permitted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz with Iran's approval, in coordination with the IRGC Navy and after payment of tolls, and the United States is committed to releasing all of Iran's frozen assets. The Strait of Hormuz will by no means be 'open' in its previous form, even after a final agreement. In addition, the United States has committed to refraining from any troop movements during this period. During this time, negotiations will be held based on Iran's 10-point plan, details of which are referenced in the statement of the Supreme National Security Council. In the event of no agreement, the war will resume."

Relative to the pre-war pace of 100-120 ships a day, this would constitute a crack in the door and hardly a proper reopening.

https://x.com/Rory_Johnston/status/2041690418216051038

If this is indeed the case, that would be a good sign, the fact that Iran can dictate Hormuz traffic like that. Around ~9 days of usual Hormuz oil traffic (~180 million barrels) is sitting on water, waiting to go out. It will be interesting to see how many Iran allows through.

Ex-Iran foreign minister, involved in peace negotiations, badly wounded after US-Israel airstrikes

Former Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi has been seriously wounded in a strike on Tehran that also killed his wife, according to Iranian media reports.

Outlets including Shargh, Etemad, and Ham Mihan reported that his home was targeted earlier in the day in what was described as a US-Israel strike. He was subsequently hospitalized with severe injuries.

According to Mehr News Agency, Kharazi had been actively involved in diplomatic efforts in recent weeks. He was reportedly overseeing engagement with Pakistan ahead of a potential meeting between Iranian officials and US Vice President JD Vance.

Two Iranian officials cited in reports suggested that the targeting of Kharazi may have been intended to disrupt ongoing diplomatic efforts. The former foreign minister was considered a veteran policy expert and a moderate political figure.

Kamal Kharazi recently said in a CNN interview that he no longer believes diplomacy is viable, accusing the United States of deception during negotiations. “I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore. Because Donald Trump had been deceiving others and not keeping with his promises, and we experienced this in two times of negotiations – that while we were engaged in negotiation, they struck us,” Kharazi said.

do we put any stock in this or is it just more mad rambling

Every single logical argument says that use of a nuclear weapon is farfetched if not outright impossible right now. One thing worries me a lot though, I absolutely believe that Trump's demented brain wants him to drop a nuke just so that he gets remembered as the guy who dropped the first nuke in 80 years.

NEW - Trump wants to switch to a war economy in 2027 with massive increase in military spending and cuts to healthcare and other domestic agencies to fund it — Bloomberg

Trump's speech was the usual combination of declaring victory, saying that Iran has no military or leadership left, threatening to completely obliterate Iran and hit its power & gas fields and "send Iran back to the stone age", along with saying to US allies to "open up your own damn Hormuz".

[edit] Oh and also "the Strait will open up naturally"

People seem weirdly upset about the ceasefire, this isn't some kind of capitulation from Iran, they're literally demanding the US agree to their objectives, so either this is the US surrendering while refusing to admit that is happening, or the US is just buying time.

But it's not like Iran packing their weapons away into long term storage unable to be used. The entire time the Iranian military will be ready to go and react to the inevitable breaking of the ceasefire by the US. The Iranian people probably know more about the duplicitous of the US better than any other nation on the planet right now.

This ceasefire does enable Iran to safely support their civilian population in heavily bombed areas, providing support and aid and assistance, and making sure the civilian population is able to better weather attacks after the US breaks the ceasefire. Iran agreeing to this means many more lives are saved. This is a good thing.

Iran is not going to just sit there and do nothing if the US actively starts moving more troops or weapons into the region, if a bunch of random nobodies on an internet forum can track US troop movements, a state with far more resources than us can also do it.

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if the US establishment is doing this solely so they can sell stocks and maximise personal profit, that seemed to be the goal of Trump's original shorter ceasefire plan. Even if this is some 69D chess move from the US, having two extra weeks to prepare a ground invasion or another bombing campaign won't magically make it more successful, trying to take Iranian territory will still be a bloodbath for the US, regardless of how "well prepared" they are.

School shooter culture to school bombing culture. End america

Traders place large $950 million bet on oil price falling hours ahead of ceasefire

it's all insider trading, isn't it?

There's just no fucking way

what strikes me as the most odd thing from all this is: if they extracted the motherfucker, why not show him? is he full of shrapnel or some shit and they can't show him on camera? when they got Maduro they got their little victory photos out and published in less than a few hours, but they can't show mister compressed spine all safe and sound?

It looks sad :/

A CH-47 was reportedly struck by a drone in Kuwait yesterday.

