Civilization Is Once Again Asked Whether Aggression Carries Consequences

Two American service members were killed Saturday in an Iranian strike on Jordan, according to U.S. Central Command. A third American remains missing. It is a grim reminder that the Iranian regime continues to conduct itself as it has for decades, treating violence not as a last resort but as a preferred instrument of statecraft.

These are the first confirmed American combat fatalities resulting from Iran's attacks on Jordan this week. Four additional U.S. troops were evacuated to Jordanian hospitals for treatment and have since been released. CENTCOM stated that the names of the fallen will not be released until 24 hours after their families have been notified.

The attacks extend well beyond Jordan. In recent days, Iran has struck America's partners throughout the region. Kuwait reported that an Iranian attack hit a power generation and water desalination facility, igniting a fire and forcing critical infrastructure offline. A child in Qatar was injured by shrapnel. Bahrain also came under attack. This is not the behavior of a nation seeking stability. It is the behavior of a revolutionary regime that has spent decades exporting instability wherever it can.

The United States has responded by intensifying strikes against Iranian military targets, particularly around Bandar Abbas, the regime's principal strategic port on the Strait of Hormuz. The city is not merely a commercial center. It houses Iran's naval headquarters and serves as a vital hub for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the regime's military operations.

CENTCOM also confirmed the destruction of the surveillance tower at Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port on July 16, an installation with clear operational significance.

"The destruction of the tower directly degrades IRGC’s ability to coordinate attacks on innocent civilian crew members," CENTCOM said.

The statement reflects a simple military reality. Modern conflicts are won not only by destroying weapons but by dismantling the command structures that direct them. Surveillance and communications infrastructure are force multipliers. Removing them limits an adversary's ability to wage war.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth reinforced that message by sharing images of American troops and declaring that "Iran does not control the SoH," referring to the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, the consequences of the conflict are increasingly being felt inside Iran itself. Reports indicate that the regime's Energy Ministry has instructed residents to reduce electricity consumption during peak hours after attacks on energy facilities disrupted the power grid across southern provinces. As so often happens under authoritarian governments, ordinary citizens are left to bear the costs of decisions made by leaders who remain insulated from the suffering they create.

The latest escalation follows Tehran's announcement that it would no longer honor its interim peace agreement with the United States. That decision has brought predictable consequences. History offers few examples of regimes abandoning diplomatic commitments while simultaneously escalating military aggression without inviting a forceful response.

President Trump summarized the strategic dilemma in stark terms during a July 14 interview.

"The only way you can negotiate with these people is through strength," Trump said. "And the only strength is military strength."

Whether one agrees entirely with that formulation or not, recent events have reinforced an uncomfortable truth. Peace cannot be sustained by wishful thinking alone. It requires the credible willingness to confront those who believe violence carries no meaningful cost.

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Trump Pauses Iran Strikes, Believes A Deal is Imminent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After spending the morning threatening to turn Iran’s military infrastructure into a parking lot, President Trump abruptly announced Thursday afternoon that peace was back on the menu and the whole thing was “all wrapped up,” proving once again that Middle East diplomacy now operates like a New York real estate negotiation conducted entirely through Truth Social posts.

“We have a deal,” Trump reportedly told aides moments after allegedly green-lighting, canceling, then re-green-lighting a plan to seize Iran’s Kharg Island before finally deciding he preferred making headlines instead.

“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others.”

Sources inside Washington confirmed several Pentagon officials were informed of the cancellation only after seeing the president’s post sandwiched between advertisements for gold coins and pillows.

The agreement reportedly includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, renewed nuclear negotiations, and what experts are calling “the annual Middle East ceasefire that lasts somewhere between four hours and two weeks.”

“It’s pretty much all wrapped up,” Trump told The Post in a phone call that insiders say lasted roughly the same amount of time as one of his golf putts.

The sudden diplomatic breakthrough came just hours after Trump warned Iran he would strike them “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and floated plans to take over Kharg Island and “assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets.”

“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela,” Trump wrote earlier Thursday morning, causing cable news producers nationwide to begin hyperventilating into paper bags.

Trump later explained that conquering the island remained his preferred option.

“We ⁠are talking ⁠to them, and all, but you know, ⁠look, my preference has always been — take ⁠Kharg Island … my preference would be that,” he said on “Fox and Friends.”

“⁠I don’t know that America has the stomach for it.”

Political analysts immediately translated the statement to mean, “Trump still wants the win, but he also remembers Americans get cranky when their sons are deployed to defend democracy in places they can’t find on a map.”

Meanwhile, Iran appeared to respond to the agreement with the traditional diplomatic strategy of denying the agreement exists at all.

“An informed source told FNA Iran has not approved any draft agreement or initial memorandum with the US, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim that Tehran agreed to a finalized text,” Iran’s Fars News Agency posted to X.

