This Week in the World Affairs Brief

TRUMP’S WAR ON IRAN

As I forecast two weeks ago, Trump did attack Iran. I immediately suspected that Israel was behind the final push that tipped Trump into action, probably with crucial insight into the location and vulnerability of the Ayatollah and asking for backup as they struck the first deadly blow that killed Iran’s supreme leader. Even though President Trump got talked into attacking Iran by PM Netanyahu, it’s now fully Trump’s war because he gave the go ahead and is backing Israel’s goal of total decapitation of Iran’s military. Despite the initial signs of success, there are many things to criticize in this war, but of primary concern to all conservatives is that, without a declaration of war by Congress, this air war on Iran is in clear violation of the constitution. Republicans let him get away with it by failing this week to restrict the president’s ongoing attacks as required by the War Powers Act of 1973. This week, I’ll cover how the war is going, Trump’s claims on how long the war will last, his changing objectives, how the war is quickly depleting US stockpiles of missile interceptors, and how the war is widening into a regional conflict. To receive a free, one-time sample of the Brief, along with option on how to subscribe, click on Request a Sample on the left.

Also:
  • The Changing Justification for the Iran War
  • How Long with the War Last?
  • Trump Claims We have Unlimited Weapons

Daily News

Trump's Strategy Is A High Risk-High Reward Gamble

Rabobank

The US strike on Iran is Trump’s high-risk gamble to choke China's energy lifeline, flip Tehran to allied control, open the India-Middle East-Europe corridor, weaken Russia, and lock in 21st-century US hegemony—delivering quick regime change and falling oil prices that cement Trumpism as a historic win, OR sparking Middle East chaos and global blowback that hands Beijing the advantage in a new age of empires.

Drone Impacts US Embassy In Riyadh After Rubio Warns Iran 'Hardest Hits Yet To Come'

ZeroHedge

UBS analyst Jonathan Garber told clients that "Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander said the Strait of Hormuz is closed and they will set any ship on fire that tries to pass through, Reuters reports, citing Iranian media. WTI crude oil is now up more than 7% following the headlines." This soon on the heels of CENTCOM having announced that Iran's Navy now has zero ships in the Gulf of Oman. Whether all of this is fully accurate or not amid the natural competing infowar that accompanies any major conflict, it remains: How many ships will be willing to go through with Iranian kamikaze drones taking pot shots?

Israel Neutralizes Hezbollah Missiles With Game-Changing "Iron Beam"

ZeroHedge

The footage likely shows the 100 kW-class Iron Beam in action, able to neutralize incoming projectiles for only a few dollars per shot, versus roughly $100,000 for a traditional interceptor rocket....But there is a big caveat, per the Times of Israel: "The main downside of a laser system is that it does not function well in low visibility, including heavy cloud cover or other inclement weather."

Iran Names Interim Successor To Khamenei Under 2nd Day Of Massive Bombs

ZeroHedge

The ISNA news agency has described that Arafi, a member of the Guardian Council, is joining President Masoud Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei on the body tasked with carrying out the supreme leader’s responsibilities until the Assembly of Experts appoints a permanent successor. All of this happening as US-Israeli bombs continue to fall on Tehran and other sites for a second straight day, 'uninterrupted' - as President Trump pledged Saturday.

Iranian State TV Belatedly Confirms Death Of Ayatollah Khamenei

ZeroHedge

US official confirms to Fox that US believes Khamenei and 5-10 top Iranian leaders killed in initial Israeli strike on compound; agree with Israel’s intelligence assessment. No U.S. casualties reported, 12 hours after Washington launched Operation Epic Fury alongside Israel, targeting Iran’s security and military infrastructure, CENTCOM says. Al Jazeera reporting over 200 killed in Iran. Likely the death toll will climb.

AI Can Now Unmask Anonymous Internet Users, New Study Finds

ZeroHedge

Given posts, comments, or interview transcripts written under a pseudonym, the pipeline extracts identity-relevant signals, searches for likely matches using semantic embeddings, and then uses higher-level reasoning to verify the most promising candidates while filtering out false positives. The result is a scalable attack that mirrors—and in some cases exceeds—the effectiveness of a dedicated human investigator.

CDC Refuses To Update Cancer Data Since 2022, But VAERS Reveals Turbo Cancer Epidemic

The collective world-wide evidence from 2020–2025 underscores a biologically plausible connection between COVID-19 vaccination and cancer. The recurring clinical findings documented across many reports of de-novo cancer onset, rapid tumor progression, viral reactivation, and reawakening of dormant disease, highlight critical gaps in knowledge and understanding of how large-scale immune changes produced by the vaccine interacts with cancer biology. Both SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination engage overlapping biological pathways that could, in principle, influence cancer risk

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