Pete Hegseth fires two more generals, David Hodne and William Green Jr., alongside Army Chief Of Staff Randy George — Reuters

My guess is he asked them to do something very crazy and they said no.

Russia, China and France on Thursday effectively stymied a push by Arab countries to get the United Nations Security Council to authorize military action against Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying they opposed any language authorizing force, according to a diplomat and a senior U.N. official.

The EU (France is the only EU member state on the security council) voting with China and Russia against the United States and the Gulf monarchies is certainly an interesting development. Won't put much stock in it given it's a symbolic vote, and the Gulf states can't do shit regardless, but might be a portent of things to come.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/world/middleeast/arab-iran-hormuz-force.html

The Pentagon is claiming 365 injured and still just 13 dead. I guess they'll stick wit that Last Supper number until after Easter.

365 service members have been wounded in action in Iran war - AP update

As of Friday, 247 of the wounded were Army soldiers, 63 were Navy sailors, 19 were Marines and 36 were Air Force airmen, according to Pentagon data available online.It is unclear if the data includes any of the service members involved in the downing of two combat aircraft reported Friday. Most of the wounded — 200 — were also mid to senior enlisted troops, 85 were officers and 80 were junior enlisted service members.

The current death toll remains at 13 service members killed in combat.

https://xcancel.com/HormuzLetter/status/2040256730785804792#m

BREAKING: A massive line of US Air Force C-17 transport aircraft is currently crossing the Atlantic toward the Middle East, alongside KC-135 refueling tankers. A second wave is already over Europe heading for the eastern Mediterranean. C-17s carry troops, armored vehicles and heavy equipment. This is the largest visible airlift movement since the war began.

The Doomsday Plane landed at Andrews tonight for a reason. This may be it.

MORE: The second wave of C-17 transports is crossing the UK and Europe toward the Middle East right now. The downed F-15E was based at RAF Lakenheath in the UK, the only European country still actively supporting US combat operations.

Also https://xcancel.com/HormuzLetter/status/2040242809135849670#m

BREAKING: The US Air Force E-4B “Nightwatch,” also known as the Doomsday Plane, has just landed at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington. The aircraft is the military’s airborne nuclear command post. It departed from Omaha, home of US Strategic Command. The President is at the White House with his national security team. Press conferences have been cancelled.

Is the Easter invasion happening?

Iran said they targeted the Saudi East-West (Yanbu) pipeline that bypasses Hormuz. There is a big fire, the speculation is that they hit the main pumping station. Even if a less important part of the pipeline was hit (or even just oil storage next to the pipeline), you would expect this to be major news everywhere, that pipeline is the only real big bypass of Hormuz and it is working at 100% capacity right now. Instead, there is nothing. The censorship regime during this war is crazy.

[edit] Ummm, let me be clear, Iran targeted the location hours before the ceasefire, in anticipation of major US/Israel strikes on their energy grid.

From Drop Site’s twitter

Chinese civilians with technical backgrounds are increasingly posting detailed military analysis online aimed at helping Iran counter U.S. forces, in a growing grassroots trend across Chinese social media, according to the South China Morning Post.

The effort appears informal and unpaid, with engineers and STEM-trained users sharing tactics, simulations, and breakdowns of U.S. systems — including mapping U.S. military sites, outlining missile strategies targeting aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, and modeling defenses against a potential U.S. landing on Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal. Some content has gone viral, including tutorials on targeting advanced platforms like the F-35.

On March 14, a video by an account called “Laohu Talks World,” subtitled in Persian, outlined how Iran could use low-cost systems to target an F-35, drawing tens of millions of views. Five days later, Iran claimed it had struck a U.S. F-35.

The creator studied at Northwestern Polytechnical University, a major Chinese defense research institution. “He is not short of money. He makes videos just for fun,” a source told the Post.

It would appear that post is indeed praxis…

Trump: We can't take care of daycare. We're a big country. We're fighting wars. It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these things.

Interesting: Canadian media reporting on the attacks in Lebanon take a different tone than what we're used to. No passive voice, mainly focusing on innocent civilians being injured, and discusses how the pager attacks were largely useless against targetting Hezbollah and mainly hurt civilians

With Aggressive New Attacks on Lebanon, Israel Signals It Will Not be Bound by Donald Trump's Ceasefire

Could this be a shift from western support of Israel to the government's recognizing that Israel is beginning to threaten the stability of the western system?

