Iranian war and violence news

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

A Conflict of Attrition: Iran’s Bet on Asymmetric Warfare
By Spenser A. Warren
April 7, 2026

Introduction:

(Bulletin of Atomic Scientists) Around midnight on March 30, crewmembers on the bridge of the oil tanker Al Salmi were rocked by a large explosion. Hours later, fires still raged on the ship’s deck. The explosion was caused by an Iranian drone strike. The Al Salmi is not an adversary warship; its crew are not enemy combatants—it is a civilian vessel owned by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

Like others on civilian oil tankers, this attack was intended to disrupt energy supplies and threaten regional security. In short, it’s part of Iran’s asymmetric warfare effort—which includes the use of several types of disruptive technologies—over the course of its ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel.

For Iran—in overall military terms far weaker than the United States—an asymmetry strategy attempts to counter expensive, often exquisite US capabilities with cheaper, lower-tech weapons and tactics designed to target critical American vulnerabilities. Most visibly, this strategy has included the use of mines, drone boats, and anti-ship missiles to close the Strait of Hormuz. Additionally, Iran has used drone strikes against US assets and those of its regional partners, cyberwarfare, and missile strikes against economic and civilian targets in Israel and the Gulf States. These drone attacks deplete the stockpiles of interceptor missiles defending US and allied bases and infrastructure, degrading air-defense capabilities and increasing political and economic pressure against continued American engagement.

The Trump administration appears to have been taken off guard by at least some of Iran’s tactics, including attempts to close the Strait of Hormuz. A degree of uncertainty is unsurprising given the nature of both asymmetric warfare and disruptive technologies. However, such tactics have been at the center of Iranian strategy for decades, and analysts have explicitly predicted the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a US-Iran war.

Read more here: https://thebulletin.org/2026/04/a-conf ... t-heading

caltrek’s comment:

1) It is beginning to look like the asymmetrical warfare described in the article will roughly be the 21st century equivalent of guerrilla warfare.

2) A deficiency in the article is the failure to discuss the difference between the impact on the United States and the typical U.S. taxpayer and on the arms industry. The U.S. arms industry stands to gain major profits as Congress is asked to authorize replenishment of expended munitions. Kleptocrats like Trump may therefore be quite indifferent to the costs to the country as a whole because of the opportunities for profiteering within the military industrial complex.

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

Analysis: Iran Likely Transferred Highly Enriched Uranium to Isfahan Before the June Strikes
By François Diaz-Maurin
March 29, 2026

Introduction:

(Bulletin of Atomic Scientists) Working with a team of visual investigators that included the Bulletin, the French newspaper Le Monde has analyzed a previously unreported satellite image of the Iranian nuclear site at Isfahan, showing a large truck loaded with containers. In a Le Monde article published Saturday, experts said they could not be certain what the containers held. But the timing of the image, the type of load, and other indirect evidence suggest that Iran may have placed a significant quantity of highly enriched uranium—possibly all of its inventory—at the facility ahead of the June 2025 strikes by Israel and the United States against Iranian nuclear sites.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has mentioned the possible presence of highly enriched uranium at the Isfahan nuclear complex several times—a presence implicitly acknowledged by Iran’s own recent declarations. The IAEA has made multiple requests but was unable to access the underground tunnel complex at Isfahan, which was spared during Israeli and American military strikes in June. The satellite image could be the first publicly available evidence of the presence of highly enriched uranium at Isfahan.

According to Le Monde investigators, who have reviewed many satellite images of the entrance to Isfahan and other Iranian nuclear sites, it is the first time they have seen this type of convoy at the facility. Le Monde informed the Bulletin about the image on March 19. What follows is a detailed visual and technical analysis supporting my assessment that the cargo may have been highly enriched uranium.

The context. In June 2022, Iran turned off IAEA surveillance cameras at key nuclear sites in Iran, including monitoring devices at Natanz and Fordow. The shutdown was a direct retaliation for a resolution passed by the IAEA board of governors that criticized Iran for not explaining the presence of uranium traces at three sites it had not declared to be part of its nuclear program. Then, in February 2023, Bloomberg reported that IAEA monitors at Fordow had detected traces of uranium enriched to 84 percent of uranium 235, a fissile isotope that can be used in nuclear weapons, just 6 percent shy of weapon-grade level.

Read more here: https://thebulletin.org/2026/03/analys ... t-heading

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

[caltrek]

Iran War Live: Vance Departs for Talks in Pakistan, as Israel Bombs Lebanon
By Faisal Ali and Stephen Quillen
April 10, 2026

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera)
• US Vice President JD Vance has departed for Islamabad, where he is scheduled to join talks with Iran on Saturday to end their war.

