Psychological prohibitions against endangering civilian reactors and other infrastructure are becoming dangerously thin
Four decades after a failed experiment in Soviet Ukraine led to a world-shaking radiation disaster and made Chernobyl infamous, the psychological safeguards protecting nuclear facilities from military action are weaker than ever.
In March and April of 2026, bombs landed near the Busher Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Iran. Russia’s Zaporozye NPP was deliberately firebombed by Ukrainian troops in 2024, as part of Kiev’s attempts to prevent Moscow from operating the contested facility. The Chernobyl wreck itself was targeted by a mystery projectile on the eve of a key international security event in 2025.
Nuclear weapons are so destructive that only an existential crisis should warrant their deployment. The taboo against nukes has been tested on several occasions since the technology’s iconic status was established by the US bombing of Imperial Japan, – including off the coast of Cuba in 1962, in the Middle East in 1954 and again in 1973. Each time, nerves held.
Nuclear facilities, particularly power plants with their large hot reactors and on-site storage of spent fuel, borrow some of that aura to become almost untouchable, as radiation fallout is strongly associated with both the weapons and technological disasters.
How to bomb a nuclear reactor
Attacking Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant risks “another Chernobyl,” a senior official in Tehran warned, after airstrikes killed 10 people, including a German engineer involved in the project on the Persian Gulf coast. The year was 1987, and the attacker was Saddam Hussein – no longer a ‘good guy’ in the eyes of the Western public, but still fighting the ‘bad guys’.
Tehran’s invocation of the then-recent Soviet nuclear catastrophe was an exaggeration. The Bushehr facility was still under construction when Iraqis targeted it six times, beginning in 1984. An attempt to deter Baghdad by reportedly bringing in a small amount of nuclear fuel didn’t work.
In 1980, at the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War, Tehran bombed the under-construction Osiraq nuclear reactor at the Tuwaitha research center near Baghdad. The Israelis struck the French-provided project a year later. So did the Americans during the 1991 Gulf War – allegedly weeks before it would finally go online.
In 2007, Israel bombed a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria. Years later, the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, confirmed that suspicions were correct and the clandestine facility was still being built when it was obliterated.
The pattern of preemptive attacks was upheld by non-state actors. Rodney Wilkinson, a South African fencing champion and anti-apartheid activist, carried out the bombing of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station just before it went online in 1982, taking care to ensure that there would be zero casualties and no radiation leaks.
Turning Back the Clock to: 1982. Rodney Wilkinson planted four bombs at the Koeberg nuclear power plant north of Capetown, South Africa. #WorldHistorypic.twitter.com/UtrU6rD7Ym
In major conflicts between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed powers, there were no military strikes on nuclear facilities. In short, the conventional wisdom has long been: you don’t risk another Chernobyl.
Ukraine throws rules out of the window
Like many other norms, respect for the IAEA’s seven pillars of nuclear safety seriously eroded during the Ukraine conflict. Russian forces took over the Zaporozhye NPP on March 3, 2022 during a lighting offensive. The site has since become the focus of a PR war built around a string of attacks in the plant’s vicinity.
Ukraine’s story about the military action has morphed over the years. First it claimed Russia kept heavy weapons at the nuclear site, making it a legitimate target. Then Russia was accused of conducting false flag operations to discredit Ukraine. After the IAEA dispatched an observer mission in September 2022, Kiev claimed Moscow was thwarting inspector rotations – though provocations stopped in 2025, after the international agency decided against travelling through territory controlled by Kiev.
Arguably the most serious incident took place in August 2024, when incendiary drones caused a major fire at one of the Zaporozye plant’s cooling towers. Kiev claimed it was Russian self-sabotage, which just happened to virtually coincide with the launch of a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region.
Ascribing logic-defying economic masochism to Moscow is a trope of pro-Kiev messaging. The 2022 blasts that destroyed the Nord Stream gas pipelines were initially framed in the media as Russia putting pressure on Germany by blowing up its own infrastructure. Now the only mystery remaining about that attack is whether Ukraine carried it out alone, with assistance from some NATO nations – such as Poland or the US – or simply created a distraction so that the West could claim plausible deniability.
Chernobyl propaganda dud
An even more emblematic example of brinkmanship serving Ukrainian interests came in February 2025, when Kiev accused Russia of flying a single kamikaze drone into the shelter covering the Chernobyl plant’s contaminated site.
The incident took place on the eve of the Munich Security Conference. But in Germany, US Vice President J.D. Vance stole the spotlight that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky was undoubtedly hoping to get. Vance shocked the audience with his speech roasting perceived Western European degradation and casting doubt on America’s protection of NATO allies.
Consequently, the Chernobyl incident caused barely a ripple in media coverage and left an ugly tear in the New Safe Confinement – the shelter constructed in the 2010s with mostly foreign funding.
US and Israel tear down the window, the wall, the building
In a field where Zelensky merely played fast and loose, US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swung like a wrecking ball.
In 2024, the two leaders teamed up to strike Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, claiming the 12-day bombing campaign ended Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. This year, Iran was somehow supposedly again weeks away from building the bomb and had to be attacked again.
As the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster approaches, the world has yet to learn how much economic damage the Iran War will cause it. But it has already dealt a blow to nuclear non-proliferation.
The 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) guarantees signatories the right to, and support for, the peaceful use of nuclear technology in exchange for accepting the IAEA’s controls to prevent weaponization. Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea all rejected the deal in order to acquire nuclear weapons, secretly or openly.
Washington declares that there is no NPT deal for Iran, period. The religious prohibition of nuclear weapons by Israel-assassinated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, now seems like a fig leaf.
Trump’s threat to annihilate all Iranian power plants unless it concedes defeat – potentially including Bushehr, now fully operational – may never materialize. A commando raid deep into Iran to capture “nuclear dust” – Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium that it has no intention to give up – remains in question either.
But what is beyond doubt is that the risk of a major radiological incident is at the moment higher than ever. That’s the inevitable cost of nuclear brinkmanship.
Nitrous oxide can cause severe injury, paralysis and even death. So why is it easier to get for teenagers than energy drinks or cigarettes?
Welcome to America’s next public health crisis, which is being underwritten by big business and ignored by the US government.
Nitrous oxide (N₂O) has been around since the end of the 18th century and is used in a variety of products, including whipped cream canisters and car engines, to give them an extra power boost. It is also popularly known as ‘laughing gas,’ which dentists administer to their patients for pain relief. In the 19th century, laughing gas parties were popular among the middle and upper classes.
Late 20th century drug culture rediscovered nitrous oxide, in the form of ‘whippets’ (from whipped-cream chargers) and laughing gas balloons. However, only lately has nitrous oxide, marketed under the name of ‘Galaxy Gas,’ exploded in popularity among today’s youth in search of a cheap buzz.
Although ostensibly marketed as a culinary product, Galaxy Gas is sold in colorful bottles with alluring flavors, such as Mango Smoothie, Strawberry Cream and Vanilla Cupcake.
Meanwhile, the product (Galaxy Gas is just one of dozens of brands selling nitrous oxide) has been popularized on social media, where influencers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube have led millions of teens astray in search of a quick and affordable jolt of euphoria.
Various brands of nitrous oxide canisters can easily be bought online from major marketplaces including Walmart, Amazon and eBay. Though most companies require purchasers to be over 18 to order them, they’ve still found their way into the hands of many teens (Following reports of abuse, Galaxy Gas has paused direct sales from their website and is facing regulatory action due to health risks).
Across the US, more than 25 million people over the age of 12 may have tried inhalants, according to a survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. And data shows adolescents from 12-17 more commonly use whippets than those who are 18 and older.
Galaxy Gas attempts to skirt the law by stating on its canisters that “it is illegal to purposely inhale our product,” which of course has the effect of making the young and impressionable do exactly what they are told not to do. Despite the warning labels, the inhalation of Galaxy Gas is becoming an epidemic in the US and beyond, with an increasing number of victims every year.
In February 2023, Ellen Mercer, 24, died in a British hospital two weeks after she was left bedbound by burning her legs with a nitrous oxide canister. According to the coroner’s report, Mercer’s death was caused by her substance abuse and a blood clot. The young woman, clearly addicted to the inhalant, was said to have inhaled two to three “big bottles” of the gas per day.
Meg Caldwell is another individual who lost her life due to her addiction to Galaxy Gas. Caldwell began inhaling the gas during the pandemic. With everyone locked down and little to do, it seemed that a few harmless hits of nitrous oxide wouldn’t hurt. According to the young woman’s family, her addiction quickly spiraled out of control and wrecked her life. She died at the age of 23 of an overdose in a parking lot outside of a smoke shop where she purchased the gas. The Caldwell family has filed a lawsuit against Galaxy Gas and several other companies, alleging that they marketed the substance for recreational use while disguising it as a culinary product.
One reason the inhalation of Galaxy Gas has become so dangerous is people are inhaling the gas directly from the nozzle of the bottle.
“In medical use, nitrous oxide is given in conjunction with a pretty high flow of oxygen,” says Dr. Bryan Baskin, Co-Director of Operations of the Cleveland Clinic’s Emergency Services. “That helps to keep people safe from some of the dangerous effects of the gas. People using it recreationally aren’t taking those precautions. They’re just getting straight shots of it, which can be harmful, particularly with repeated use.”