Observers noted this marks approximately the 38th time Trump has declared an Iran deal “close,” though supporters insist that unlike previous administrations, at least this time America bombed something before negotiating.

At press time, CNN was reportedly preparing a seven-part special explaining why peace in the Middle East is actually bad news for democracy.

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UAE tried to coordinate with Qatar and Saudi Arabia to strike Iran during recent war - report

The United Arab Emirates attempted to persuade its neighboring Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to coordinate a military response to Iran’s barrage of missiles, rockets and drones during the recent war. When those neighbors declined, Abu Dhabi’s leadership was left frustrated, sources familiar with the matter have told Bloomberg.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, widely known as MBZ, made several phone calls to fellow leaders, among them Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the immediate aftermath of the joint Israeli and American strikes on Iran that began on 28 February. Convinced of the strategic necessity for a unified retaliatory posture to deter Tehran, MBZ reached out in the expectation that shared peril might at last produce shared resolve.

Yet his neighbors demurred. This, they insisted, was not their war. 

The refusal has only deepened the strains already visible between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration, for its part, was fully aware of the Emirati proposal and lent its own weight to the effort to bring Riyadh and Doha into the fold.

MBZ sought to frame the moment in historical terms for his Gulf Cooperation Council counterparts. The GCC itself, he reminded them, had been founded in 1981 precisely in response to the threats unleashed by Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979. The argument carried the logic of self-preservation. It did not carry the day.

These revelations offer one plausible explanation for the UAE’s subsequent conduct: its withdrawal from OPEC and OPEC+ at the end of April, and its increasingly close alignment with Israel. Left without the collective shield it had sought, the Emirates acted alone. Despite the absence of Gulf support, Abu Dhabi carried out limited strikes against Iranian targets in both March and April.

Iran, for its part, repaid the region with ferocity. The UAE endured the most intense barrage of the entire conflict, with Tehran dispatching nearly 3,000 drones and hundreds of missiles toward Emirati territory before any truce took hold. Last week, Iranian forces struck the key oil port of Fujairah, hard by the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia, having declined coordination with its neighbor, eventually struck Iran on its own terms in March. Riyadh then pivoted, assisting Pakistan’s mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran. Qatar, meanwhile, briefly contemplated retaliation after Iran targeted the vast liquefied natural gas facility at Ras Laffan, but chose instead the safer ground of de-escalation. Bahrain and Kuwait, ever aligned with Saudi caution, likewise kept their distance. Oman, bound by longstanding ties to Tehran, was never expected to join such an enterprise.

Emirati and Saudi spokespeople have not responded to requests for comment. What remains is the portrait of a region divided even in the face of a common adversary, where the clearest strategic thinking has come from the smallest and most exposed player. The UAE, at least, appears to have drawn its conclusions from the episode. Whether its neighbours will eventually be forced to do the same is the question that now hangs over the Gulf.

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Besides destroying IRGC infrastructure, the US destroys their lies after Khamenai is also destroyed

The United States didn't pull any punches. It straight-up called out Tehran by name, shredding what CENTCOM describes as outright lies from the Iranian regime in a no-nonsense, point-by-point smackdown posted just hours after the joint U.S.-Israel operation that took out Iran's Supreme Leader.

This fact-check blitz hit right after the coordinated strike that eliminated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a hit that U.S. officials are calling a major takedown in the regime's long-running terror spree and chaos across the region.In a couple of tough posts on X, CENTCOM directly slapped down claims from Iran's UN ambassador and the IRGC, branding them false and accusing Tehran of trying to snow the whole world.

At a UN Security Council session, Iran's ambassador insisted Tehran's retaliation was aimed "solely and exclusively at the bases and assets of the United States. "CENTCOM shot that down hard."

The Iranian Regime is actively targeting civilians and has attacked more than a dozen locations," the command declared, then rattled off the sites it says got hit.Those include: 

Dubai International Airport

Kuwait International Airport

Zayed International Airport in Dubai 

Erbil International Airport in Iraq, 

Fairmont Palm Hotel in Dubai, 

Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, 

Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bahrain, 

Port of Dubai, 

residential areas in Beit Shemesh, Israel, 

residential areas in Tel Aviv, 

Israel, residential area of Era Views Towers in Bahrain, 

residential areas in Qatar.

This public call-out ramps up the messaging war big time, with Washington accusing Iran of slamming civilian targets while feeding the international community a bunch of garbage.In another whopper, the IRGC claimed it nailed the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier with ballistic missiles. CENTCOM wasn't having it.

"The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close," the command fired back, and media video shows that this is true.

The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.

