Weekend Edition.
News Items. Political New Items.
1. Donald Trump yesterday said the United States may carry out more strikes on Iran’s vital Kharg Island oil export hub “just for fun”, rejecting the prospect of a swift peace deal with Tehran. “The terms aren’t good enough yet,” the US president told NBC News. The Iranian regime wants to make an agreement, he claimed. After days of conflicting messaging from the White House on how much longer it will continue to wage war on Iran, Trump alleged that US strikes had “totally demolished” most of Kharg Island, and told the network that its military may hit site “a few more times just for fun”. (Source: theguardian.com)
2. Iran threatened on Saturday to escalate the war raging in the Middle East by targeting any facility in the region with U.S. ties, after Washington bombed its main energy hub and U.S. President Donald Trump predicted “many countries” would send warships. As the conflict entered its third week, Iran projected defiance after U.S. forces hit military sites at Kharg Island, which handles 90% of Iranian oil exports. (Sources: Reuters via asia.nikkei.com)
3. The deployment of about 2,500 Marines to the Middle East represents a new phase in the two-week-old war in Iran, as Iranian forces increase their attacks on the Strait of Hormuz. The unit, officially known as the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, according to two U.S. defense officials, will be in an unusual position given the problem vexing the Pentagon: the Iranian military’s ability to mine the strait, a narrow waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes. U.S. airstrikes have forced the Iranians to forego their larger naval vessels and deploy fast boats carrying mines that can evade aircraft. These boats would likely launch from an archipelago of islands closer to the strait. With the arrival of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from the Indo-Pacific region in the coming days, the Pentagon will be able to quickly launch raids onto the islands with infantry Marines who will have logistics and air support, said a retired senior defense official with knowledge of the unit’s capabilities. (Source: nytimes.com)
