“US Israel Iran War”

Most of the world’s media including in the U.S is now stating or implying that the U.S. and Israel leapt impetuously into war with Iran, have blundered, and that the world may be on the verge of a terrible economic crisis, and a much wider and “forever” war. The biases of Al Jazeera and the Guardian, of the international leftist media generally, and the spigots of media Trump-hate in the United States are all well-known and drearily predictable. But many media outlets and commentators from whom we had a right to expect better have gleefully leapt into this trap like perspiring children jumping into a lake on a hot summer day.

Khosro Isfahani, the research director for the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), described Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtada Khomenei, in a rather unflattering manner.

Tehran has said it will “irreversibly destroy” essential infrastructure across the Middle East if the US attacks its energy sites, hours after Donald Trump threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants unless the strait of Hormuz was opened within two days.

As Iranian missiles struck two southern Israeli cities overnight, injuring dozens of people and shattering apartment buildings, the developments signalled a dangerous potential escalation of the war in the Middle East, which is now in its fourth week.

"Iran's capabilities are declining…" – Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM Commander pic.twitter.com/FC3TgpEGpJ

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 21, 2026

REMEMBER: Inside Iran’s Evin Prison, the regime still targets political prisoners, journalists, and protesters.

This is the same Islamic Republic that is being crushed by Israel. pic.twitter.com/ePpZmuho7R

— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) March 20, 2026

Two missiles launched by Iran at a British military base in Diego Garcia — believed to be the furthest Iran has fired — were a warning message to Europe, diplomatic and intelligence sources have told The Sunday Times.

Sir Keir Starmer condemned Iran for “lashing out” after Tehran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles towards Diego Garcia, the joint US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean located roughly as far from Iran as London or Paris.

❗️The Iranian terrorist regime launched a long-range missile for the first time since the start of Operation Roaring Lion that could reach a distance of ~4,000 km.

During Operation Rising Lion in June 2025, the IDF revealed that the Iranian regime has intentions to develop… pic.twitter.com/iliERIu2hV

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 21, 2026

A massive air strike by Israeli-US forces has hit an Iranian airbase, triggering a huge explosion which blew an ammunition store sky high.

The hit appears to have taken place at the Vahdati Air Base in the western Iranian city of Dezful, in Khuzestan province, on Saturday.

Video footage shows a huge ball of smoke rising above the edge of the city following an explosion

Scenes from Dezful in western Iran show massive explosions and fires after reported U.S. and Israeli strikes targeted an ammunition depot. The blasts triggered multiple secondary detonations as stored munitions ignited.#Iran #Dezful #Airstrike #USMilitary #Israel pic.twitter.com/z8GQJerEAY

— DefenceMedia (@Defencemedia0) March 21, 2026

Alternate headline: Iran Lied. Again.

That may not qualify as breaking news, since the Iranian regime has lied about practically all of its threats to the region and beyond. The theocratic-military junta has lied for 47 years about its sponsorship of terrorism, and they lied over and over again about their pursuit of nuclear weapons. Those lies got exposed over and over again, and yet leaders in Europe and the US kept insisting that the regime could become a trustworthy partner in non-proliferation talks.

What has taken place in recent weeks is nothing short of historic. For decades, the Iranian regime and its proxies, including Hamas, have operated with a sense of impunity. For decades, Iran’s rulers have expanded their regional influence, armed their proxy militias, threatened their neighbors, and steadily advanced their weapons or mass destruction programs. While various countries imposed sanctions and Israel and the United States occasionally conducted limited military responses, no large-scale effort was ever undertaken to fundamentally weaken the political and military power deep inside Iran. That reality has now changed dramatically.

Now, for the first time, both the Iranian regime and Hamas have experienced direct and sustained military campaigns at a scale they had long assumed would never occur.

Not a bad thing to wish for.

More than 20 nations spanning from Asia to Europe to the Gulf have expressed a “readiness to contribute” to the effort of opening up the Strait of Hormuz amid threats to ships by the Islamist regime in Iran.

In a joint statement released on Saturday morning, the nations of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom condemned in the “strongest terms” the recent attacks by Iran against unarmed, civilian shipping vessels, its attacks on oil and gas infrastructure throughout the Gulf, and its move to shut down traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

An Iranian man has been arrested after he tried to get in to the naval base where Britain’s four nuclear submarines are based, The Times has been told.

The individual, 34, accompanied by a female of unknown nationality, was in a vehicle when he approached the gate at HM Naval Base Clyde, known as Faslane, on Thursday.

The world’s attention is now fixed on a narrow but strategically essential stretch of water: the Strait of Hormuz.

Following the US-Israeli decision to obliterate Iran’s leadership and its offensive and nuclear capabilities, Tehran has responded in its typical asymmetric fashion. With their air defences destroyed and missile reserves depleted, the mullahs of the theocracy have once again sought to weaponise the oil price by reducing the flow of oil through the Strait. Nothing weakens Western resolve like an economic crisis.

U.S. forces continue to degrade Iranian combat capabilities by striking military targets deep inside Iran. pic.twitter.com/mKWs2G6SEx

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 20, 2026

When the history of the war in Iran is written, it will undoubtedly include a chapter on its effect on the MAGA movement.

The conflict may also be viewed as a seminal event in the relationship between Israel and America.

The war has opened up an ugly feud among many of the loudest and most influential voices on the U.S. right. On one side are those who believe Israel has become a strategic liability, leading the U.S. into conflicts it had no business getting involved in. On the other are those who say Israel is a crucial ally of the U.S. in a strategically vital part of the world. Those involved in the debate have been, at times, accused of antisemitism.

‘Strait of Hormuz will have to be policed by nations who use it – US does not’, says Trump

Saudi Arabia has threatened to strike back at Iran after attacks on oil and gas sites across the Gulf caused prices to surge across the globe.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, warned on Thursday night that patience with Tehran was running out after an oil refinery was hit and eight Iranian ballistic missiles targeted Riyadh.

“This pressure from Iran will backfire politically and morally and certainly we reserve the right to take military actions if deemed necessary,” he said.