"These blunt denials drop as the U.S. and Israel keep hammering Iranian military targets in their joint ops, going after air defenses, missile setups, naval forces, you name it. 

By flat-out labeling Tehran's spin as bogus, the U.S. is fighting the info war right alongside the kinetic one, pushing back on Iranian propaganda, steadying allies, and making crystal clear that key American assets are still locked and loaded.

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Israel's Iron Beam Laser Drops While Arms Sales Hit a Whopping $15 Billion Record—And Guess Who's Buying?

An Iron Dome missile costs about $50,000 US, and it has done a remarkable job protecting the Israeli people from Hamas and their ilk firing upon Israeli civilians. And while Israel might be public enemy number one for the usual suspects on the global stage, suddenly everyone is lining up with checkbooks in hand. 

The Jewish state, about the size of New Jersey, has rocketed to become the world's eighth-largest arms exporter, raking in a record $15 billion in sales for 2024 alone. They're sitting pretty behind Britain but blowing past Turkey and South Korea. 

Why the rush? Because Israel's gear isn't some lab experiment, it's been tested in real wars, and nothing says "buy me" like the Iron Dome missile defense system that's saved countless lives by swatting those rockets out of the sky.

Europe's leading the charge, with Germany and Finland as top buyers, but India, Thailand, Greece, and even Muslim-majority nations like Morocco, the UAE, and Bahrain are snapping up missiles, drones, and cyber systems from the Jewish state. 

And now, just as sales are booming, Israel rolls out the game-changing Iron Beam laser system: a high-energy beam that zaps incoming missiles, mortars, and drones up to six miles away for pennies on the dollar, literally $2 per shot at the speed of light [186,282.397 miles per second].

Compare that to traditional interceptors running $100,000 to $1 million each. With a deal like this, no wonder it's turning heads.

"With the laser, the only cost is electricity," says Yuval Steinitz, chairman of Rafael Defense Industries, manufacturer of the Iron Beam. "It is like between $1 and $2, less than the price of a hot dog in New York." Smart Israeli engineering.

"We have already used it against UAVs launched by Hezbollah in the north and missiles from Iran. It works," says University of Tel Aviv professor Isaac Ben-David. "The most important advantage is, once you see the target, it is intercepted at the speed of light. It takes a fraction of a second, and the laser is already destroying it."

After years of other countries fumbling with laser tech, Israel is the first to deploy it successfully in combat. Ben-David, a key figure in its development and former head of R&D at Israel's Ministry of Defense, knows a thing or two about getting it right.

First deployments are heading north to counter Hezbollah's barrage from Lebanon, where rockets can cross the border in under a minute. Soon, it'll protect ships and air bases too. "This is just the beginning of a new era," Steinitz said. "In time, maybe five years, it will enable us to shoot down every hostile object in the air around Israel. It's really a game changer. "Developed with Lockheed Martin and $1.2 billion in U.S. funding, the tech is already flowing back to America's directed energy programs.

"We cannot do without the United States," he said. "But sometimes, in a partnership, even the dwarf can contribute to the giant."

In a world full of threats from Iran-backed proxies, Israel is innovating circles around everyone else, and the sales prove it. 

When push comes to shove, nations vote with their wallets for what actually works, in spite of where it comes from.

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DefSec Austin announces strategy regarding Houthis in Red Sea

U.S. Secretary of Defense (LOL) Lloyd Austin announced a new maritime task force on Monday slated to safeguard commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, proving that men can regrow their testicles under the right conditions.

Operation Prosperity Guardian includes the UK, Canada, eh, Bahrain, Italy, France, Norway, Netherlands, Spain and Seychelles.

“The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law,” Austin finally said in a statement. “The Red Sea is a critical waterway that has been essential to freedom of navigation and a major commercial corridor that facilitates international trade.”

Austin said the initiative is "under the under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea."

Since the Oct. 7 Hamassholes massacred over 1,200 innocent Israelis, mostly civilians, the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and other terrorist groups, have been firing missiles at merchant vessels and attacking ships with drones as well. In some cases, the terrorist boarded ships and hijacked them.

Since the Houthi aggression, BP and Maersk have halted operations in the Red Sea and needed to take significantly longer routes, which increase costs and affect global trade.

Iran’s sleazy Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned the US that such a task force will face “extraordinary problems.” But in reality, he's just grabbing his crotch and pretending to be tough. Iran's navy is about as sophisticated as a Pez dispenser. 

“Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance,” Ashtiani reportedly told the Iranian Student News Agency.

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U.S. Central Command: IS ops about to go full out

Manama, Bahrain -- U.S. Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie said that about 500 U.S. military personnel in east Syria are expected to resume operations against Islamic State terrorists in the coming days.