“Iran is preparing a military response to the Israeli aggression carried out in Lebanon”

• Iranian Fars News.

Well that was a nice ~12 hours or so I guess.

Edit w/ Quick Update:

• Iran shot down an israeli Hermes 900 drone that entered Iranian airspace.

• IRGC: Any enemy aircraft entering our airspace is a ceasefire violation and will get a decisive response.

• Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi discussed ceasefire violations in Iran and Lebanon in a call with Pakistan’s army chief.

• An official Iranian source to Fars: We’re considering attacks on israeli targets over the Lebanon ceasefire breach.

• Iran has urgently informed Pakistan it will respond to "israel" after the truce was violated and Lebanon was bombed.

  1? more quick update since this post is pretty visible still:

• Reuters seems to be reporting that ships are saying Iran is sending them messages that the strait is still closed. Marinetrafic shows little movement as of now for ships.

• Tasnim is reporting that Iran is considering withdrawing from the ceasefire and the talks slated for friday if attacks on lebanon continue.

As an aside oil seems to be moving up again probably due to all these factors after dropping some ~17% overnight

"Praise be to Allah." - JDPON Don

Link to the post

sorry for no link

NYT reaches new levels of both-sides reporting

Title has been edited but the article is still up

https://xcancel.com/Aelthemplaer/status/2040822714605109698

Spotted flying at low level over western Iran this morning; a C-295W from the USAF’s 427th Special Operations Squadron, a clandestine unit that reportedly specializes in infiltration and exfiltration into enemy territory.

um. why are they still flying search and rescue planes if they recovered the pilot?

flying the entire US airforce bit-by-bit into Iran in an endless chain of rescue of the rescue team who were rescuing the rescue team who were

NYTimes with a new article, insane that the mainstream American press is printing stuff like this but such is the world the Epstein Class has decided to birth. «The War Is Turning Iran Into a Major World Power» is the title, and nothing in there is anything we haven't talked about here extensively, but to see the mainstream press draw these conclusions still reads like a fever dream to me.

Imagine Iran with control of about 20 percent of the world’s oil, Russia with about 11 percent and China able to soak up much of that supply. They would form a cartel to deny the West 30 percent of the world’s oil. You don’t need sophisticated analysis to recognize the catastrophic consequences: precipitously declining power for the United States and Europe, and a global shift toward China, Russia and Iran. The United States faces a difficult choice: either commit to a long-term effort to reassert control over the Strait of Hormuz, or accept a new global energy arrangement in which U.S. control is no longer assured.

If it chooses acceptance, the outcome is clear: The international system will reorganize with Iran as a fourth center of global power. Yet if the United States chooses to reassert military control, it is in for a long battle, one it could well lose. The Iran war is not a military conflict from which the United States can simply back out, with things reverting to how they were before. Iran would surely demand a heavy price in a new accommodation with the United States — but this price will surely be less costly than that of the alternative future. This is a transformational war, and if these changes continue for even a few years, the global order will change irrevocably.

Per https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/opinion/iran-war-strait-hormuz.html

The fourth round of Iranian missiles in the last hour just hit Israel. Missile travel time to Israel is 15 minutes at most. And at least for now, no one seems to give a shit. This is a positive sign, even conservatives seem to care less about Israel now.

The Banque de France (BdF) announced last week that it generated a capital gain of €12.8 billion after upgrading 129 tonnes of gold – about 5 percent of France's total reserves – between July 2025 and January 2026. The gold was the last of the French reserves held in New York. It was replaced with the equivalent amount bought in Europe and held in Paris.

Probably just a coincidence given the timing, but France now no longer has any gold held in the United States. Italy and Germany still do, but the French are once again leading the euro-pack in terms of semi-autonomy from the American empire.

Per https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20260404-french-central-bank-nets-%E2%82%AC13bn-from-us-gold-sale-consolidates-reserves-in-paris

According to Israeli channel 14: "Hezbollah fired an anti ship missile today and hit a British warship in front of Lebanese shores. The Israeli assessment is that Hezbollah thought it was Israeli. The British warship was hit and damaged."

Hezbollah did announce they fired an anti-ship missile this morning. A great hit, the ship was without a doubt helping shoot down Iranian/Hezbollah drones and missiles.

The US has taken hostages.

US agents arrest niece of Iran's Qassem Soleimani after Rubio revoked green card - Reuters

U.S. federal agents have ​arrested the niece ‌and grand-niece of late Iranian ​military commander Qassem ​Soleimani after Secretary of State Marco ​Rubio revoked their ​lawful permanent resident status, the State Department ​said on ​Saturday. "Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her ‌daughter are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration ​and ​Customs Enforcement," the State Department ​said in ​a statement after Rubio revoked their green cards.

