March 5th of this year

June 29th of this year

Here one news article, from AA, covering the strikes

A missile and kamikaze drone attack struck Iraq’s northern city of Sulaymaniyah on Friday, triggering a fire, local media reported.

Erbil-based Rudaw TV reported that the attack involved both missiles and a kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicle. A fire broke out at one of the targeted sites, and ambulances were dispatched to the area.

Iraqi President Rejects Attacks on Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, Reaffirms Sovereignty

Sovereignty, Iraq? That’s funny

Article from National Context

Including excerpts – read entirely at link above. Thank you

At least nine Iranian Kurdish fighters from the Komala movement were killed today in an Iranian attack in Sulaimani province. The strike caps a violent stretch inside Iran’s majority Kurdish northwest, where at least nine armed incidents were documented in June, killing more than 20 Iranian Kurdish militants. Most of the significant engagements were initiated by the IRGC through ambushes and intelligence-driven operations.

The spike in incidents has coincided with a reported buildup of Iranian forces and special operations units in the same areas where the clashes occurred. On 14 July, Alhurra quoted senior Iranian Kurdish opposition figures describing an Iranian deployment along the frontier of roughly 3,000 Saberin special forces personnel, arriving in waves of approximately 1,000, alongside IRGC Ground Forces units, Aerospace Force elements, artillery, rocket launchers, armour and drones. Ali Khoshnamak, a senior figure in the Komala Revolutionary Organization of the Toilers of Kurdistan, told the channel these were trained and trusted regime forces whose scale and composition indicated preparation for possible ground warfare. The same sources described daily drone reconnaissance over the frontier and approaches to the Kurdistan Region, along with electronic warfare systems for jamming and satellite disruption.

Through March, the contours of a potential Kurdish front became public. On 6 March, Reuters reported, citing two Iranian Kurdish sources and one Israeli source, that Israel was supporting Iranian Kurdish planning to seize border areas around Oshnavieh and Piranshahr, with thousands of fighters gathering on the Iraqi side and opposition strength estimated between 5,000 and 8,000. The parties wanted air support and political guarantees before committing. They never received them. Turkey, Reuters reported in May, opposed and helped suppress the offensive proposal, fearing it would strengthen PKK-linked networks and derail Ankara’s own process with the PKK. The KRG, for its part, had no interest in becoming the staging ground for a war against its neighbour.

Hope you can see the linked images??

In short:

The global economy was spared from the worst of the biggest oil shock in 50 years because of large oil reserves, according to the International Monetary Fund.

It says lower consumption in Asia and higher oil production outside of the Gulf helped absorb further price shocks.

What’s next?

Experts say global oil prices are likely to increase as reserves dwindle.

Depleted oil reserves have left economies vulnerable to soaring fuel prices as the US-Iran conflict resumes, the IMF has warned.

Before the war began, global oil supplies were at about 2 million barrels a day above demand.

The IMF the closure of the Strait of Hormuz had not led to a “full-blown price shock” because the reserves absorbed what the market could not.

It said that by the end of May oil reserves were estimated to be about 1.2 billion barrels, which was half the level prior to the conflict.

“That cushion, however, has been spent,” the IMF said.

“If the disruption were to persist at current rates, that lower bound would be reached by early 2027.“

“Well before that point, prices would likely move sharply higher, as the market would effectively be operating without a safety net.”

Trump and Bibi look like they want to keep this one going..

I’m going to post a bunch of links and other information for readers to view/read for themselves

Iran’s IRGC attacks on US military assets in Bahrain, Kuwait in ‘Operation Nasr 2’

Iran claims strikes on weapons depots in Bahrain, drones in Kuwait

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its navy and aerospace forces destroyed several weapons storage depots and vessel and aircraft parts at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa base in a combined missile and drone strike, in its tenth communique on Operation Nasr 2, IRNA reported on July 14.

The IRGC said the same operation also hit the ramp used to deploy US MQ-9 drones at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem base, destroying or damaging a number of the aircraft.

The UK proscribed “state enemy” group described the strikes as retaliation for US attacks that afternoon on several coastal stations belonging to Iran’s armed forces, and warned of further reprisals if the strikes continued, saying it would meet any repeat with what it called surprising responses.