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blew himself to smithereens last month to avoid having U.S. Special Forces do it for him, and the jihadi group has lost almost all of its territory in Syria. However, ISIS is still seen as a threat and must be destroyed like a rabid camel.

The Trump administration shocked U.S. allies last December by saying Washington was pulling out all its troops from Syria. But it subsequently said that it would keep a small force in the northeastern area and focus on preventing ISIS from making a violent comeback and attack the oilfields in the area.

“Now I’ve got about 500 U.S. personnel generally east of the Euphrates river east of Deir al Zor up to Hasaka, northeast all the way up into extreme northeast Syria,” McKenzie told reporters at the Manama Dialogue security summit in Bahrain.

“It is our intention to remain in that position working with our SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) partners to continue operations against ISIS down the Euphrates river valley where those targets present themselves,” he added.

While President Trump had previously announced that ISIS has been "a hundred percent" defeated, it seems that some of of their fighters had been hiding beneath rocks.

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Breaking: 10 U.S. sailors being held by Iran

Nine males and one female U.S. sailor are being "detained on Tuesday by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces," according to FoxNews.com. The report they put out said that their boats apparently became disabled in the Persian Gulf, but this has not been confirmed.

The timing is perfect for the Iranians--President Obama is about to give his State of the Union speech outlining the wonderful job he has done over the past 7 years, but it looks like Iran has thrown in a monkey wrench to the gears of balderdash.

The original report said that the sailors would be released "promptly," but now Iran is saying that they want to wait until morning--they don't want to release them in the middle of the night. This must be in accordance with the Revolutionary Guard Union regulations stating that no Guard is to work beyond 5:00 p.m.

No surprise, Obama isn't arguing this detail and will wait. Kerry may or may not believe Iran, but he doesn't actually count.

This latest insult of our power by Iran occurred near Farsi Island in the Gulf. The Pentagon reports that one of the two small craft had mechanical trouble, which caused one or both to run aground. Iran then picked up the sailors and brought them to the island but their whereabouts is not known at this time.

The boats were moving between Bahrain and Kuwait when the trouble occurred and contact was lost with the crews.

Now is John Kerry's chance to shine. [LMAO]

Obama pom-pom girl, Jen Psaki, told reporters that the president will not be addressing this latest crisis because, she likely believes, it isn't a big deal like gun-control and stuff. The president will also not be addressing the other four hostages whose release he failed to negotiate for, but he will talk about his most excellent term in office.

If we're lucky, perhaps he'll shed another tear over gun control issues.

Fox News was told by a senior Obama official that Iran has assured the U.S. that the sailor's safety and well-being" is being attended to, and that they "will promptly be allowed to continue their journey," and they still want the $150 billion.


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Do's and Don'ts of the Religion of Peace

The new movie, "Noah," is being banned in much of the Muslim world. Places such as Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan and Kuwait are not allowing the movie to be shown because it violates Islam by portraying a prophet; this, they say, contradicts the stature of prophets "and antagonizes the faithful," according to Al-Azhar Institute of Egypt. 

Egypt has also banned "The Passion of the Christ," "The Da Vinci Code," as well as any future colonization of Mars. They, and most of the Islamic world have also banned:

short skirts
enlarging your burqa-hole so women can see better
women driving cars
leaving the house without a male chaperone
Facebook
bathing suits
Valentine's Day
Christmas
images of Muhammad
the leaving Islam once you're signed up
erecting a Christian church or repairing it in an Islamic country
the Bible in Saudi Arabia along with all Christian articles (they don't confiscate the Jewish ones, they just bury them along with the person carrying it)
Hannukah . . . yes, Hannukah
gays and lesbians
smiley faces
polio shots in several countries
Western music and dancing, of course
women's makeup
women buying bananas and other phallic-shaped fruits and veggies
and more . . . so much more

Greg Gutfeld, a host of The Five on Fox News, said: "You should be confident your religion can welcome skepticism, or welcome other faiths; it seems kind of insecure," he said of the Egyptian decision to ban "Noah."

But Islam seems to be intolerant because it is so insecure.

On the other hand, there are some things that the Islamic world tolerates or rarely complains about:

stoning people for any of the above 
amputation for theft
hanging for being gay
death by Judaism
hanging, stoning, or lethal injection for apostates who try to leave the religion of peace
people blowing themselves up to kill non-believers.

And the liberal media refuses to acknowledge anything wrong with this picture. Even the gay community and women's rights groups are too afraid to say anything negative about how their people are treated.

What's wrong with this picture?

A New York reporter is taken hostage by terrorists. If POTUS refuses to release 3 Gitmo jihadists, the reporter will die in 24 hours—they will behead him and show it on the Internet. There is only one way out but the clock is ticking . . .

Jihad Joe: a Novel  Create Space soft cover book edition

Jihad Joe see it here ebook version 

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