The nitrous oxide that enters your body starves the brain of oxygen, creating a dizzy, heady feeling that can last anywhere from a few seconds to five minutes. The user takes a hit, enjoys the feeling, and then wants more of the same, leading to abuse of the product. Chasing the high again and again deprives the brain and other organs of the oxygen they need for normal bodily function. At the very least, users may lose consciousness while inhaling the gas, thereby sustaining physical injuries like concussions. But there are other worse side effects.
As mentioned, most people choose to inhale the gas directly from the canister, which is incredibly dangerous due to simple physics. Galaxy Gas and other such products seal the nitrous oxide in the canisters as a liquid, which, when released, comes out at extremely low temperatures. So low in fact that it can actually give the user frostbite on the mouth and throat. It can also freeze the lungs.
Long-term users of nitrous oxide report major nerve problems, impaired memory, loss of concentration and loss of coordination. The brain and spinal column could become inflamed, leading to cases of full-blown paralysis.
So what is the US government doing about the problem? Sadly, almost nothing. The level of regulation of nitrous oxide in the US is shockingly bad. There’s no official FDA certification; there’s no mandatory purity tests to ensure no contaminants of even more harmful substances; there are no size limits on the canisters; there are no import controls for cheaper, less regulated variants from other countries like China; there’s no guaranteed standardization of manufacturing or the content inside of these bottles. There literally could be anything inside, like heavy metal residue or hydrocarbons. In other words, a sticker saying it’s safe doesn’t make it safe. The same way that putting a ‘do not inhale’ warning on a canister won’t stop people from doing it.
Even the bottles themselves are dangerous. Keep in mind, these are pressurized metal canisters, weighing up to two or more kilos. Effectively pipe bombs that people can get a buzz from. Due to the pressure inside of the canisters, manufacturing defects, heat or poor handling can result in explosive decompression. A loosely fitting valve or a poorly fitted seal on the canister could mean the difference between life and death.
Perhaps worst of all is how the product, with its playful packaging, is targeted at a younger audience that is less able to differentiate between what is healthy for them and what is potentially fatal.
It’s time for the US government to get involved and crack down on the peddlers of this dangerous product before it kills anyone else.
The US president has reposted a podcaster’s message describing immigrants from the two countries as gangsters with laptops
US President Donald Trump has shared a letter deriding India and China as “hellholes.”
Trump reposted the letter from former radio host Michael Savage’s podcast Savage Nation on Truth Social on Wednesday.
The post was a criticism of the US birthright citizenship laws, which referred to India, China and other countries as “hellholes” while fiercely advocating changes to American policy regarding nationality.
“A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet,” the letter said.
It charged that these immigrants have done more damage to “this nation than all the mafia families put together.”
It added, “In my un-humble opinion. Gangsters with laptops. They’ve robbed us, blind, treated us like second-class citizens, let the turd world triumph, stepped on our flag, et cetera.”
The letter also said that “white men need not apply” for jobs, and alleged unsubstantiated bias in internal hiring mechanisms, claiming they are “run by Indians and Chinese.”
Trump had signed an executive order on January 20, 2025, seeking to limit birthright citizenship for certain children born in the US, prompting lawsuits that remain pending.
The order directs federal agencies to deny citizenship to children born on US soil if neither parent is an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
The controversial repost by Trump comes a day after he falsely claimed in an interview with CNBC that “no country in the world” offers birthright citizenship other than the US.
Canada and most Latin American nations provide birthright citizenship.
The US president recently courted controversy after posting and later deleting an AI‑generated image of himself depicted as Jesus on Truth Social, triggering a worldwide backlash.
Earlier this month, he threatened to destroy Iranian civilization overnight in response to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, but later backed down.
The victim attempted to rescue a man from a group of conscription officers in Odessa, according to reports
A Ukrainian press gang in the city of Odessa used pepper spray on a woman as she desperately attempted to prevent the forced mobilization of a man, according to eyewitness video circulating on social media.
The footage, shared on Wednesday, depicts at least eight draft officers struggling with an unwilling conscript while the woman attempts to intervene. At one point, the officers pull her away and apparently pepper-spray her, leaving her sitting on the ground and screaming: “My eyes!”
The man is eventually escorted to an unmarked minibus, as bystanders suggest rinsing the woman’s eyes with milk to alleviate the burning sensation.
Amid mounting losses in the conflict with Russia and a shortage of willing recruits, Ukrainian draft enforcement squads have increasingly turned to coercion to fill the ranks. The practice, colloquially known as “busification,” involves military-age men being snatched off the streets, from workplaces, and from residential areas, then taken to recruitment centers against their will, often triggering clashes with relatives, neighbors, and passersby.
In Odessa alone, multiple videos depicting Territorial Recruitment Center officers resorting to heavy-handed tactics against civilians have been making the rounds on social media in recent days.
In one case, draft enforcers shoved a woman to the ground and pepper-sprayed bystanders as they detained a man.
In another incident, a press gang pepper-sprayed the occupants of a car after the male driver refused to get out and called a lawyer instead.
Earlier this month, two draft enforcers were stabbed during a document check in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa. In a separate incident in Lviv, a conscription officer was fatally stabbed in the neck.
Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff, Kirill Budanov, recently acknowledged that the forced mobilization campaign has created serious rifts in Ukrainian society. According to Vadim Ivchenko, a member of parliament’s national security committee, only around 8-10% of new personnel entering the armed forces are willing recruits.
Moscow has accused Kiev of seeking to fight “to the last Ukrainian” at the behest of Western powers waging a proxy war against Russia. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov previously estimated that Ukraine had lost nearly 500,000 servicemen killed or seriously wounded in 2025 alone.
The ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran could render large parts of the region uninhabitable
A war launched by the US and Israel with the stated aim of preventing a nuclear crisis could end up causing one.
With repeated strikes reported near the Russian-built Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran, discussions about the US potentially forcibly taking Iranian uranium reserves, and seemingly zero room for compromise, the likelihood of radioactive fallout across the Middle East is steadily increasing.
Strikes getting closer to Bushehr reactor
Since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28, Tehran has reported four separate military strikes near its Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on the Persian Gulf coast. The facility’s roughly-square territory spans some 500 meters across, with a single reactor unit located at its center.
In the most recent incident on April 4, one of the projectiles landed just 75 metres from the site’s perimeter, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported, citing satellite imagery analysis. In mid-March, the UN nuclear watchdog reported that an attack had destroyed a structure around 350 metres from the reactor.
Risking damage to Bushehr site ‘suicidal’
The plant was constructed by Russian specialists and still hosts a Russian team, although operator Rosatom has reduced staffing to a skeleton crew since hostilities began. The company stated that the March 17 strike marked the first time a weapon landed within the facility’s protected zone, hitting near a meteorological building.
On the first day of the conflict, Rosatom chief Aleksey Likhachev warned that an operational nuclear power plant “is not a practice target,” stressing that military activity near such installations is “unacceptable and suicidal.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the incidents near Bushehr, warning on April 6 that “the shadow of a radiological disaster more severe than Chernobyl now looms over the Persian Gulf” and surrounding areas.
Worst case scenario for Bushehr
Modern nuclear power plants are designed with multiple layers of protection to prevent the release of radioactive material. However, disasters such as Chernobyl in 1986 – caused by a catastrophic reactor failure during a botch experiment – and Fukushima in 2011 – triggered by a natural disaster – demonstrate that severe accidents remain possible and warrant abundance of caution.
The recent incidents near Bushehr serve as “a stark reminder: a strike could trigger a nuclear accident, with health impacts that would devastate generations,” World Health Organization head Tedros Ghebreyesus cautioned, echoing calls from the IAEA for deescalation.
I join the @iaeaorg in raising the alarm again over the safety of nuclear facilities in #Iran.
The latest incident involving the Bushehr nuclear power plant is a stark reminder: a strike could trigger a nuclear accident, with health impacts that would devastate generations.… https://t.co/mvFRC23EpT
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 5, 2026
A worst-case scenario involving a large-scale release of radioactive material from Bushehr could render not only parts of Iran but also neighboring states such as Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE uninhabitable, even without direct fallout, according to Peter Kuznick, director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University.
“If Cesium-137 contaminates water supplies, it becomes extremely difficult to remove,” he explained to RT. Some regional countries get 100% of their drinking water from desalination systems that would likely be compromised, should Bushehr be seriously damaged. “This war is so reckless and out of control at this point that anything is possible,” he said.
As in Ukraine, so in Iran
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has criticized what he described as a lack of Western condemnation over threats to Bushehr, compared to accusations of Russia related to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant.
The formerly Ukrainian facility, under Russian control since 2022, has faced repeated attacks or nearby incidents as Kiev continues to pursue its recapture. The IAEA maintains a monitoring mission at the site but does not assign blame for strikes, citing limitations of its mandate – a policy it also follows in Iran. Supporters of Kiev lay the blame squarely on Moscow.
Threats beyond Bushehr
The stated justification for the US-Israeli campaign is that Iran was allegedly close to acquiring nuclear weapons – despite the damage the two nations inflicted on its nuclear infrastructure last year.
The administration of US President Donald Trump argues that Iran has no right to a civilian nuclear program, a position that conflicts with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Tehran has long denied any intention to develop nuclear weapons, citing religious prohibitions against weapons of mass destruction. However, the targeted assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the opening shot of the war may have shifted political calculations in Iran.