The statement said Iran would keep responding in kind for as long “American crimes” continued, and warned that no oil or gas would be exported from the region while what it called American hostility persisted in the area, adding that the attacks would only delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The claims form part of a wider wave of communiques issued by the IRGC on July 14 under Operation Nasr 2, in which it earlier said its forces had struck weapons-support depots, a satellite communications centre and accommodation used by US personnel at Bahrain’s Juffair base, along with a Patriot radar, a Fifth Fleet air control radar and a counter-rocket, artillery and mortar radar system.

The attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait are in response to US attacks on Iran, earlier today

The Saudis attacked Yemen- Yemen retaliated

Report: Trump Backed Saudi Strike on Houthis

Trump approved this. I have zero doubt about that.

President Donald Trump approved Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s request for U.S. backing before a military strike targeting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement, according to two U.S. officials cited by Axios.

Houthis: Saudi airport targeted in retaliation for strikes on Sanaa airport

Yemen’s Houthis say they struck Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport with missiles and drones in retaliation for a strike on Sanaa’s international airport

Again, thanks Trump and Bibi…

It seems the people of Bahrain are cheering the bombing of their country (majority Shia) Leadership Sunni

Israel was allegedly going to assassinate the Iranian negotiating team- But the US dissuaded them from doing so. If the US really did dissuade Israel from acting, why don’t they don’t more to reign in that nation, from it’s endless pursuit of war and genocide? Just asking?

Israel planned to carry out an assassination attempt against the Iranian negotiating delegation during talks between Washington and Tehran, The New York Times reports.

The article notes that, according to former and current US officials, during the negotiations that intensified in April, Israel sought to kill the negotiating delegation led by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

US officials, however, dissuaded Israel from the plan, fearing that if those individuals were killed, there would be no one left in Iran with whom to conduct dialogue.

The Iranian side, in turn, demanded guarantees from the United States that the negotiating delegation would not be killed.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington did not comment on the report.

Fertilizer shortages, food shortages, higher prices

With the strait closed, fertilizer shipments from the Persian Gulf slumped and prices rose, affecting countries all around the world that import fertilizer. The war also created a global shortage of natural gas, a key component in nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing.

Mass Mourning in Iran for murdered Leader

Iran Holds Funerary Processions for Late Supreme Leader

The mass funeral rites for Khamenei, who was killed by the U.S. and Israel at the start of their war with Iran, will begin in Tehran. The processions will continue next week in Qom, as well as ceremonies in Karbala and Najaf in neighboring Iraq, before the late leader is buried in Mashhad on July 9.

Iran’s rulers have cast the funeral procession as a symbolic rebuke to the U.S.-Israeli war that sought to decapitate the country’s leadership. Officials expect as many as 20 million people to attend, which would make it one of the largest public gatherings in Iran’s history.

Oil glut calls getting ahead of reality

Oil prices have fallen as traders bet on recovering Hormuz exports and renewed oversupply, but analysts warn the rebound reflects delayed tanker departures rather than a full restoration of Middle East production.
Production remains well below pre-war levels in key Gulf producers, while high shipping costs, limited insurance coverage, and slow inbound tanker traffic continue to constrain supply.
Despite record U.S. crude output, uncertainty over Iran, Hormuz, and regional production means the market may be underestimating ongoing supply risks.

Interpol issues notice for Ukrainian woman over Monaco bomb attack

The organisation named 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska as the main suspect in the bombing, which took place on Monday evening and left multiple people injured. Ukrainian business tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev was reportedly one of those wounded in the attack.

The alert says Berezovska speaks German, has dark hair, and has a tattoo – possibly of a snake – on her upper right arm.

A red notice requests law enforcement around the world to locate and provisionally arrest an individual. It is not an international arrest warrant.

A prosecutor told reporters that the suspect had been sitting on a bench in the Place des Moulins before placing an explosive device outside the building in which the victims were staying as they returned from a dinner.

Greek PM’s Security Advisor Duped by Russian Pranksters

Russia plotting attack on Poland to test Nato’s resolve, US claims

The US claims, the US lies. The narrative originates with the US! I don’t believe this for a moment. False flag potential is very large

The US has warned Warsaw that Russia is planning an armed “provocation” against Poland to test Nato’s resolve, according to reports.

The assault could see Poland’s vital infrastructure targeted by missiles or drones, or even Russian soldiers crossing the border into Nato territory, Washington has said.

