As Usual?
A LOT of things to cover….
A son of the country’s slain supreme leader, has been named as Irans’s Supreme Leader….
If Trump thought he was name anybody to lead the country while he and Israel are bombing it?
He IS sadly mistaken
Mojtaba Khamenei IS NOT gonna be saying ‘We give Up…Let’s make a ‘Deal’….
One would thing given the Israeli way?
This new guy could become target….
The Bombing by US and Israeli military continues…
Wild rumours about US or Israeli Spec Operators being deployed to find and either recover or destroy Iran’s nuclear fuel….
Another US military member KIA (#7) in Saudia Arabia from an Iranian missile attack…
Israel keeps attacking Lebanon (Hezbollah) in addition to Iran….
There continues to be attacks at other Middle east countries after the Iranian President says these would cease ?
The population of Iran bears witness to their country being continually attacked and suffering from a worsening environmental situation with their air and water from the bombings.
The Trump admin is NOT happy with Israeli targeting Iran’s oil facilities….
(Of course Trump see’s dollar signs in oil, eh?….And COULD Iran start going after other Middle east oil asset’s which would drive oil prices THREW the ROOF?)
A below at the US Sec. of Defense, Pete Hegseth and his religious background and beliefs that could be the driving force in the man’s actions against a non-Christian country and the also the US Military policy of ‘Sphere’s of Influence ‘ that Trump seems to be embracing….
Wall Street Journal: “The campaign, undertaken side by side with the Americans, would transform the region’s strategic landscape with Israel as an unrivaled military power. And it would mark a stunning success for Netanyahu, who has long argued that the threat from Tehran isn’t only Israel’s problem but America’s as well. Central to that success was Netanyahu’s belief that the most important audience for Israel’s case against Iran was the American president.”
“The strategy helped bring the U.S. directly into Israel’s confrontation with Iran. But it also leaves both leaders exposed if the campaign falters.”
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President Trump told the Times of Israel on Sunday that a decision on when to end the war with Iran will be a “mutual” one that he’ll make together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
NY Times….
Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the country’s slain supreme leader, as his father’s successor, according to a statement from top clerics published in state media. His ascension, announced early Monday morning, signals the government’s desire for continuity as Iran faces expanding attacks from the United States and Israel nine days into the war.
Mr. Khamenei, 56, was appointed by a committee of senior Shiite clerics after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in the country for more than three decades, was killed in an airstrike during the opening blow of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. He is known for having close ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and takes the helm not just as Iran’s new religious and political authority but also as the commander in chief of its armed forces.
Israel’s military has been threatening to kill whoever succeeds Ayatollah Khamenei, and President Trump has called the younger Khamenei an “unacceptable” choice. Before the announcement, he warned in an ABC News interview on Sunday that the next supreme leader “is not going to last long” without the approval of the United States.
There was no sign of an offramp for the war, as fears mounted that the fighting would broaden across the Middle East. In a sign that American officials were aware of growing risks in the region, the State Department told American diplomats to leave Saudi Arabia, according to current and former U.S. officials.
And as markets opened Sunday evening, oil prices surged more than 10 percent, exceeding $100 a barrel for the first time in almost four years. Mr. Trump, who campaigned partly on lowering the cost of energy, said in a post on social media that the higher oil prices would be “short term” and said they were “a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace.”
Here’s what else we’re covering:
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New leader: Mojtaba Khamenei does not have high religious standing but was groomed for the position of supreme leader, serving in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, studying at a religious seminary and then working closely with his father. He was considered a front-runner for the post because of the nature of his father’s death and his strong political and military connections. Read more ›
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Iranian reaction: Iran’s military and hard-line political forces trumpeted the selection, and state media amplified voices supporting the new leader. But in Tehran, opponents of the government could be heard reacting to the news by chanting “Death to Mojtaba” from their windows. Read more ›
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Weekend attacks: The U.S. and Israeli militaries bombarded Iranian military targets and energy facilities over the weekend. Water desalination plants also came under attack in Iran and on the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, as strikes on civilian infrastructure threatened to affect the lives of millions of people.