Ahmad Naderi, an influential MP, has urged Iran to follow North Korea’s example, arguing that “if we were also armed with nuclear weapons, Trump would not dare to threaten bombing.” The NPT’s core deal is that a signatory gets IAEA help in building up the nuclear industry in exchange for oversight preventing weaponization.
The US and Israel have ignored the international agency’s mandate to strike Iran’s Natanz enrichment site attacked on March 21. Meanwhile, attacks on industrial facilities have raised additional concerns. The Khuzestan Steel Production Factory, attacked in late March, uses radioactive isotopes for gauging, the IAEA warned, noting that no breach of sealed sources was detected.
Hunt for the uranium stockpile
The greatest contamination risk may stem from Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, believed to be stored in underground facilities in Isfahan and Natanz following the US-Israeli attacks last summer.
The IAEA estimated in June 2025 that Iran possessed over 440 kg of uranium hexafluoride enriched to 60%, while some assessments suggest the stockpile could be larger by as much as 100kg.
There has been speculation that a large-scale US military operation – officially described as a rescue mission for aircrew of an F-15E jet downed in Iran on April 3 – may have been linked to efforts to locate and secure the uranium. The mission involved around 150 aircraft, including transport planes that were stuck on the ground and destroyed to avoid capture, according to American officials.
Emerging evidence suggests that U.S. operations south of Isfahan (marked in red on the map) were unrelated to any pilot rescue mission.
Israel, widely believed to possess a nuclear arsenal, faces similar vulnerabilities. Following the attack on Natanz on March 21, Iran retaliated with strikes near Dimona and Arad, two towns close to the heavily fortified Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center.
“Our air defense system is among the best in the world, but it is not hermetic,” a senior Israeli air defense commander commented. “There are errors and malfunctions.”
The implied threat to the facility was later reinforced in an Iranian AI propaganda video depicting the country’s new leader considering a direct attack on the Iranian nuclear reactor.
First appearance of the new Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei in an AI-generated video. The main message: the Nuclear Research Center in Dimona. pic.twitter.com/sXXtAwk6Uc
The US used the option in 1945 against Japan, a nation that refused to admit defeat at a moment when a Soviet ground attack was becoming increasingly possible. Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) made the use of nukes a taboo during the Cold War.
Israeli officials and pro-war aid reportedly swayed Trump aides with a promise that his political legacy would be secured if he were to do what no president had done before him and launch a regime-change war against Tehran. “Trump has broken every custom, every norm, every tradition, every international law, most US laws,” Kuznick noted “The same psychology applies to the nuclear taboo.”
Likewise, Israel came close to using nuclear weapons during the 1973 Yom Kippur War but ultimately then-Prime Minister Golda Meir refrained after battlefield conditions shifted against Egyptian and Syrian forces.
What decisions Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu might take, should the latter’s 40-year dream of crushing Iran slip away, is becoming an increasingly concerning question.
Netenyhu - ""Teaming up with US allows Israel to do what I’ve been wishing to do for 40 years"' pic.twitter.com/8t3HXsg0ZZ
By moving from a ‘moral apology’ to criminal liability, the Lumumba family is forcing a global reckoning with the mechanics of regime change
The Council Chamber of the Brussels Court of First Instance last month made the historic decision, subject to appeal, to open a criminal trial against Étienne Davignon, a former Belgian diplomat, for his alleged role in the abduction and transfer of Patrice Lumumba.
This March 17 ruling delivers a blow to decades of Western legal immunity, challenging the long-standing practice of burying the 1961 assassination under the vague ‘moral responsibility’ of diplomatic apologies. The court must now decide if this will finally be prosecuted as a war crime. It is a live-wire legal precedent that connects the ‘Decapitation Doctrine’ – the strategic removal of a head of state to induce systemic national collapse.
This pattern stretches from the 1953 ousting of Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran and Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala in 1954 to Lumumba’s Congo in 1961 – directly to the 2011 destruction of Libya, the kidnapping of the Venezuelan president, and the current open war to topple the Iranian regime. By framing these actions not as isolated incidents but as a calculated shortcut to engineer state failure, the Lumumba case threatens to dismantle the very architecture of modern external intervention.
In a statement, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), acting as legal counsel for the Lumumba family, described the ruling as one of “major legal significance.” This is because the court “went beyond the submissions of the Federal Prosecutor” by extending the scope of the trial to include the assassinations of Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, Lumumba associates who were executed alongside him on January 17, 1961.
After six decades of impunity, Étienne Davignon, the last living alleged perpetrator. must finally answer for these war crimes.
At 93, Étienne Davignon stands as the last surviving link between that colonial execution and the modern Western establishment. A former diplomat in the Belgian Congo and a titan of the Bilderberg Group – an informal, off-the-record gathering of political and business leaders – and the EU, Davignon embodies the “colonial administrative mind”: a mindset that didn’t vanish with independence but was rebranded into the very international organizations which fail to protect sovereign nations today.
By shifting the legal threshold from a 2002 “moral apology” to the 2026 criminal trial (a judicial battle the family ignited in 2011), the Lumumbas are forcing a global reckoning with the mechanics of regime change.
This dismantling begins with the “decapitation doctrine.” The elimination of Patrice Lumumba was never an isolated act of colonial cruelty; it was the birth of a strategic blueprint. This doctrine operates on a simple, lethal premise: When a sovereign leader refuses to serve as a Western proxy, the intervention disintegrates the state’s institutional core. In 1961, the removal of Lumumba served to paralyze the Congo, ensuring its vast mineral wealth remained accessible to Belgian and American interests.
Exactly fifty years later, this same script was dusted off and deployed against Libya. The 2011 NATO intervention followed the Congolese model to the letter – justifying “regime change” under the guise of humanitarianism, only to leave behind a vacuum of governance and a shattered national identity. This is the recurring nightmare of the Global South: a cycle of manufactured crises where the “civilizing mission” of the 20th century has evolved into the “democratization” invasions of the 21st.
This trial, whose specific start date is yet to be set, represents a violent collision between two versions of history, the sanitized “moral apology” offered by Belgium in 2002, and the cold, criminal liability demanded in 2026. For a quarter-century, the Western establishment has hidden behind the veil of “institutional failure” and “unfortunate excesses,” treating the assassination of Lumumba as a tragic footnote of history.
However, Étienne Davignon cannot plead the passage of time as a defense against the charge of war crimes. By elevating this case from a diplomatic grievance to a criminal prosecution, the Lumumba family, through the Lumumba Foundation, is effectively putting the entire colonial era on the stand. They are arguing that the destruction of a nation’s leadership is not a political maneuver protected by sovereign immunity, but a foundational crime that continues to bear bitter fruit – from the streets of Kinshasa to militia-dominated Tripoli.
The legal battlefield in Brussels is no longer a debate over historical “regrets,” but a forensic dissection of command responsibility. At the heart of the 2026 trial lies a cache of declassified cables and administrative records that strip away the veneer of “local tribal conflict” that has long shielded Belgium. These documents suggest that the execution of Patrice Lumumba was not a meticulously choreographed operation directed from the highest levels of the Belgian colonial office.
As the court examines the role of a then-junior diplomat named Étienne Davignon, it is forced to confront the “Bureaucracy of Assassination.” This is the moment where the colonial administrative mind meets the criminal dock, challenging the long-held Western legal defense that high-ranking officials are immune to the blood shed by their strategic directives.
This is the shift that terrifies the architects of modern interventionism. By treating Lumumba’s death not as a closed domestic coup, but as a war crime, the case has, effectively, stripped away the expiration date on colonial accountability. If Étienne Davignon can be held criminally liable for a telex he sent in 1961, the implications are seismic. What does this mean for the French officials who choreographed the “dirty wars” in Algeria, or the NATO commanders who signed the directives that turned Tripoli into a playground for militias in 2011, or the Trump administration who orchestrated the kidnap of sitting president Nicolas Maduro?
The Brussels ruling is a direct threat to the “immunity of the directive.” It forces Belgium, as a former colonial power, to face its dark history and the deeds of its cruel colonial officials.
For decades, the Western establishment has relied on procedural dead ends to ensure that the mechanics of regime change remain a matter of historical debate rather than criminal liability. The ruling shatters the 65-year-old shield of “moral responsibility,” transforming a hollow diplomatic apology into a live prosecution. It is a test of whether modern international legal frameworks can ever truly hold their own architects accountable, or if the blueprints of state-dismantling, from the Congo to Libya, will remain legally untouchable.
This is the “Aussaresses Precedent” that continues to haunt the Global South. Much like the unrepentant French General Paul Aussaresses, who admitted to horrific torture and summary executions in Algeria only to boast that he “slept fine” afterward, the architects of colonial violence have long relied on a legal suit of armor. Aussaresses died in 2013 at the age of 95, shielded by amnesty laws that ensured he was only ever fined for “justifying” war crimes rather than being prosecuted for committing them.
The March 17 ruling in Brussels represents a definitive crack in this armor; it is a refusal to let Étienne Davignon follow the Aussaresses path into a comfortable, legally shielded grave. By securing this criminal referral, the Lumumba family is fighting to ensure that “doing one’s duty” is no longer a valid legal defense for the clinical destruction of a sovereign people.
The trial of Étienne Davignon is the first tremor of a continental tectonic shift. This was reinforced on March 25, 2026, when the UN General Assembly, led by a historic resolution from Ghana, formally designated the transatlantic slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity,” a move that directly challenges the institutional architecture of Western states.