Sources close to Polish president Karol Nawrocki told Polish outlet Onet that the aim of Moscow’s possible assault, which could be launched in a matter of months, would be to provoke tensions and pressure Ukraine’s Western allies to suspend their military and financial aid.

The US has prepared Poland for more than a decade now, as it’s new front line against Russia..

Flashback to 2014, published at my censored site

Israeli Minister says Lebanon Must Burn

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel on Friday of wanting “permanent war” following remarks from its far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir saying “all Lebanon must burn” after four Israeli soldiers were killed there. (Invading and occupying another country)

“This is not a rant by a random genocidal lunatic. It’s a public post by the national security minister of the Israeli regime. The genocidal death cult headquartered in Tel Aviv is a threat to all of humanity. It threatens all humans. Its only interest is permanent war,” Araghchi said on X.

Ben Gvir should have been tried for war crimes long ago.. Instead he’s as disgusting, despicable and hateful as always. Of course, he gets away with it

At least 31 killed as Israel keeps attacking Lebanon

At least 31 people were killed and several others injured in a series of Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon since early Friday, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported, marking the deadliest escalation since the US and Iran signed an agreement aimed at ending war on multiple fronts, including Lebanon.

Israeli strikes after midnight targeted residential homes in the towns of Al-Sharqiyah, Harouf and Kfar Sir in the Nabatieh district, causing casualties and leaving several people missing, NNA reported.

At around 2.10 am local time (2310GMT Thursday), Israeli warplanes launched a series of strikes on Nabatieh city, Kfar Tebnit, Nabatieh al-Fawqa and the Rayhan heights, according to the agency.

Several other strikes hit the Kfarjoz-Nabatieh area, the university neighborhood in Nabatieh and the Al-Baydar neighborhood in Harouf, killing eight people around 3 am (0000GMT), according to the news agency.

Another strike targeted the Al-Ashamiya area between Al-Sharqiyah and Doueir, destroying a house and killing four people, according to the agency.

US/Iran deal Strait of Hormuz- Shipping oil/gas prices

Gas Prices Could Take Months to Return to Pre-War Levels Even After U.S.-Iran Deal

It could take months for gas prices to fall to pre-war levels and economies to fully recover even after the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war on Wednesday, analysts tell TIME, dashing hopes that countries around the world may find instant relief.

“Any indication that negotiations towards a final deal are not progressing as expected could raise concerns that the Strait of Hormuz may be blocked again,” adds Niels Rasmussen, chief shipping analyst at the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO).

More than 40 energy infrastructures across the Middle East were damaged in attacks during the war, forcing many refineries across the Gulf to halt production. Middle East crude oil exports fell from 15 million barrels per day before the war began to around seven million barrels per day at the start of April

Ludher tells TIME that the repair of damaged fertilizer production facilities could take years. Food prices will also be dependent on how soon fuel supplies reach markets and whether suppliers opportunistically price gouge, she adds.

Trump condemned Obama’s Iran deal. Here’s how his own compares.

Read at this link via archive.ph

Related to yesterday’s post…

Link

Trump doubled down on his prediction that the deal would be signed Sunday, though he added that he was “very unhappy” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Sunday phone call with Axios. The president told a reporter that Netanyahu “has no fucking judgment.”

Israel attacked Lebanon quite viciously today, again.- Trump is allegedly unhappy with this. I’ve heard this before. The US would have surely known Israel was going to and did attack Lebanon.

Top administration officials would not confirm whether a peace deal would be signed Sunday — though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS he thinks the agreement is “on track.”

“From all I know, we are on track. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” Hegseth said.

While U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz said Sunday morning he’s “confident” the peace deal will happen soon, he deferred to the White House when asked about the timing and logistics for signing the agreement.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that a “great settlement” with Iran was close after more than 100 days of conflict. The president announced the timing of the peace deal in a pinned post on Truth Social on Saturday.

“The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL,” Trump wrote, claiming his administration has “a much different and better” relationship with Iran than previous presidents.

A senior Iranian official shared details about the pending peace deal with Reuters on Sunday, claiming that in exchange for Iran immediately reopening the Strait of Hormuz and halting the expansion of its nuclear program (as well as agreeing not to acquire a nuclear weapon), the U.S. will deliver economic relief to the country in the form of $25 billion in frozen assets.

A White House source familiar with the deal told NOTUS that the framework reported by Reuters “isn’t accurate” but did not provide additional details.