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American casualty: The Pentagon said a seventh American service member had died, a week after being wounded in an Iranian attack on a military base in Saudi Arabia where U.S. troops were stationed. Read more ›
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Migrant worker deaths: Saudi Arabia reported its first civilian deaths: Two foreign residents — one Indian national and one Bangladeshi national — were killed, and 12 more Bangladeshi residents were injured, after a “military projectile” fell on their residence in the Kharj region, according to the kingdom’s civil defense authority. Migrant workers have been among the most heavily affected by Iranian attacks in the Persian Gulf countries.
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Beirut attacks: An Israeli airstrike hit a hotel in central Beirut on Sunday, killing at least four people, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The Israeli military said it had attacked commanders in the Quds Force special forces, a branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that helps manage Iranian ties to proxy militias across the region. The death toll from the Israeli military operation in Lebanon has risen to almost 400, the Lebanese health ministry said Sunday…
ISW….Iran Update Morning Special Report, March 8, 2026
- Geolocated satellite imagery published on March 7 confirms that the IDF struck the Shahroud Missile Facility in Semnan Province, northeastern Iran. The IDF struck buildings at the Shahroud Missile Facility during the June 2025 Israel-Iran War that had previously housed planetary mixers, which are essential for producing ballistic missile solid fuel. Satellite imagery published by the Associated Press in September 2025 showed that Iran had started repairing damaged mixer buildings at Shahroud.
- The combined force has reportedly targeted at least five internal security sites in and around Esfahan City, central Iran, since CTP-ISW’s last data cutoff at 3:00 PM ET on March 7. These sites include the Esfahan Province Law Enforcement Command (LEC) Headquarters, which oversees LEC units in Esfahan Province.
- The IDF has continued to conduct airstrikes against Hezbollah to degrade Hezbollah’s ability to launch attacks against IDF forces and positions in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. The IDF stated on March 8 that it has struck more than 600 Hezbollah targets and killed more than 200 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon since February 28.
- Iran has continued to target regional countries and Israel since CTP-ISW’s last data cutoff at 3:00 PM ET on March 7. Iran conducted two separate drone attacks against Kuwait on March 7, targeting the Kuwaiti Social Security Building and fuel storage tanks at the Kuwait International Airport. Unspecified security sources told Reuters that unidentified actors conducted a drone attack targeting the United Nations building in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan.
- Hezbollah has claimed 19 attacks targeting IDF positions and forces in northern Israel and southern Lebanon since CTP-ISW’s last data cutoff at 3:00 PM ET on March 7.
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The War from Iraninans (10 Million in Tehran) in the streets….
Thick black smoke was still rising in the sky, soot covered the streets and cars, balconies filled with black gunk, and the toxic air had filled the lungs as Tehran woke up after a night of airstrikes on the city’s oil depots on Sunday.
In messages and voice notes sent to the Guardian, people described the situation in their homes and on the streets, some calling it “apocalyptic”. With the sun blotted out, disoriented people in Iran’s capital had to turn on their lights to see through the gloom.
Four oil depots and a petroleum logistics site in and around Tehran were hit. Local authorities said six people were killed and 20 wounded at one of the sites.
Videos shared by citizen journalists showed massive flames over the Tehran sky overnight and smoke still billowing over the oil storage facilities. As rain poured down on the city of 10 million people on Sunday morning, authorities warned of toxic acid rain and many residents woke up with pain in their throat and eyes burning…..
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“The situation is so frightening it’s hard to describe. Smoke has covered the entire city. I have severe shortness of breath and burning in my eyes and throat, and many others feel the same. But people still have to go outside because they have no choice. Many places reopened today, but closed again because it’s impossible to stay outdoors.”
Iran’s environmental agency advised people in Tehran to stay indoors. The country’s Red Crescent said the toxic chemicals could lead to acid rain and hurt the skin and lungs, advising people to avoid turning on air conditioners or going outside immediately after rainfall. It also encouraged people to protect exposed food. Tehran’s governor recommended wearing masks outside. Dr Shahram Kordasti, a UK-based Iranian haemato-oncologist, warned the toxic gases and fine particulate matter could irritate the eyes and airways, worsen asthma, pulmonary conditions and heart disease, and increase the risk of some cancers.