This global momentum aligns with the African Union’s transition from the 2025 ‘Year of Reparations’ to the 2026 adoption of the Algiers Declaration. As the AU moves toward the active implementation of this blueprint, the ‘immunity of the directive’ is collapsing. By designating November 30 as a continent-wide day to honor the martyrs of colonialism and moving to codify these historical atrocities into international law, Africa is signaling that the era of the ‘moral apology’ is over. The blueprints of state-dismantling, from the Congo to Libya, are no longer a matter of historical debate – they are now a matter of criminal accountability.
US officials have confirmed the loss of an F-15 jet, with a rescue and retrieval operation underway, according to Axios
The Iranian military has shot down a US F-35 fight jet over its territory, local media outlets, including Tasnim news agency, have claimed. US officials confirmed the loss of an F-15 jet and claimed that one pilot has been rescued.
Photos and videos purporting to show the jet’s crash site, including pictures of the debris and an ejected pilot seat have been released. The images show what appears to be a tail fin and other parts of the aircraft with an inscription saying: “US Air Forces in Europe.”
According to The Guardian, the jet could be a part of the US Air Force’s 494th Squadron, based at Royal Air Force base in Lakenheath, UK.
American news outlet Axios reported, citing sources, that the downed jet was an F-15 and not the latest generation F-35. According to CBS, one of the jet’s two crew members was rescued, with search efforts ongoing.
Another enemy F-35 hit and downed by our #indigenous defence systems.
— Consulate General of the I.R. Iran in Mumbai (@IRANinMumbai) April 3, 2026
Iranian media claimed that the US rescue effort failed. The operation involved at least two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 Hercules aircraft, Tasnim reported. At least one of the helicopters was reportedly damaged during the operation, with photos published on social media showing gray smoke coming from it.
According to Tasnim, the Iranian military likely captured the pilot, who ejected from the aircraft and landed in western Iran.
Who was looking for this? Turns out the ‘invisible’ seat wasn’t so invisible after all.
— Consulate General of the I.R. Iran in Mumbai (@IRANinMumbai) April 3, 2026
The US and Israel began a bombing campaign against Iran on February 28. Despite claims by US President Donald Trump that Tehran’s ability to strike back has been severely diminished, Iran has hit US bases throughout the Middle East.
Iran has claimed that it shot down at least two F-35 jets since the start of the war. The US military denied these claims. Satellite imagery, as well as drone and on-scene footage, suggests that the Iranian military hit several US radars in the region and destroyed a number of planes, including an E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control aircraft.
Volkswagen is planning to convert one of its factories to produce Iron Dome components
One of Germany’s biggest and most iconic car manufacturers, Volkswagen (VW) and one of Israel’s most well-known arms manufacturers, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, part of the global Rafael Group, are planning to collaborate. If the project is realized, VW will convert one of its German factories in the historic city of Osnabrueck from making automobiles to producing components of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
These plunging profits are due to many factors: Chinese competition; Germany’s failure to keep up with cutting-edge technology, communication infrastructure, and business practices; American sabotage by tariff warfare and filching German companies via subsidies; and last but not least, the horrendous energy costs that the entire EU has inflicted on itself by going to war – by Ukrainian proxy and sanctions – against Russia.
The shift to making things for the military, meanwhile, is just a small part of Germany’s breathtakingly misguided response: Namely, a policy of going into massive public debt – under a so-called conservative – to finance a bizarre form of military Keynesianism that is based on illusions (no, Russia is not about to attack), produces self-reinforcing Russophobia (which makes a return to normality even harder), and won’t work as an economic boost, as even the usually government-aligned Spiegel has admitted.
In short, like a prism, the Osnabrueck plan bundles together many of Germany’s worst – and self-inflicted – problems, and the single silliest idea of how to tackle them.
Yet, there is obviously a whole other dimension to the VW-Rafael project that is even worse: The plan also encapsulates Germany’s complicity with Israel’s crimes, an obstinate policy that is deeply immoral, has twisted Germany’s domestic politics and discourse toward cynical racism, censorship, and authoritarian restrictions on free speech (as a UN report has confirmed), and, moreover, is stupidly shortsighted as well, since it alienates most of the world, and in particular, its rising part in the Global South.
This complicity does not make the VW-Rafael project unique. On the contrary, it is typical for decades of constantly expanding and intensifying collaboration between Israel’s military, technology, and industrial sectors and companies from all over the world, as recently outlined in UN special rapporteur’s Francesca Albanese’s report From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide. Given the many crimes committed not only by the Israeli state, but also large numbers of individual Israelis as well as Israeli institutions and businesses, that in itself is a global scandal.
And yet there it is, so massive that its outlines will have to be sketched in just a few highlights.
Computers, clouds, and AI? IBM, Hewlett Packard, Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft – to name only a few – are deeply and profitably involved not merely in doing business with Israel but with the specific business of population control, surveillance, and incarceration. That is, to be precise, the very sharp end of Israel’s apartheid regime imposed on the Palestinians. Apartheid is, of course, a UN-recognized atrocity crime (not just a specific, criminal stage in South Africa’s history). And not only the infernal Palantir but Microsoft as well – with its Azure and Nimbus systems – has directly helped the Israeli military while it carries out genocide.
Demolishing Palestinian homes, roads, wells, public buildings, and all vital infrastructure, in short, the material basis of life? Caterpillar, Hyundai as well as Doosan, and Volvo have all been at Israel’s service, including in the massive, systematic devastation of Gaza that has been part of Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing campaign.
But then, Zionism doesn’t only destroy and displace. To be fair, it also builds – namely, illegal settlements on territories that are officially called ‘occupied’ but have in reality been de facto annexed by Israel in its ceaseless, aggressive drive for even more ‘Lebensraum’ in a ‘Greater Israel’ that has never even defined its borders.
And don’t let the Israeli Hasbara propaganda fool you: There is no room for debate here. In 2024, the International Court of Justice, the highest court of the UN, unambiguously confirmed that the Israeli post-1967 occupations, including that of East Jerusalem as well as the exploitation of these territories’ resources, and all settlements – really colonies – there are illegal because of “Israel’s violations, through its policies and practices, of the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.” Israel must not only leave, as the court also made explicit, but provide “full reparations” to the Palestinians.
Unfortunately, making Israel obey the law – or basic moral precepts everyone else recognizes as binding intuitively (Don’t target children with snipers, for instance, or Don’t torture toddlers) – has always been a challenge, not least because of Washington’s criminal support for Israel’s criminal regime. None of this means the law does not apply.
But those companies helping Israel build its settlements and exploit the illegally held territories – such as the German Heidelberg Materials AG with its subsidiary Hanson Israel, Construcciones Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles from Spain, real estate international Keller Williams RealtyLLC, and again, Caterpillar, Hyundai, and Volvo, are all also involved in a very serious crime.
Unfortunately, it would be easy to greatly extend this list of corporate collaboration and complicity with Israel. VW is not alone. Its new project for colluding with Israel is not even a first for the company. A decade ago, VW set up Cymotive Technologies with Israeli partners. And not just any partners, but spooks from the infamous Shin Bet intelligence service. Cymotive focuses on cybersecurity and cars. If you have heard of how extraordinarily proud Israel has been of its heinous weaponization of international supply chains to carry out its 2024 pager attacks in Lebanon – a form of terrorism, as a former CIA director rightly noted – that might give you food for thought while driving. And if you have the misfortune of being aware of one of Israel’s top spies – namely a former head of Mossad – openly bragging of having planted devices for pager-attack-style terrorism and spying all over the world, maybe you will prefer walking.
But then again, maybe there’s less need to worry, as it turns out that Israeli technology – including that produced by Rafael – is not all it is cracked up to be. Consider merely that, as even the Zionist-aligned New York Times has to admit, Israeli missile defenses have not been doing well since Iran has been striking back in earnest against Israeli and American aggression. It is hard to assess the full damage in Israel because its regime practices a censorship blackout, but we know it has been taking bad hits. And then there are those famous Merkava tanks good at smashing through Gaza’s civilians but now being decimated in their invasion of Lebanon, by brave and clearly well-trained but much less well-armed Hezbollah fighters. Guess what company makes the Merkava’s anti-missile defense system? Yes, that would be Rafael. It seems Volkswagen and its Berlin backers have lost not only whatever sense of ethics they have ever had but also quality.
There is something special about the VW-Rafael deal-in-the-making. Obviously, there is the ugly irony of one of Nazi Germany’s main arms makers shifting back to its old business model. Then, while many companies and countries cultivate ties with the genocidal apartheid state of Israel and neglect their legal obligations to stop its crimes, Germany adds the very peculiar hypocrisy of shielding its intense complicity with Israel by abusing the memory of Germany’s own genocide of Europe’s Jews, the Holocaust. It is hard to imagine a greater moral and intellectual perversion.
If Germany had to learn one lesson from its genocides – the Holocaust and that of the Herero and Nama as well – then it was: This crime must never be committed. By no one. Not by Nazis, not by Zionists, either. And it cannot be done to anyone, not to Jews, not to Palestinians – even by Jews. Finally, no one must ever side with the perpetrators. No perpetrators, including Jewish ones.
With 90% of imported cooking gas running through the Iran‑controlled chokepoint and only 15 days of storage, New Delhi is testing Baltic and Pacific routes
The liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shortages that India faces as a result of the Middle East conflict have highlighted the need to strengthen the resilience of the nation’s most politically sensitive fuel.
