The Trump conflict that has morphed into a War gets BIGGER….
Dragging Donald Trump & America & Co. DEEPER into a hole…..
European countries on Thursday accelerated their deployment of military assets in the Middle East as they found themselves drawn into the orbit of a widening regional conflict, on the sixth day of a sustained campaign of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said four fighter jets were being sent to Qatar to strengthen “defensive operations” across the region, and military helicopters with counter-drone capabilities were scheduled to arrive in Cyprus on Friday. Italy said that it was sending air defense support to Gulf countries, which have taken the brunt of Iran’s retaliatory strikes.
European leaders, several of whom disapproved the initial U.S.-Israeli assault, emphasized that the deployments were to protect their citizens and their interests, as well as crucial shipping routes — not to participate in the bombing of Iran.
Still, the moves were the latest illustrations that the conflict — which has killed hundreds so far, mainly in Iran — was spilling beyond the Middle East.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said that the two Iranian drones had landed in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave on Iran’s northern border. Iran’s armed forces denied firing drones at Azerbaijan and blamed the action on Israel. Iran also denied Turkey’s claim that it had fired a missile toward Turkish airspace a day earlier.
And Iran’s foreign minister accused the United States of an “atrocity at sea” after a torpedo launched from a U.S. Navy submarine sank an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Dozens of sailors were killed, the Sri Lankan authorities said.
Fighting raged unabated. The U.S. military said that it was “finding and destroying” Iran’s mobile missile launchers. Iran struck again at pro-American Kurdish forces in neighboring Iraq, hitting a base belonging to one of the groups, the Komala Party, according to an official from the group who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Iran for days has targeted the Kurdish forces, which it views as terrorist groups, as Iraqi officials and senior members of the forces say they are preparing armed units that could enter Iran.
Iran has said its strikes, begun in retaliation to the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, are in self-defense. But the targets Iran has hit in the Persian Gulf in recent days have included American embassies, energy installations, airports and resort hotels.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
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Beirut evacuations: The Israeli military on Thursday called on Lebanese people to leave Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the militant group Hezbollah holds sway, ordering them to flee northward. “Save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately,” it said in a statement. “We will inform you when it is safe to return.”
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Supreme leader: Iran’s top clerics are considering their choice to replace Mr. Khamenei. His son Mojtaba Khamenei appears to be a front-runner. Read more ›
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Market rally: After three days of intense volatility, global stock markets stabilized and the price of oil rose more modestly on Thursday than in recent days. But concerns about the impact of a surge in energy prices were still hanging over markets. Read more ›
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Americans killed: Six U.S. service members have been killed in the conflict. The Defense Department on Wednesday night released the name of a fifth American killed in an Iranian attack on Sunday, and released the name of another soldier believed to have died in the same incident. Read more ›
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Death toll: At least 787 people have been killed in Iran since the start of the U.S.-Israeli attacks, according to the Red Crescent Society, Iran’s main humanitarian relief organization, including at least 175 who died in the bombing of a girls’ elementary school. At least 77 people in Lebanon have been killed, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
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Fears in Ukraine: The conflict is reverberating in Ukraine, putting peace talks with Russia on hold and raising fears in Kyiv of diminished military support. Read more ›
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Trump wants to pick Iran’s next leader….
(Israel will probably hunt down anyone they or Trump doesn’t like)
President Trump told Axios in an interview Thursday that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s next leader — just as he was in Venezuela.
- Trump revealed this exclusively in an eight-minute phone call — his second conversation with us to explain his war planning.
Why it matters: Trump acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei, is the most likely successor — while making clear he finds that outcome unacceptable.
- For several days, the Iranian regime has postponed the announcement of the new supreme leader. But statements by Iranian politicians on Thursday suggested an announcement could be imminent.
What he’s saying: “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela,” Trump said.
- He added that he refuses to accept a new Iranian leader who would continue Khamenei’s policies, which he said would force the U.S. back to war “in five years.”
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Looking for help….Trump invites the Kurds in Iraq into the War against Iran…
(Echo’s of Bush II 2003 – 2008 Iran/Iraq actions unstablizing the natural Iran vs Iraq Middle East situation back then)
Washington Post….
