As some have been predicting, the US is planning to pull some air defense capabilities from South Korea (I would not exclude the possibility/probability for these being pulled from elsewhere as well). Bloomberg, via the archive:
An article on the munitions used in the first 36 hours of war, cost and replenishment times, etc. Foreign Policy, via the archive:
About Claude’s (AI) role in the US campaign in Iran, planning, target identification, etc. Washington Post, via archive:
US intel did not suggest a pre-emptive strike on Iran, of course:
Trump administration officials told congressional staff in private briefings that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S.
apnews.com
Trump has serious interest in sending ground troops to Iran:
The president’s private comments have not focused on a large-scale ground invasion of Iran, but rather on the idea of a small contingent of U.S. troops that would be used for specific strategic purposes, sources say.
www.nbcnews.com
Saw some reports suggesting that deployment to Kuwait and elsewhere in the ME is imminent. More reports talking about the second coming of Jebus too.
A headline from today:
One from a week before the 12-day war was over last June:
Leavitt explains what unconventional surrender actually means:
In other words, it will be Trump who decides if Iran had unconditionally surrendered, everything obliterated, etc. Just like last time around. Zero evidence Iran is even remotely ready not only to surrender, but even for some kind of ceasefire. The logic for Iran should suggest that they need to be able to inflict as much economic pain as possible, on the Arab states, as well as the rest of the world, political costs on the US administration, and so on. That is the only somewhat credible deterrent they have against another round of this (nukes is an obvious choice, but not feasible at this time). On this note, some reports indicate that some of the Arab states have reached out to Iran to reduce the hostilities (not going to happen), while UAE has reportedly frozen Iranian assets in the kingdom.
Also (serious) humour: one cannot help but wonder what Merz and other Euros, but Merz expressed it today, think about the “day after” if the plan is to destabilize the country (Israel’s plan is probably to wreck the state altogether) and what that “day after” entails for Europe. Merz threw his full support behind it. Will be interesting to return to this some months and years from now.
Looks like Merz has given it some thought after all.
These people… It is like they just shoot air all the time, depending on where the wind blows. Thinking appears to be secondary.
Some analysts suggest, citing satellite imagery, that at least four of AN/TPY-2 were either destroyed or damaged by Iranian strikes. Along with the CNN, NYT investigation, the NBC article I cited the other day, these are all consistent, painting the true picture, perhaps?. Some photos appeared allegedly confirming the distraction of one of these assets (I cannot speak for the validity of the information, of course):
Humour on the subject:
Bessent says that the US might “unsanction”other Russian oil to help with the crisis.
I find it extremely weird that they simply would not tap into strategic reserves for the relief, if that is their intention. Sure, Russian oil, especially the volume already on ships at sea is going to find its clients much faster and put brakes on oil prices going exponential in the very short term… Perhaps, that is the game and they are hedging politically (not working very well). I have little doubt in my mind, if this is going to last for another week or two, we are going to see oil prices well above $100. Sucks for us. Risk for Russia is stronger ruble. On the flip side, they don’t have to print. I do not see, in spite of some suggestions, how this is an inflationary pressure. Realistically, this is a great boost for them, they could not have wished for more, really. While appreciating currency is a risk (see as bad), there is plenty of room the Central Bank has to reduce the pressure via the interest rates given the state of the economy and other indicators. Also, at the end of the day, oil at these prices and somewhat stronger currency is probably a preferable state of events. Reports suggesting otherwise are… call it wishful thinking, propaganda, whatever. It’s bad takes basically.
Hegseth on the reports of Russians supplying Iranians with intel; the most concerning part is probably what Aaron quoted in the post though:
Trump completely dismissed the question by suggesting that it isn’t a serious question and went to the next journo.
Last thing, Qatari released numbers of inbounds and intercepts so far:
Honest or not (probably is for the most part), I do not see where Ukraine fits in with its expertise and their proposed trade for Patriot interceptors. That ain’t happening, obviously. While many articles suggest that Patriots are widely used to intercept Shaheds, this is clearly not true if one believes the numbers reported in the Foreign Affairs article cited in the beginning of this post.
Also, you should check out the White House X account, they are going full-retard with the war promotion videos. I wonder if MLB, NFL, among others are going to sue Donald for this nonsense.