Data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) shows that LPG consumption reached 31.32 million tonnes in 2024-25, while domestic production was 12.79 million tonnes. This means that close to 60% of demand was met by imports, most of which transit through the conflict‑hit Strait of Hormuz.
When flows through this corridor were disrupted, India’s LPG supply chain came under immediate strain. Arrivals fell sharply, March imports dropped to 1.19 million tonnes, a 46% decline, triggering spillovers into the domestic economy.
The government moved swiftly to prioritize household consumption while tightening supplies to industry, even as limited storage, barely 2-3 weeks of demand, narrowed the response window. New Delhi simultaneously invoked emergency measures to maximize refinery LPG output, with domestic production rising by roughly 40% in early March and scrambled for cargoes from alternative suppliers such as the US and Norway.
In this reshuffle, Russia, already India’s largest crude supplier, has emerged as a marginal LPG source. The key constraints, however, are limited volumes and complex logistics.
India’s structural LPG dependence
India’s LPG imports have risen steadily, from 14.81 million tonnes in 2019-20 to 20.67 million tonnes in 2024-25 following the expansion of clean‑cooking access and rising consumption. Over the same period, domestic production has remained broadly flat at around 12-13 million tonnes, even as consumption increased from 26.33 million tonnes to 31.32 million tonnes. As a result, imports have absorbed most of the incremental demand, pushing their share to around two‑thirds of total consumption.
Efforts to diversify supply were already underway before the crisis, most notably through India’s long‑term LPG supply agreement with the US, securing around 2-2.2 million tonnes annually from 2026. However, the current disruption shows that diversification remains partial and depends on freight costs and vessel availability.
The crisis has also exposed a weaker link in India’s LPG chain of limited storage capacity. PPAC’s latest LPG Profile Report puts total LPG tankage at about 1.2 million tonnes, equivalent to roughly 15 days of national demand. Bottling plants on average hold only around six days of stock, so even short‑lived disruptions leave policymakers with little room for maneuver and quickly amplify external shocks.
Russian routes: Ust‑Luga, Vladivostok, and the NSR
Reports suggest that India increasingly secures LPG cargoes from Russia and Japan as well as the US. Given that India consumes 2.6 million tonnes of LPG a month, around 80,000-90,000 tonnes a day, even several alternative cargoes, typically 40,000-60,000 tonnes each, cover only a few days of national demand. Initial Russian and Japanese supplies are therefore strategic hedges, not game‑changers.
But diversifying suppliers is not the same as diversifying routes. That is why Russia and longer‑range corridors such as the Northern Sea Route and the proposed Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor have entered the policy debate as they offer route diversity when the Middle East is on fire.
On Russia’s side, the main LPG export gateway is the Baltic port of Ust‑Luga, where the Sibur terminal handles liquefied gas. In 2024-25, industry reports indicated that LPG exports from Ust‑Luga roughly doubled year‑on‑year over January-May 2025 as European buyers retreated and exporters pivoted to Asia, and shipping intelligence noted at least two India‑bound cargoes totaling about 40,000 tonnes once flows resumed.
Indian strategists see two broad corridors for these volumes. A western route runs from the Baltic or Black Sea through the Mediterranean, Suez Canal and Red Sea into the Arabian Sea, bypassing Hormuz but adding exposure at Suez and Bab el‑Mandeb; deliveries to Kochi, Mangaluru, or Jamnagar would take around 40 days or more.
An eastern route departs from Russia’s Far East around Vladivostok, passes through the Sea of Japan, the East and South China seas, and the Strait of Malacca, and then across the Bay of Bengal to India’s east coast, reaching Haldia, Paradip, or Ennore in 12-24 days. This corridor concentrates risk in Malacca, crowded with container traffic and lying under Chinese naval shadow, but it fits India’s broader Indo‑Pacific calculus if eventually anchored in a formal Chennai-Vladivostok link.
Even with record traffic of about 38 million tonnes in 2024, total NSR cargo is still a fraction of the hundreds of millions of tonnes moving through the Suez Canal each year, which is why most analysts see it as a niche supplement rather than a realistic replacement for existing routes.
Yet both capitals are clearly intent on keeping the Vladivostok-Chennai Eastern Maritime Corridor on the table as an option, with Indian ministers describing it as operational and highlighting its early role in carrying crude and other bulk cargoes between Russia’s Far East and India’s east coast.
Security premium, signaling and political calculus
Russia’s role as a swing supplier is about redrawing risk, not replacing the Gulf. India imported around 20.67 million tonnes of LPG in 2024-25, implying an import requirement of 1.7-1.9 million tonnes per month and leaving overseas supplies to meet the bulk of domestic demand. Even under optimistic assumptions, Russia’s incremental export capacity can cover only a small share of this requirement, broadly comparable to the eventual scale of India’s long‑term LPG arrangement with the United States, so alternative suppliers can buffer shocks but not substitute the Gulf.
The value of Russian LPG therefore lies in geography and signaling rather than volume. Cargoes arriving via Ust‑Luga through Suez, or via Vladivostok and Malacca, are by definition non‑Hormuz flows, and even incremental non‑Gulf volumes shift India’s risk calculus when set against the growing share of crude now imported on routes that bypass Hormuz, as highlighted in recent shipping data and official statements on diversification. The question is whether New Delhi will pay a modest route premium for this security, just as it accepts extra miles to tap discounted Russian crude or continue to fall back on crisis‑time improvisation.
There is also a domestic political dimension. LPG is the flagship symbol of the government’s clean‑cooking drive, and a prolonged shortage would be far more electorally damaging than a technical disruption in refinery crude runs. This is why official communications during the crisis have stressed refinery output ramp‑ups and diversified sourcing, amplified by images of VLGCs discharging LPG at Indian ports, alongside repeated assurances that people’s fuel needs will be met.
For policymakers, the strategic choice is how much to invest in tanks at home versus miles at sea, whether to expand LPG storage or pay a premium for Russian and other non‑Hormuz cargoes, since Russia cannot replace the Gulf but, via routes from Ust‑Luga through Suez and from Vladivostok through Malacca, does give New Delhi a way to recast supply risk beyond West Asia.
For Moscow, stepping in as a dependable swing supplier, even at modest volumes, cements its image in India as a long‑term energy partner rather than a crisis‑time outlier.
From drone strikes to economic risks, regional leaders are choosing restraint over retaliation – revealing deeper fears of escalation and unreliable alliances
Speaking on Sunday at a site in Arad struck by an Iranian missile, where more than a hundred people were injured, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged more countries to join the war effort.
“What more proof do you need that this regime that threatens the entire world has to be stopped? Israel and the United States are working together for the entire world. And it’s time to see the leaders of the rest of the countries join up.”
Yet, despite this call, the response from much of the region has been notably restrained. Even close partners appear reluctant to get involved, including Gulf states that have been feeling the war on their own skin.
According to research cited by Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya, Iran has launched more than 4,900 missiles and drones toward Gulf countries, compared to roughly 850 aimed at Israel.
Iran has claimed it targeted only military infrastructure, as well as American and Israeli personnel stationed in these countries, but multiple videos circulating online show a different reality. Among the targets were residential buildings, airports, and hotels, resulting in several fatalities and multiple casualties.
Despite this, Gulf governments have opted against retaliation. Instead, they have embraced a defensive posture, one that reflects a broader strategic calculation about the risks of escalation.
Dr. Fahd Al Shelemy, a retired colonel in the Kuwaiti army, describes this approach as “positive air defense.” Gulf states, he explains, are intercepting missiles and drones while deliberately avoiding direct attacks on Iran.
The rationale is rooted in long-term concerns and the desire to avoid a war of attrition, in which both sides sustain prolonged damage without decisive victory.
“If you look at it, this is exactly what Iran is currently dragging us into, and this is something we are not interested in,” Al Shelemy told RT.
But the hesitation runs deeper than military strategy.
“Many people here say that this is an Israel–Iran war. It’s not our war, and as such we shouldn’t be involved,” he explains.
“And another point is that there is not enough trust in the American administration. At some point they might stop the war, then leave us facing an attrition war like the one between Iran and Iraq in 1980,” he added.
These concerns are not without precedent. Over the years, American alliances in the region have often shifted in response to changing interests. Egypt’s former president, Hosni Mubarak, was a long-standing ally of Washington until the Arab Spring of 2011, when he was ultimately urged to step down. Similarly, Kurdish forces in Syria, which played a key role in the fight against ISIS alongside the United States, later found themselves exposed after a US withdrawal.
For Gulf states, these examples reinforce the risks of relying too heavily on external guarantees. Entering the war could mean being left alone in a prolonged confrontation with Iran.
Al Shelemy believes the current approach has proven to be effective and “less damaging.”
“It resulted in fewer casualties and prevented a full scale war, especially given the fact that we have militias supporting Iran that are only less than 20 kilometers away from our cities.”
That proximity is a critical factor. Iranian-backed militias operating across the region present an immediate threat, one that could rapidly escalate if Gulf states were to take offensive action. The presence of Shiite Muslims in some Gulf states, such as Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, could also contribute to instability given their ties, and at times loyalties, to Iran.
Dr. Salam Abdel Samed, a Dubai-based expert in international law, echoes Al Shelemy’s perspective, praising the UAE government for not getting involved in an open conflict with Iran.
“The Gulf states have never been aggressive or military. They have been a hub of economic stability and peace so involving themselves in a war would make zero sense,” he argued.
