#iran-israel-conflict

#iran-israel-conflict

Yeah, I did, I did. I told him, don't do that, and he won't do that. We didn't discuss, you know, we do independent, but get along great. It's coordinated, but on occasion he'll do something, and if I don't like it—and so we're not doing that anymore.

Brent crude spiked more than 5% to almost $110 a barrel on Wednesday after Israel struck the world's largest natural gas reserve in a coordinated operation with the United States. The attack marks the first time Iran's upstream oil and gas infrastructure, as opposed to those in the gulf, has been targeted since the war began on Feb. 28.

Israel's assassination of Iran's security chief Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij paramilitary force, who were both killed in Israeli air strikes on Tuesday, came as a blow to Iran. Iran will hold funerals on Wednesday for both men.

If it was not the nuclear matter, they would have come up with something else – the pressure they are putting us under is reason enough for us to be suspicious. It was a revealing moment of clarity into the state of mind of a man who otherwise appeared to be inscrutable, an impression compounded by the fact that Larijani was talking to us through an interpreter.

Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has been martyred. The 67-year-old Larijani was widely believed to have been running the country following the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Larijani was an advisor to the Ayatollah on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration and took part in negotiations in Oman in the weeks before the war.

Iran "posed no imminent threat to our nation," he said, adding the war was launched "due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby." Kent's departure from one of the country's most sensitive intelligence posts marked a dramatic break from a man long considered among Trump's most committed loyalists.

Since the United States and Israel first launched strikes on Iran on February 28, the conflict has escalated across the region, sparking concerns about the knock-on effect for the global economy. On March 2, Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the commander-in-chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), announced that the Strait of Hormuz through which 20 percent of the world's oil and gas is transported was closed; a move that sent oil prices soaring above $100 per barrel.

Since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, Tehran has launched a wave of ballistic missiles targeting Israel, US military bases, oil depots and other infrastructure across the Gulf region. Iranian attacks on several vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz have also dramatically reduced traffic in the narrow channel, through which about 20 percent of global oil and gas supplies transit.

Imagine the pressure. You want to compete at your best, but then before even the game starts you have to decide how you're going to stand, how you're going to look and what you're going to do. I just think that's so unfair. The players were confused about what to do. If they salute and sing the national anthem, they are embraced and endeared by the government. If they do that, the fans, the Iranian people hate them.

If the infrastructure is not taken out and the money is not taken away why should Iran come to the peace table. They are taunting us with $200 oil. They do not have the cards; our military must be unleashed. Time to do what we did to Hanoi—to get them to the table.

Tucker Carlson told viewers of his eponymous podcast during its March 4 episode that the conflict could be a religious war designed to rebuild the Third Temple—a theory based largely on believers in Christian end-times scripture—on historically disputed land between the Jewish and Muslim faiths.

Iran's representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said at least 1,348 civilians have been killed. The humanitarian toll continues to mount with more than 17,000 injured in Iran since the US and Israel launched their war on February 28.

The Houthis, a Zaydi Shiite Islamist rebel group, which the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization, are among Iran's most powerful and resilient allies. They are a key part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, an informal Iran-led military coalition in the Middle East. During his speech, al-Houthi suggested that the Houthis were ready to lend military support to Iran: 'We are fully prepared for any necessary developments,' he said.

Thousands of flights were canceled across the region following the US-Israel attack on Iran on February 28 and subsequent retaliatory strikes. While some flights have resumed and many travelers who got stranded in places like Abu Dhabi and Doha have made it out, the travel disruptions are ongoing.

Damage to Iranian petroleum facilities risks contaminating food, water and air. Those hazards can have severe health impacts especially on children, older people, and people with pre existing medical conditions.