Negin, who went out to buy a mask and an inhaler, said: “Even masks are becoming difficult to find. This is a huge mistake. I ask those who have the ability, especially foreign media, to reflect on this situation. What are people supposed to do under these conditions? This is truly a crime against humanity.”
Speaking about the effects on people of the US-Israeli strikes continuing around her she said, “This is no longer just a human rights violation. It is truly anti-human behaviour. If someone has a problem with the Islamic Republic government, that is one thing – but not with us, the people. You cannot attack water systems or refineries. Most of Tehran’s water comes from dams. If those become polluted, what happens then? The government has basically left people on their own.”….
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“President Trump heads into the second week of the Iran war under growing pressure to address surging gasoline prices, stretched-thin munitions stockpiles and sustained opposition to the conflict among voters, including many in his MAGA movement,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Trump and administration officials have so far dismissed concerns about increasing prices at the gas pump, saying those higher costs will ease once the war ends. The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline climbed nearly 50 cents in the past week, according to AAA.”
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A critcal look at the US Sec. of Defense….
With machismo, Christian nationalism and callousness toward the lives of US troops, they say, Hegseth’s puerile displays on TV are aimed at sating Trump’s desire for a warmonger worthy of the manosphere. This was reinforced by a lurid social media video that intersperses clips from Hollywood blockbusters such as Braveheart, Gladiator, Superman and Top Gun with Hegseth and real kill-shot footage of the attacks in Iran.
Janessa Goldbeck, chief executive of Vet Voice Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy organisation, said: “Pete Hegseth is a very dangerous person. He’s a white Christian nationalist and has the arsenal of the United States government at his disposal and a permission slip from President Trump to deploy carnage wherever he wishes against whomever he wishes.”
Hegseth’s rise would have been unthinkable under any other commander-in-chief. Born in Minneapolis, he studied politics at Princeton University and became publisher and editor of the Princeton Tory, a conservative student journal, where he frequently waded into culture-war issues such as feminism and homosexuality.
After leaving Princeton, Hegseth joined the US army national guard as an infantry officer. His service included deployments to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba and tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. He later revealed in a book that he told soldiers under his command in Iraq to ignore legal advice about when they were permitted to kill enemy combatants under their rules of engagement…
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The Senate ultimately split 50–50, forcing the vice-president, JD Vance, to cast the tie-breaking vote. As defence secretary Hegseth has vowed to “unleash overwhelming and punishing violence” on enemies and promised to dispense with “stupid rules of engagement” – rules designed to restrict attacks on civilian populations.
Now, in his first week guiding the nation through a murky new Middle East conflict, Hegseth has largely forgone the solemnity of a traditional defence secretary in favour of the performative antics of a partisan broadcaster revelling in America’s capacity to inflict violence.
For years he had cultivated a hypermasculine “muscleman” aesthetic designed to play to Trump’s sensibilities and the rightwing media ecosystem. Now, faced with a geopolitical crisis that demands nuance and strategic foresight, he appears to many to be out of his depth.
Goldbeck, a Marine Corps veteran who was deployed overseas as a combat engineer officer, commented: “I wish I could say how cavalier, obtuse and hopeless Secretary Hegseth is at leading the Pentagon. I can’t even muster the words to describe his self-adulation, matched only in scope by his apparent moral depravity.”…
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Hegseth has previously endorsed the doctrine of “sphere sovereignty”, a worldview derived from the extremist beliefs of Christian reconstructionism (CR). The philosophy calls for capital punishment for homosexuality and strictly patriarchal families and churches….
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Doug Pagitt, a pastor and executive director of the progressive Christian group Vote Common Good, compares Hegseth’s worldview to the historical heresy of Constantine, who allegedly painted a cross on his shield to conquer in the name of God – a theology the broader Christian church has spent centuries trying to distance itself from following the horrors of the Crusades…..
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A look at support for Israel by Democratrs and the 2028 Democraic
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