“This is why the approach which was chosen was to defend themselves effectively against any aggression. The leaders are wise enough not to embroil themselves in any unmeasured reactions.”
Economic considerations also weigh heavily. Gulf economies are deeply interconnected with global markets, and stability is central to their prosperity. War, by contrast, threatens infrastructure, trade, and investor confidence.
Relations beyond repair?
Nevertheless, Abdel Samed warns that once the conflict is over, relations with Iran will not be the same again.
“What Iran has done to the Gulf states shall never be forgotten. The Gulf Cooperation Council countries are entitled to file an indemnities case before the international courts, with the aim to recover the major damage that happened to them. The international law supports such claims indeed.”
The financial toll for the Gulf is already substantial. Apart from suffering immense infrastructure damage, the war in Iran has resulted in oil production disruptions causing losses of up to $1.2 billion in daily export revenue. The conflict has also led to the cancellation of 40,000 flights and major tourism losses estimated at $600 million per day.
A source within the Emirati establishment, speaking on condition of anonymity, agreed that relations with Iran have been fundamentally damaged.
“Their actions will not be unanswered. The response doesn’t have to be militarist. It can be done in other means but it will certainly be felt.”
Indeed, signs of such responses are already emerging. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have expelled several Iranian diplomats, while the UAE has reportedly closed Iranian hospitals and is considering freezing Iranian assets.
Abu Dhabi is not planning to stop at that. Anwar Gargash, an advisor to President Mohammed Bin Zayed, said in a tweet on X that Iran miscalculated the costs of its aggression against the Gulf states.
“Iran’s brutal aggression against the Arab Gulf states carries profound geopolitical repercussions, and it establishes the Iranian threat as a central axis in Gulf strategic thinking, while reinforcing the Gulf’s security particularity and its independence from traditional concepts of Arab security,” he wrote.
“For the missiles and drones and the aggressive Iranian rhetoric are Iranian. And the result is to bolster our national capabilities and the joint Gulf security, as well as to solidify our security partnerships with Washington,” he added.
Al Shelemy also believes that after the war, the Gulf will establish new rules of engagement with Iran, and the conduct of GCC towards Tehran will be shaped largely by the Islamic Republic’s behavior.
“After the war, Iran will be busy rebuilding itself for which they will need the Gulf states. The best strategy may be to keep Iran occupied, either through economic pressure, such as lowering oil prices, or through partnerships. It depends on Iran after the aftermath of the war.”
For now, the Gulf’s position remains clear: absorb the attacks, defend the homeland, but avoid being pulled into a broader war.
Even as missiles fall and pressure mounts, restraint, not retaliation, continues to define the region’s response.
The attack on Al Daein Teaching Hospital in Darfur has rendered the facility non-functional, the WHO has reported
A strike on a hospital in Sudan has left at least 64 people dead and 89 others injured, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said, calling for an end to the ongoing civil war in the African state.
The casualties included at least 13 children, as well as medical staff and patients at Al Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X on Sunday.
The attack on Friday damaged key departments, including the pediatric, maternity and emergency units, and rendered the facility non-functional, Ghebreyesus said.
He said the WHO has documented 213 attacks on healthcare facilities, in which 2,036 people have been killed since the war erupted nearly three years ago.
“Enough blood has been spilled. Enough suffering has been inflicted. The time has come to de-escalate the conflict in Sudan and ensure the protection of civilians, health workers, and humanitarians,” Ghebreyesus said.
The fighting has displaced millions and created what aid organizations have described as one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with widespread shortages of medical care and essential services.
.@WHO has verified yet another attack on health care in #Sudan. This time, Al Deain Teaching Hospital in East Darfur’s capital, Al Deain, was struck, killing at least 64 people, including 13 children, two female nurses, one male doctor, and multiple patients.
Responsibility for the latest strike has remained disputed. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has accused the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of carrying out the attack.
The military dismissed the allegations in a statement on Saturday, saying its forces are committed to upholding international law and norms.
“Attacking service and healthcare facilities is a consistent approach and a daily practice carried out by this terrorist militia [RSF], which has committed massacres in El Fasher, as well as crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing,” the SAF stated.
The army accused the paramilitary fighters of bombing hospitals in El-Obeid, Dilling, Kadugli, Um Rawaba, Rahad, and Al-Dabba, killing hundreds of patients and medical personnel, and of targeting water and electricity facilities in El-Obeid, Kosti, Khartoum, and Merowe.
Police are treating the arson attack as an anti-Semitic hate crime
Four ambulances operated by a Jewish volunteer organization in London were set on fire overnight in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime.
The incident took place in the Golders Green area of the Barnet borough at around 1:45 AM local time, officials said. CCTV footage reportedly shows at least three masked individuals setting fire to vehicles belonging to the local branch of Hatzola, a network of volunteer emergency medical services which works with Jewish communities.
The London Fire Brigade said that “multiple cylinders on the vehicles exploded,” causing windows in a nearby residential building to shatter. No injuries were reported. The Metropolitan Police said nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution and confirmed that the case “is being treated as an anti-Semitic hate crime.”
🚨 BREAKING: Major arson attack in Golders Green, London overnight has destroyed at least 4 ambulances belonging to Hatzola Northwest — a volunteer Jewish emergency medical service providing 24/7 life-saving care to the community.
Hatzola is an international network of independent emergency medical organizations founded in New York in the 1960s to support Orthodox Jewish communities. The group has operated in Golders Green since 1979, according to British media.
We are aware of loud explosions heard in the past hour. Emergency services are on scene following a deliberate incident involving #Hatzola ambulances being set alight. The explosions were caused by oxygen tanks not a bomb or explosive device.
— Shomrim (North West London) (@shomrimlondon) March 23, 2026
In a 2014 High Court case, Hatzola representatives highlighted rapid response times compared to public ambulance services, though the court ruled the group was not permitted to use the sirens and blue lights reserved for official emergency vehicles.
Anti-Semitic sentiments in many parts of the world have been fueled in recent years by Israel’s extensive military operation in Gaza and expanded security crackdowns in the West Bank, as well as its strikes on Lebanon and Syria, and, most recently, its joint bombing campaign with the US targeting Iran.
The worst recent anti-Semitic attack in Britain occurred in October 2025, at a synagogue in Higher Crumpsall, Manchester, during Yom Kippur. Two people were killed and several others injured before the perpetrator was shot dead by police.
New Delhi’s anti-terror agency has taken custody of seven people for allegedly training and supplying weapons to insurgents in Myanmar
Six Ukrainians and a US citizen were taken into custody by India’s anti-terror agency on Friday, March 13, for their alleged links with insurgents in Myanmar and subversive activities in India’s northeast region, bordering Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Bangladesh.
On Monday, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court at Patiala House Courts in Delhi ordered their detention until March 27 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which punishes conspiracy, advocacy, abetment, or facilitation of a terrorist act or any preparatory act, according to the ANI news agency.
#WATCH | Special NIA Court at Patiala House Court remanded 6 foreigners in 11 days of National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody. They were produced before the NIA court.
It is alleged that they came to India on a visa and then entered Mizoram, which is a protected area.… pic.twitter.com/s7bXItPLTx
The NIA probe, according to documents seen by RT India, focuses on the illegal entry of the individuals to the Indian state of Mizoram, where foreign nationals are required to obtain a special permit, as well as illegal crossing into Myanmar “with the intention of carrying out a pre-scheduled training for Myanmar-based Ethnic Armed Groups (EAGs).”
These insurgent groups are reportedly linked to rebel outfits in India’s northeast region, which has been marred by violence for decades, but particularly in recent years. For instance, the state of Manipur has been in the headlines since 2023 after deadly ethnic clashes killed hundreds and displaced thousands.
The NIA has also reportedly found evidence suggesting that multiple consignments of drones from Europe were delivered by the accused persons to individuals and groups in Mizoram. According to Indian Express, the NIA submitted before the court that the accused disclosed during interrogation that they were in “direct touch and abetted in their terrorist illegal activities by unknown terrorists carrying AK47 rifles.”
According to excerpts of the First Information Report (FIR) obtained by RT, the security agencies are also examining the phones of the detained “to unearth the conspiracy which was being hatched by accursed persons to use local ethnic groups of India to hamper national security of India.”
What do we know about the arrested foreigners?
While New Delhi is yet to issue any official statement on the arrests, documents obtained by RT reveal the names, nationalities, and locations of the arrested by the NIA. They have been identified as:
Matthew Aaron VanDyke (US citizen)
Petro Hurba (Ukrainian citizen)
Taras Slyviak (Ukrainian citizen)
Ivan Sukmanovskyi (Ukrainian citizen)
Marian Stefankiv (Ukrainian citizen)
Maksim Honcharuk (Ukrainian citizen)
Viktor Kaminskyi (Ukrainian citizen)
❗️RT INDIA EXCLUSIVE - NAMED: American & Ukrainian Nationals Arrested For Alleged 'Terror Training' In Myanmar
The American named, Matthew VanDyke, has appeared in at least two films - one about his activities in Libya, and another about his 'security' firm, Sons of Liberty… https://t.co/68tmeaRBtIpic.twitter.com/pf5v8mfK4z
Of the six Ukrainians in the custody of the anti-terror agency, three were detained at the Delhi airport. The other three were nabbed by NIA agents at the airport in the northern city of Lucknow.