So deal or no deal? Cause I’m not seeing one.

President Donald Trump has said Arab states, as well as Pakistan and Turkey, should join the Abraham Accords as part of any peace deal with Iran, an apparent new addition to already slow-moving peace talks between the United States and the country that could further complicate prospects of quickly reaching an agreement. Trump said in a Monday social media post that it should be “mandatory” for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain to sign up to improve relations with Israel.

Only complicates the issue….

Fake news

Trump cursed at Netanyahu in call over Lebanon escalation, sources say

Also, Armenia.. Cause readers here are aware that Armenia had long severed it’s ties to Russia and entered American/EU spheres of engagement and influence

On May 26, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stopped in Armenia to sign three documents that culminated several years of negotiations, marking, from Washington’s perspective, the consolidation of Armenia’s Western pivot. From Yerevan’s perspective, the signing of the three documents reinforces the paradigmatic shift in its security thinking, as deepening ties with the United States has become one of the main pillars of the country’s growing security architecture. The general discourse on the signing of the TRIPP Framework Agreement, Charter on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and the Framework on Mining and Critical Minerals, have revolved around the economic, technological, and commercial/interconnectivity components of the agreements. But at the deeper doctrinal level, it is the security component that is defining thinking at the policy-making level within official Yerevan.

In this context, this article addresses the security configurations of the agreements signed during Secretary Rubio’s visit, qualified through three analytical frameworks: 1) the TRIPP Framework Agreement consolidating the operationalization of the TRIPP project, an endeavor that was designed, from the outset, as a fundamental part to Armenia’s layered soft deterrence model; 2) the elevation of U.S.-Armenia relations from a Strategic Partnership to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which includes crucial defense and security elements that Armenia has never before had access to; and 3) the implementation of Armenia’s “mining-for-security” strategy through the signing of the agreement on mines, critical minerals and rare earths.

Interesting read

With a third U.S. aircraft carrier, more warships and thousands of new troops heading toward the Middle East, President Donald Trump will soon have more options to keep up U.S. military strikes or put boots on the ground, maintaining pressure on Iran even after he extended a ceasefire. The USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, along with three missile-armed destroyers and roughly 5,000 highly-trained soldiers, is en route to the region, according to the Financial Times, citing unnamed United States officials. They will join at least 24 warships and more than 50,000 troops already in the region, where the U.S. has amassed its largest build-up of forces since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Thousands of these troops are specially trained for seizing chunks of land in hostile territory.

If they do make this move look for Kurds and MEK to participate- The US has groomed these terror groups for a very, very, very long time.

The additional deployment comes as Trump said he would grant a Pakistani request to continue holding off on attacks on Iran until progress could be made in peace talks or a new proposal takes shape. Iran says it won’t negotiate under U.S. threats, and a senior Iranian adviser called the extension a “ploy to buy time for a surprise strike” on X. Trump, meanwhile, has firmly kept up a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, and fresh military force remains an option on the table. The U.S. is “ready” to restart its heavy bombing campaign, its forces “raring to go,” he said on Tuesday. Another aircraft carrier moving into the area would help Trump follow through on this claim or even escalate the war into a ground invasion scenario.

How Much New Firepower Is Going to the Middle East?

Each aircraft carrier, including the USS George H.W. Bush, is manned by thousands of personnel, ferrying dozens of fighter jets and caches of precision weapons to wherever they are needed. They don’t travel alone. An aircraft carrier is accompanied by two or three destroyers, which can launch long-range missiles like Tomahawks deep into Iranian territory and shoot down enemy weapons trying to hit the aircraft carrier. Three destroyers can usually fire just under 300 missiles in total, both to protect the carrier and to attack targets such as depots or command centers in Iran. While the carrier itself doesn’t fire missiles, up to around 90 jets can perch on its deck. Each jet is loaded with a combination of precision weapons, including missiles that they can fire from the air into Iran. When the Bush arrives in the Middle East, it will bring all this with it, collectively known as a carrier strike group. This will both beef up the U.S.’s ability to hit Iran hard, as Trump has repeatedly threatened, and give another of its aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford, a chance to rest.

As I’d posted five days ago- this build up was reported in the Turkish media-

LINK– Lebanese

U.S. President Donald Trump said that, given what he described as deep divisions within the Iranian government, ( I DON’T THINK SO LIAR TRUMP) which he said was not unusual, and following a request from Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the planned U.S. action against Iran had been postponed to allow its leaders and representatives to present a unified proposal.