• In advance of the talks, Israel continues to bombard Lebanon after killing at least 300 people and injuring 1,150 in nationwide strikes on Wednesday.

• World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on Israel to withdraw a forced evacuation order affecting two main hospitals in the Beirut area, as the Lebanese health system struggles to treat casualties of Israeli attacks.

• Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says if the US is willing to “crater its economy” in continuing to allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “kill diplomacy” by not adhering to the ceasefire, that would be Washington’s “choice”. “We think that would be dumb, but are prepared for it”.

• Netanyahu says instructions have been issued to start direct negotiations with Lebanon, while Israeli media reports the Israeli defence minister saying “the war will not be stopped”

Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo ... e=4480481

[caltrek]

One of the things that I find distressing about this war is the extremely anti-Zionist attitudes that are being passed around the internet. So extreme that they are very close to being antisemitic.

There is a difference between the Israeli government and the people of Israel. Criticism of government policy is fair game. Antisemitic attitudes should not be considered acceptable.

To be sure, at one point or another the current government was elected to office by popular vote.

1) Not everybody that voted for the government expected the extremely aggressive polices of the current government.

2) Corruption is playing a part in that government staying in power.

3) The present government may have won the plurality needed to obtain office, but many voters voted against that government.

The same can be said about United States. I would hope that people that are critical of U.S. policy understand that a large number of U.S. citizens do not support the current policies that led to this war. So, criticizing government policy is one thing, hatred of Americans as a people is quite another.

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Direct U.S.-Iran talks fail to reach resolution after lengthy negotiation

Source: Washington Post

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Talks between the United States and Iran failed to reach a resolution over ending the war, Vice President JD Vance announced after more than 20 hours of negotiations here.

“We just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms. I think that we were quite flexible,” Vance said around 6:30 a.m. local time, after working well into the morning.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... ceasefire/

[weatheriscool]

Trump says U.S. will blockade Strait of Hormuz after Iran peace talks fail


Source: CNBC

Published Sun, Apr 12 20269:01 AM EDT Updated 26 Min Ago

President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. will blockade the Strait of Hormuz after talks held in Pakistan to end the Iran war hit the skids. “Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said in a post to his social media platform Truth Social. “The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION.”

The announcement of a U.S. blockade of the strait likely scuttles any hopes that the war would end in the coming days following peace talks in Islamabad. It also threatens to exacerbate the economic crisis that has gripped global economies since the war broke out and Iran began restricting access to the strait, a chokepoint which carries about a fifth of the world’s oil.

Trump said the U.S. blockade is an effort to stop Iran from policing the strait and benefiting economically while the rest of the world suffers from its closure. “At some point, we will reach an ‘ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT’ basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, ‘There may be a mine out there somewhere,’ that nobody knows about but them,” he said. “THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted.”

Trump also announced in the post that the U.S. Navy will “seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran.”

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/12/trump-i ... ormuz.html

[wjfox]

Europe has 'maybe 6 weeks of jet fuel left,' energy agency head tells the AP

Thu, 16 April 2026 at 11:51 am BST

PARIS (AP) — Europe has “maybe six weeks or so (of) jet fuel left,” the head of the International Energy Agency said Thursday in a wide-ranging Associated Press interview, warning of possible flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced,” stemming from the pinch-off of oil, gas and other vital supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.

“In the past there was a group called ‘Dire Straits.’ It’s a dire strait now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy. And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world,” he said.

The impact will be “higher petrol (gasoline) prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices,” Birol told the AP, speaking in his Paris office looking out over the Eiffel Tower.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/europe-maybe- ... 38513.html

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

‘Absolute Chaos’ in Strait of Hormuz MS NOW Reports as Iran Fires On Multiple Ships Hours After Trump Said Strait Was Open
By Zachary Leeman
April 18, 2026

Introduction:

(Mediaite) MS NOW contributor Inzamam Rashid reported on Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz has been hit with “absolute chaos and complete disruption” as Iran has fired on multiple vessels.

Rashid reported from Dubai after Alex Witt announced there was “chaos unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz.”

President Donald Trump announced this week that the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply moves through, was now open, but reports quickly indicated that ships were being targeted by Iranians.

Mohammad B. Ghalibaf, Iran’s speaker of Parliament, announced on Saturday that the Strait is closed due to the United States continuing its “blockade.”

Read more here: https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/abso ... as-open/

[firestar464]

US spending on ‘reckless’ Iran war could have saved 87m lives, says UN

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/ ... es-says-un