The US citizen was detained at an airport in Kolkata, the West Bengal state that is a key gateway to North Indian states.
All of the arrests took place on March 13, between 8 pm and midnight IST. This indicates that the intelligence agencies were on the trail of the suspects after gathering significant inputs, likely from Interpol or with foreign assistance or the help of foreign intelligence agencies.
Who is American mercenary Matthew VanDyke?
The US national, Matthew VanDyke, seems to relish the social media limelight. While the NIA is looking into a larger conspiracy, his name stands out. Believed to be a former US soldier, VanDyke previously appeared on the frontlines of the Libyan and later the Syrian conflicts.
The US mercenary’s X handle claims he fought in Libya and Ukraine and has run covert operations with a Venezuelan rebel commander since 2019. It also proclaims “FREE IRAN,” while offering little in the way of details.
The political statements on his X page also reveal a streak of right-wing affiliation, though there is not much credible evidence on this count.
VanDyke’s descriptor on his YouTube channel has a dash of a mercenary streak, laced with a camouflaged sprinkling of democratic aura by proclaiming that he is “preparing for an independent mission to Iraq during which he’ll train Iraqis to fight back against the Islamic State.” He claims that he is the founder of Sons of Liberty International (SOLI), a security firm that advises, trains, and supplies vulnerable populations to defend themselves against terrorists. A video titled ‘The Freedom Fighter’ shows men in camouflage undergoing armed training.
Another video, titled ‘Point and Shoot’, claims it is the official trailer for an award-winning film about the Libyan Revolution.
In one X post, VanDyke mentions his “friend” Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a US transgender woman and ex-head of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense’s English-language propaganda.
VanDyke’s self-proclaimed claim to fame is his participation in the Libyan civil war as a foreign mercenary in the uprising against the late Muammar Gaddafi. Filmmaker, armed combatant, and rebel fighter are his other “illustrious” self-proclaimed roles.
He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, according to his Wikipedia page.
In 2004, he claims to have graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with a master’s degree in security studies “with a Middle East concentration.”
Why is the NIA probe significant?
According to court documents, as cited by the media, the arrested Ukrainian national is part of larger group of 14 Ukrainians that had entered India on tourist visas on separate dates, and had flown to Guwahati, a capital of Assam state in India’s northeast, and a key hub in the region.
It is not immediately clear whether VanDyke is part of the group of Ukrainians or had any links with them. The NIA probe is likely to focus on those links, as well as pursue how the accused entered India and also restricted areas without the appropriate scrutiny.
Mizoram’s chief minister, Lalduhoma, alleged in 2025 that “thousands” of Western mercenaries linked to Kiev had crossed over to Myanmar via the state. “We have specific intelligence that the Ukraine war veterans travelled to Myanmar’s Chin State via Mizoram to train rebel outfits fighting the military junta,” Lalduhoma told the local assembly. He suggested that Mizoram was being used to cross into neighboring Myanmar to train militants and supply them with weapons after rules for obtaining special permissions to visit the state were relaxed in 2011 to boost tourism. The inflow of potential foreign mercenaries prompted the the Protected Area Permit to be reimposed in the state, local media reported.
The chief minister of the neighboring state of Manipur, N Biren Singh, in 2024 also suggested that authorities suspected the involvement of foreign mercenaries in the violence in the state, referring to combat forces linked to Myanmar. During that time, New Delhi announced it would be building a fence along the entire 1,643 kilometer (1,020-mile) long porous border with Myanmar.
How did Ukraine respond?
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry lodged an official protest with New Delhi on Tuesday, demanding the immediate release of its citizens and access to them. The ministry claimed there were no “established facts proving the involvement of the said Ukrainian citizens in unlawful activities on the territory of India or Myanmar.”
It also accused Indian and Russian media of publishing “distorted interpretations of the available facts.” According to the statement, the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Delhi did not receive any official notification from the Indian authorities regarding the detention of Ukrainian citizens and consular access to the detainees was not provided. Kiev also pointed out that certain restricted-access zones in India for foreign nationals, entry to which is possible only with special permits, are not properly marked, which creates a risk of unintentional violations.
Beijing’s special envoy has been shuttling between Kabul and Islamabad to facilitate a ceasefire
Beijing is directly mediating a ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan, neighboring countries that have been engaged in intense fighting since February, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi has had phone conversations with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts during the past week, the ministry’s spokesperson Lin Jian said in an X post on Monday.
“The MFA Special Envoy on Afghan Affairs has been shuttling between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Jian said, adding, “China’s embassies have been in close communication with both sides as well.”
Making it clear that China will continue to facilitate reconciliation and ease tensions between the neighboring countries, the spokesperson said, “China hopes Afghanistan and Pakistan will remain calm and exercise restraint, engage face to face ASAP, achieve a ceasefire at the earliest opportunity, and resolve differences and disputes through dialogue.”
To mediate between #Afghanistan and #Pakistan, FM Wang Yi has had phone conversations with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts during the past week. The MFA Special Envoy on Afghan Affairs has been shuttling between Afghanistan and Pakistan. China’s embassies have been in close… pic.twitter.com/WCZ4WpgeL4
— CHINA MFA Spokesperson 中国外交部发言人 (@MFA_China) March 16, 2026
Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fighting for weeks after Islamabad declared an “open war” in February. Pakistan has struck military and other facilities deep inside its western neighbor, including the capital, Kabul.
The strain in ties between the estranged neighbors is also attributed to Kabul’s increasing engagement with Pakistan’s longtime rival, India.
Earlier this month, China sent a special envoy to Afghanistan, after a truce brokered by Qatar and Turkey last October collapsed.
Pakistan accuses Kabul of harboring fighters from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), allegations the Taliban denies. For China, the war represents not merely a security crisis but a direct challenge to its broader strategic vision for regional integration.
Islamabad has claimed that Afghan forces have suffered nearly 1,000 casualties in the latest cross-border escalation.
How the war on Iran shattered the loyalty of Trump’s supporters
The night of February 28-March 1, 2026, will be remembered by all those who followed the news in real time. At 1:15 AM EST, seated in the White House Situation Room, US President Donald Trump said,“Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck.”
Those nine words signaled the launch of the largest US-Israeli military operation in decades. F-35 fighters, B-2 bombers, cruise missiles launched from ships in the Persian Gulf, and drones struck over 3,000 targets in Tehran, Natanz, Fordow, and other locations in Iran. The mission was to eradicate what remained of Iran’s nuclear program, dismantle the command structure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and as Trump later confirmed in a video address from Mar-a-Lago, “eliminate imminent threats” to the US from the Iranian leadership.
However, within hours, the situation changed. Iranian state television announced that “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has fallen a martyr due to the aggression of the Zionist and American enemy.” On March 2, CENTCOM reported the first casualties: six US service members were killed, four of whom were reservists from Iowa, young fathers and sons. As the US launched its strikes, polls painted a bleak picture: according to Reuters/Ipsos, only 27% of Americans supported the attacks, while YouGov showed a slightly higher 37% approval rating. A sense of déjà vu hung in the air – many remembered how America had once greeted the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and how, just a year later, the sight of flag-draped coffins became a sobering reality check.
The response of American society and the elites to was immediate and severe. From Oklahoma to Ohio, small-town streets were filled with makeshift memorials: US flags at half-staff and candles placed near photos of the fallen. The nation was shocked: 43% of Americans opposed the strikes, and 56% felt Trump was “too eager to use military force.” Democrats were nearly unanimous in their condemnation: 78% of those surveyed opposed Trump’s attack.
Among Republicans, support for Trump hovered around 76% in the most loyal circles, while among young MAGA supporters, it dropped below 40%. On March 2, Republican Representative Thomas Massie called for an immediate vote on a War Powers Resolution. To the disappointment of Trump’s critics, the House of Representatives ultimately voted on March 5 to continue the operation.
The media were also divided. PBS and ABC aired stories about the families of the fallen soldiers – relatives said that the servicemen died for a foreign country, not for the US. The hashtag #NotOurWar trended on social media. Even on Fox News, commentators loyal to Trump wondered, “How many more lives will it take?”
Voices of MAGA: From support to open rebellion
The protest of key figures within MAGA has been particularly striking. Tucker Carlson, a well-known supporter of isolationism, expressed outrage during an ABC News interview on March 1, declaring the attacks on Iran “Absolutely disgusting and evil.” In a podcast, he added,“This is not America’s war. This is Netanyahu’s war that’s being forced upon us… We promised America First, and instead got endless wars fought for the interests of others.”
In response, Trump said Carlson is no longer part of the MAGA movement. “Tucker has lost his way. I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America First, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that,” Trump claimed. However, Carlson’s remarks quickly went viral and inspired numerous memes.
Marjorie Taylor Greene exploded with rage on February 28. “This is NOT freeing the Iranian people!!! This is murdering their children!!! WTF are you insane people doing??? AMERICA DOES NOT SUPPORT THIS!!!” On the Megyn Kelly Show, she said, “F**k this war. F**k foreign entanglements,” adding, “Trump, Vance, and Rubio sold us out.”
Megyn Kelly commented, “No one should have to die for a foreign country,” and “I don’t think those service members died for the United States. I think they died for Iran or Israel.”
Candace Owens mockingly renamed the operation “Operation Epstein Fury,”adding,“Goyim always die so the Khazarian mafia can expand their borders.”