He added that he had instructed the military to continue the blockade and remain fully prepared on all fronts, and that the ceasefire would be extended until such a proposal is presented and discussions are concluded in any form.

Indefinitely?

Iran didn’t attend this most recent round of negotiations- So, Trump “extended the ceasefire deal”

Iran to skip Wednesday negotiations with U.S. in Pakistan, Tasnim reports

Iran has decided not to participate in scheduled negotiations with the United States set for Wednesday in Pakistan, the Iranian Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.

Citing informed sources, the agency said the Iranian negotiating delegation had conveyed to the United States, via a Pakistani intermediary, that it would not travel to Islamabad for the planned talks.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. President Donald Trump was considering cancelling Vice President J.D. Vance’s planned visit to Pakistan for talks related to Iran

J.D Vance didn’t go, because there were no negotiations. To my knowledge Witkoff and Kushner remained in the US.

Patrick Cockburn

The ceasefire in the war between the US and Israel on the one side and Iran on the other, which runs out on Wednesday, looks more fragile by the day. But though the US and Iran cannot agree on concrete steps towards peace, neither do they show much appetite for renewed war.

The US Navy has fired on and seized an Iranian cargo ship while enforcing a blockade on Iran’s Gulf ports – something that Iran has described as an act of piracy. The Iranians say they will retaliate for the US breaching the ceasefire, and trust between the sides is at zero.

But a second phase of the war is unlikely to be any more conclusive than the first. Donald Trump could destroy more of Iran’s infrastructure, much as the US did in Iraq in 1991, which took 20 years to repair. Yet the threat of this is not going to lead to an Iranian capitulation – or even significant concessions on uranium enrichment or Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump still has overwhelming military force on his side, but his original goals – notably a regime change in Iran – are now further away than when the US and Israel first attacked on 28 February.

Both sides have opportunities for escalation and counter-escalation, but not for launching knock-out blows. Iran has found, somewhat to its own surprise, that it has the capacity to inflict serious damage on the world by keeping the Strait closed, and it can cripple the economies of the Arab states on the south side of the Gulf. Paradoxically, Iran has become a global power, but one that cannot control its own skies or defend its 92 million people from relentless air strikes.

The mood among Iranian leaders is evidently more confident than it was – they have weathered five-and-a-half weeks of war and the loss of many of them. But they are still the inferior power and without serious allies. They cannot defend themselves against a US-Israeli scorched-earth policy as visited upon Gaza and south Beirut.

This does not mean, however, that Iran is without counter-escalatory options. Simply keeping the Strait of Hormuz shut is one. Getting the Houthis in Yemen to close the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden is another. This would sever Saudi oil exports from the Red Sea, but the Houthis will not be enthusiastic to enrage Saudi Arabia. Another option might be to cut the Saudi east-west pipeline circumventing the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Ending a war in which both sides still believe they have a chance of changing the military and political balance in their favour would never be easy. But in this case Trump still insists he has won, and his messages on Truth Social about a beaten Iranian leadership begging for a deal are fantasy served up to his own hardcore supporters. But how far does he himself believe this – and how desperate is he for a deal before higher oil and gas prices do the Republicans further damage in the midterm elections?

On Truth Social he cites obscure polls showing that his handling of the war is popular, but every other survey shows that it is not. The brief Iranian opening – with caveats – of the Strait of Hormuz followed by its closure because of the continuing US blockade makes Washington look like the obstinate one.

Whatever happens at talks in Islamabad, in Pakistan, it is difficult to see how lasting agreement can spring from Trump-style diplomacy conducted by amateur diplomats such as his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his real estate crony Steve Witkoff, both of whom Trump says are heading to negotiations. Iran says it has not decided if it will send its envoys, thought it said on Monday afternoon that it was “positively reviewing” its participation.

Successful talks look unlikely and there is a chance the US President will opt for an escalation – as he has done during previous talks with Iran. But his chances of winning a decisive victory do not look good.

In my very many years of covering current events- this is one of the worst “shit shows” yet. Sorry for the language, but, that’s exactly how it is. Brought upon us all by Trump and Bibi and NO ONE ELSE.

Over to any of you who may want to express an opinion, some frustration, whatever…