That's full text.

so, some days ago I mentioned the idea that Americans completely failed to notice what actually happened in Iraq in the 2010s during the anti-ISIS war, and are still under the impression that they have a loyal puppet state in Iraq, and, well... https://xcancel.com/DavidLiptonWI/status/2040891090270556454

The U.S. “folding” (not really - Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq were all unqualified wins for the U.S.) after decades of war with minimal costs to the U.S. and paralyzing their economy is really just proof of US divine providence. In Iraq - the U.S. won a permanent military presence, control over the oil money (via the development fund for Iraq), a rump Kurdistan state, and a regime change for competitive elections. In Afghanistan, the U.S. won a permanent dysfunctional economy as retaliation for 9/11. In Vietnam, a permanent dysfunctional economy that eventually opened up to the U.S. and is now America’s little bitch because they were scared shitless by memories of the 1970s

"permanent military presence" MOST OF WHICH LITERALLY JUST FLED IRAQ WITH THEIR TAILS TUCKED BETWEEN THEIR LEGS

"rump Kurdistan state" WHICH HAS BEEN GETTING HAMMERED BY IRAN FOR A MONTH NOW (and wasn't able to actually successfully be used in a scheme to launch a ground incursion into Iran anyway, so, uh, what's the point of it exactly?)

"control over the oil money" well, good thing nothing has happened since that might impact Iraq's ability to export its oil...

"regime change for competitive elections" what does this even mean?

"In Vietnam, a permanent dysfunctional economy that eventually opened up to the U.S. and is now America’s little bitch" https://hexbear.net/post/8026521/7032437

also, love how "permanent dysfunctional economy as retaliation for 9/11" is somehow a strategic end. I guess if you're a demon?

American powers of self-delusion are truly unmatched, you could have Chinese troops parading down Wall Street, Red Alert 2 style and Americans would still manage to convince themselves that they've won somehow

Nukes don't really make sense in a war like this; a single nuke won't degrade Iran's mosaic defense, as people have said before it's a big country, a single city or bunker lost won't break Iran

Then we get into the problem of ground detonations; IF we assume the nukes are used as bunker busters, which frankly doesn't seem likely to destroy anything buried at an appropriate depth (so many would be needed), but the radioactive fallout would spread throughout the region: Russia, Pakistan, Turkey, the Gulf, either an actual nuclear power is irradiated (which triggers MAD) or a US ally dies

So for nukes to work, they have to be used on cities, leading to the greatest genocide in human history or they would be deployed as bunker blusters on dozens of targets, irradiating half of Asia

Yeah, I don't think so, nuke talk is a psyop

Two helicopters also took part in the search and rescue mission and successfully retrieved the F-15E pilot who had ejected, officials said. The helicopter carrying the recovered pilot was hit by small arms fire, wounding crew members on board, according to the officials, who said the helicopter landed safely. All service members are receiving initial medical treatment and will be transported for further medical care.

per CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-fighter-jet-f15e-downed-over-iran/

Small arms fire against SAR helicopters actually causing casualties.

Trump: "We sent a lot of guns to the Iranian protesters, we sent guns through the Kurds, I think the Kurds kept them."

Source: Fox News

came across this maybe interesting article?

Berry told Foreign Policy that it will likely take years before the United States will see “a tungsten supply chain or a critical mass of tungsten material that in some way does not touch China.”

at this point is there any industrial/technological sector that the US is not losing in

Shooting by Israel-backed group at a shelter in Gaza is followed by an Israeli strike, killing 8 - AP update

An Israel-backed armed group in Gaza kidnapped children from a school-turned-shelter on Monday, according to a witness, after which Israel launched an airstrike on the site, health authorities said. The Israeli military had no response when reached for comment. An anti-Hamas Palestinian group called Abu Nusseirah posted on social media that they killed five Hamas fighters at the shelter in Maghazi.

An elderly displaced woman sheltering at the school told the AP that dozens of men stormed the site, clashed with people there and forced kids — including girls — into vehicles. Speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, she said her son was killed in the fighting. Bodies were taken to al-Aqsa hospital, where health officials said some had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the school after the clashes. AP footage showed dozens of mourners gathered at the morgue.

Many displaced Palestinians say they fear the Iran war has overshadowed Gaza’s dire humanitarian situation.