Matt Walsh said,“With this Iran thing, I don’t see how the math works in our favor,” and “The messaging on this issue is, to put it mildly, confused.”
Nick Fuentes directly addressed Trump: “@realDonaldTrump NO WAR WITH IRAN. ISRAEL IS DRAGGING US TO WAR. AMERICA FIRST.”
Alex Jones warned of a “high probability that Iran will activate terrorist sleeper cells” and claimed, “Trump’s HUGE gamble accelerates the world’s trajectory towards a nuclear world war.”
Andrew Tate wondered, “Why would going into a war with Iran benefit anybody in America at all?”
All these people are pillars of the MAGA movement, and they feel betrayed. Yet Trump’s actions have drawn criticism not just from media personalities. On X, ordinary MAGA supporters wrote things like, “We voted for walls, not wars.” This is not just the discontent of a perpetually dissatisfied electorate; it signals a systemic break in loyalty, similar to what happened during the Iraq War in 2003.
US military against the conflict
Criticism from within American military circles has further deepened the societal divide. US military casualties, while not overwhelming, are steadily rising. Pentagon officials openly stated, “We expect to take additional losses.”
Retired Colonel Douglas Macgregor has described the current situation as a betrayal. “America First is dead as far as this administration is concerned, this is Israel First,” he said. “All of our bases have been destroyed… We are actually having to fall back on India and Indian ports.”
Marine Corps veteran Scott Ritter called the operation “Epic Failure,” highlighting strikes on civilian targets, including two schools. He noted, “Iran is resisting, and that’s really all it has to do.”
An open letter from 90 US veterans and organizations (written just two days before the attack and representing over half a million former service members) demanded adherence to the War Powers Resolution and urged against any regime change operations or ground invasions. The letter stated, “Pursuing peace through strength requires wisdom, not perpetual conflict.”
The possibility of ‘boots on the ground’, which Trump did not rule out in an interview with the New York Post, intensified military criticism. Political expert Sergey Sudakov highlighted the historical context of this statement. “We often hear the phrase ‘boots on the ground’. It is associated with the Vietnam War and the losses America suffered in it. Americans really fear this term. The current generation doesn’t remember the losses suffered during the Vietnam War. Young people are mostly unaware of it. But the older generation is really alarmed.”
The incident involving former Marine Brian McGinnis during Senate hearings on March 4-5 became a symbol of the growing reluctance of the US military to engage in this conflict. Green Party candidate and Marine veteran McGinnis abruptly interrupted the session, shouting, “No one wants to fight for Israel!” He was violently dragged out by the police and Senator Tim Shaheen, who helped the police. As a result, McGinnis had his arm broken and faced formal charges. Video footage of the confrontation quickly spread across major American and international media outlets – from CNN and the New York Times to Al Jazeera.
The event transcended mere protest and emerged as a powerful symbol of the deep divisions within the military and the Pentagon. Soldiers and veterans who vividly recall the heavy toll of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan increasingly wonder: what’s the motive behind Trump’s new gamble?
Economic consequences for ordinary Americans
The economic repercussions were felt by everyday Americans almost immediately. According to Reuters, the national average price of gasoline surged by 11%, reaching $3.32 per gallon (with diesel at $4.33, up 15% in a week). Oil prices have already surpassed $90 per barrel.
“Just two days into the aggression against Iran, gas prices in the US spiked significantly. This will impact domestic gas and diesel fuel prices, especially since diesel is critical for military vehicles,” noted political scientist Leonid Savin.
Sudakov added, “Americans are used to paying 75-80 cents per liter for gas. If prices surge two or three times higher, with their love for large, gas-guzzling vehicles, they’ll start tightening their belts. Families living in the suburbs and commuting to the city could spend anywhere from $800 to $2,000 just on fuel. That leads to more problems. People will start putting their homes up for sale and reconsidering mortgages.”
While the current state of the American economy seems manageable, Sudakov predicts a catastrophic spike in prices within a week or two if the conflict with Iran drags on, particularly when June futures come into play. This is fueling discontent among Latino and Muslim communities in the US, who, according to Savin, “are not pleased with these actions,” as well as ordinary Americans struggling with rising costs.
Why did Trump decide to attack Iran?
Why did Trump make such a decision? According to Sudakov, “Foreign trade issues have had a negative impact on Trump’s political capital and credibility. Moreover, during his campaign, he repeatedly highlighted the importance of the Epstein files and how they implicate the Democrats. However, the release of the files also negatively impacted the image of the Republicans and Trump himself.” However, Savin notes that “the Epstein files had little actual impact on this situation, although the coincidence regarding the timing is noteworthy.”
Savin emphasizes the influence of the Zionist lobby (which Epstein might have been a part of) on Trump’s decision. “The Zionist lobby has undoubtedly exerted considerable pressure on Trump, even during his first term. His vice president was a so-called Christian Zionist, and Mike Pompeo identified as a Christian Zionist too... And then there is AIPAC and other organizations advocating for closer ties between the US and Israel… Trump is no exception in this regard. Such eccentric and extravagant ideas exert a considerable influence in the US.”
Both experts agree that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played a significant role in the situation. “Netanyahu’s long-held fixation that Iran is developing nuclear weapons has certainly been a driving force, as the justification for the invasion was the claim that Iran was close to acquiring nuclear capability, even though there’s no real basis for that assertion.”
Sudakov views Trump’s “Pyrrhic victory” in Venezuela as one of the motivations behind the current attack on Iran. “Trump was riding high after the operation in Venezuela. He thought that since it was so well planned, a similar approach could work in Iran.” He considered the negotiations the US was conducting with Iran at the same time as the military operation was being prepared, “more of a cover-up process, as has happened many times before.”
The decision to launch a military operation against Iran has undoubtedly intensified polarization in the US. People are taking to the streets with signs that once read ‘Make America Great Again’ – but now, ‘America’ has been crossed out and replaced with ‘Israel’. US Vice President J.D. Vance and other Trump supporters campaigned under the slogan“No More Wars!” which drew thunderous applause. Yet, it seems Vance has chosen to conveniently overlook his past declarations – and many have followed suit.
Within the Pentagon, there has always been significant opposition to major conflicts. As Savin points out, “Among American military personnel in the Pentagon, there has always been a strong opposition which stands against deploying US troops abroad and involving them in wars with no clear purpose… The US hasn’t yet fully recovered from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
The scenarios for how this situation might unfold are limited: they range from a protracted conflict and possible escalation to a quick ceasefire. “The third scenario is more optimistic, provided they quickly realize the necessity of negotiating a ceasefire… That would be reminiscent of the situation in 2025,” Savin says. However, Iran’s trust in the US has been irreparably damaged, and it’s unlikely it will fall for the same trap twice.
On March 8, Iran appointed a new supreme leader – Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump reacted immediately and harshly, calling it “unacceptable” and stating, “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” This suggests that hopes for a swift resolution to the conflict are unrealistic.
Operation Epic Fury quickly transformed from a declared triumph into an unpredictable situation that may have catastrophic repercussions for the US. The reactions of key MAGA figures, declining public support, military losses, and looming economic turmoil paint a grim picture: the US is plunging into a domestic political crisis, and promises such as ‘America First’ have been abandoned. Trump risks being remembered not as a peacemaker but as a president who dismantled the very movement that brought him to power. The midterm elections in 2026 may closely resemble those following the invasion of Iraq, offering little good news for Trump and his team. America is weary of endless wars. MAGA is frustrated with its leader’s inconsistency. The ‘time for choosing has come’ – and the choice rests with the American people.
The US, Hungary and Fiji are supporting West Jerusalem, while over a dozen others back South Africa’s lawsuit
Several more states have moved to take part in the Gaza genocide case at the UN’s top court, deepening international divisions over Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave, according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The case, brought by South Africa in December 2023 amid a deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of Israel’s offensive, accuses the Jewish state of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. Since then, more than a dozen countries have applied to join the proceedings.
In a statement on Friday, the ICJ said that Namibia, the US, Hungary and Fiji had each filed declarations of intervention on March 12 in the proceedings under Article 63, which allows states party to the Genocide Convention to set out their own interpretation of the treaty when it is in dispute. Iceland and the Netherlands lodged similar declarations a day earlier.
South Africa argues that Israel’s conduct in Gaza – including mass killing, widespread destruction and the creation of conditions of life which threaten the survival of Palestinians – amounts to genocide. Israel denies the accusation and insists its campaign is a legitimate act of self-defense against Hamas following the October 7 attack.
The US, Hungary and Fiji have submitted legal arguments backing Israel’s position and urging a strict reading of the Genocide Convention, warning that lowering the bar for proving genocidal intent could undermine international law. Washington characterized the lawsuit as legally flawed and urged the ICJ to reject the genocide allegation, arguing that the extremely high threshold for proving genocidal intent has not been met.
Namibia, Iceland and the Netherlands have joined more than a dozen countries that have aligned themselves with South Africa, calling for a broader interpretation of the Genocide Convention that takes into account Israel’s overall conduct, conditions in Gaza and the wider impact of the war.
The Gaza war was triggered by a Hamas raid into Israel on October 7, 2023, when militants killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage. West Jerusalem responded with a blockade, airstrikes and a ground operation in Gaza that has left over 72,000 Palestinians dead, according to the enclave’s health officials.
Despite a US-brokered ceasefire in October 2025, over 650 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,740 injured since then, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of routinely violating the agreement.
Entrar