“The American request to the Iraqi Kurds is to open the way and not obstruct” Iranian Kurdish groups mobilizing in Iraq, “while also providing logistical support,” said a senior official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two major political parties that govern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
“Trump was clear in his call” Sunday to PUK leader Bafel Talabani. “He told us the Kurds must choose a side in this battle — either with America and Israel or with Iran,” said the official, one of several Kurdish and U.S. officials who discussed sensitive matters on the condition of anonymity….
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The Iraqi Kurds, who have long provided refuge for their Iranian brethren on the condition they do not plot against Tehran, risk destroying a tenuous peace they have maintained with the Iranian regime if the U.S. and Israeli war efforts do not succeed….
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Like their Iraqi brethren, the Iranian Kurds have in the past focused on regional autonomy rather than secession or regime change.
Representatives of several parties in the Iranian Kurdish coalition denied rapidly spreading rumors late Wednesday that they had begun an invasion from Iraq. Those reports sparked what Iranian state media said was a “preemptive” strike that had destroyed targets in Iraq’s Kurdish region. On Thursday, Peshawa Hawramani, spokesman for Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government, said the KRG “are not part of any campaign to expand the war and tensions in the region.”
Trump has publicly called for anti-regime Iranians to rise up and take over their government, but has also suggested the possibility that cooperative elements of the existing regime could stay in place once its leadership is wiped out, a resolution similar to that the U.S. imposed on Venezuela after capturing its leader, Nicolás Maduro…
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The list of Countries involved in the Iran War….
United States: President Trump ignited the conflict last Saturday with a massive military operation aimed at destroying Iran’s nuclear program, its missile arsenal and its proxy networks — and ultimately forcing regime change.
- At least six U.S. service members have died since the conflict began.
Israel: The U.S. and Israel coordinated the attack after months of failed negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
- Israeli strikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with dozens of senior Iranian officials.
United Arab Emirates: The U.S. ally has absorbed some 800 projectiles from Iran since the war began.
- Iranian drones struck a luxury hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah and ignited fires at Jebel Ali Port, one of the region’s most critical commercial hubs.
- The UAE closed its embassy in Tehran and is now considering military action.
Qatar: The tiny Gulf nation, which has historically had friendly ties with both the U.S. and Iran, suspended most of its natural gas production after Iranian drones struck two of its energy facilities.
- Qatar’s air force also shot down two Iranian Su-24 fighter jets.
Kuwait: Iran attacked Kuwait on the first day of war in an attack that led to the first American deaths.
- U.S. officials said American fighter jets were mistakenly downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire on Monday. All six members ejected and are in stable condition.
Bahrain: Iran targeted U.S. bases in Bahrain, with videos showing smokerising from near the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Manama.
- Iranian drones also hit several residential buildings in Bahrain’s capital.
Oman: Iran expanded its strikes to include U.S. bases in Oman on the second day of the war.
- Notably, Oman had been mediating indirect nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran.
Saudi Arabia: Iran targeted U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia on the second day of strikes.
- On Monday, Iran attacked the U.S. embassy in Riyadh.
- Iranian drones struck the Ras Tanura oil refinery — one of the world’s largest — forcing a partial shutdown. Israeli officials believe Saudi Arabia may also take military action in response, Axios reports.
Jordan: Iran fired missiles and drones at U.S. military installations in the country.
Lebanon: Hezbollah entered the war on Iran’s side, launching missiles and drones at Israel on Monday — breaking a ceasefire that had been in place since November 2024.
- Israel responded with heavy airstrikes across Lebanon, killing at least 40 people, including several Hezbollah commanders. Israel also launched an incursion into southern Lebanon…
Trump calls on Kurds to aid U.S. effort in Iran, offers support
In calls to Kurdish minority leaders in Iran and neighboring Iraq, President Donald Trump offered U.S. support to insurgent efforts against Tehran.
Paywalled article in The Washington Post
The Kurds certainly remember — although the transactional DJT might not — how, an hour after a phone call with Recep Erdogan, Trump pulled U.S. forces back from 50 miles to 100 miles from the Turkish-Iraqi border so that the Turkish army could more effectively attack the Kurdish guerrillas who had been fighting alongside the U.S. in the anti-ISIS campaign in Iraq.
As U.S. forces were retreating, Kurds were protesting what they saw as a betrayal of people who had fought and died to help protect U.S. service members from ISIS.
Is this WP piece in my midst post?
You’re right, James; this posting of yours was just too long for me to plough through.
Of course I stand by my own comments about betraying the Kurds and then inviting them to ally with the U.S.