[JustTheNews] More than 20,000 service members have served at the southwest border over the last year through Joint Task Force Southern Border
In one year, U.S. military conducted tens of thousands of detection, monitoring and security site missions at the southwest border.
More than 20,000 service members have served at the southwest border over the last year through Joint Task Force Southern Border (JTF-SB). The operation reached its one-year anniversary on March 14 and is ongoing.
"During this first year, Joint Task Force-Southern Border and partners have proven what a whole-of-government approach to our nation's southern border can accomplish," Army Maj. Gen. David Gardner, commanding general of the JTF-SB and 101st Airborne Division, said in a statement. "Our joint teammates and partners have strengthened border security through unity of effort, accelerated decision-making and enhanced detection capability. While the environment is complex, our mission is clear: to secure the homeland with precision, professionalism and respect for the rule of law."
Soldiers assigned to the 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum, New York, were deployed to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, to establish JTF-SB last March. Last October, the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, assumed control of the JTF-SB mission.
President Donald Trump established JTF-SB through several executive orders he issued on his first day and week in office. Trump was the first president to declare an invasion at the southwest border and directed the Department of Defense’s United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) to “seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
JTF-SB's stated mission is to “safeguard U.S. territorial integrity and protect the American people.” It seeks to do this by increasing situational awareness across the 1,954-mile U.S.-Mexico border by “accelerating response capabilities and supporting federal law enforcement partners so they can focus on frontline duties.”
By last March, more than 10,000 U.S. troops were deployed to support southern border security efforts, The Center Square reported. That number has since doubled.
JTFSB service members began conducting enhanced detection and monitoring, including providing “mobile ground-based support to detect, track and monitor movements of suspected illegal activity using military tactical vehicles or foot patrols” in areas identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol. So far, five National Defense Areas (NDA) have been established and expanded along the southwest border including in New Mexico and Texas, The Center Square reported.
Over the past year, troops conducted remote and mobile detections, synchronized planning, rapid mobility and persistent presence along the Rio Grance River, in the air and in high traffic urban-to-urban corridors.
This involved roughly 22,000 enhanced detection and monitoring missions, including nearly 3,000 joint patrols with Border Patrol agents. Aviation assets executed nearly 1,600 aerial observation flight missions and 220 unmanned aerial missions last year.
Troops conducted more than 800 mirrored patrols on both sides of the southwest border, working with Border Patrol agents and the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense, according to Department of War data.
They also conducted more than 84,000 security site missions last year, providing continuous detection and monitoring across the southwest border using sensor-borne technology, fixed and mobile ground sensors and long-range systems. They tested new equipment and technology to conduct the operations, including: “the TRV-150C tactical resupply vehicle; an infantry squad vehicle Marines trained on for the first time in an operational environment; an unmanned surface vessel and solar-powered maritime detection device; and various kinetic and nonkinetic counter-unmanned aerial systems.”
JTF-SB troops also installed nearly 6,000 signs and 2,000 marine buoys along 656 miles of the southwest border to demarcate five new NDAs.
They delivered more than 51,000 rolls of concertina wire and erected wire barriers in key locations in conjunction with Customs and Border Protection. New barrier reinforcement measures represent “the largest of its kind in U.S. history, adding a layer of deterrence in areas most needed to deter and deny illegal crossings,” the DOW said.
Entering its second year, JTF-SB troops remain dedicated to their mission, to strengthening integration, advancing data-driven operations and providing support to CBP and Border Patrol, Gardner said. He added that JTF-SB operations are helping expand detection and monitoring and improve data sharing to enable federal, state and local law enforcement apprehend illegal border crossers, target drug and human smugglers and locate criminal elements in the interior of the U.S.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The United States and Israel fear Yemen's Houthis will be drawn into the conflict on Iran's side. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal on March 22.
According to the newspaper, the Yemeni group Ansar Allah, which is supported by Iran, has stepped up its threatening rhetoric in the wake of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
"If the Houthis enter the conflict, the stakes will really rise. It will draw the Suez Canal and Egypt into the conflict, and it will further involve Saudi Arabia," said Adam Baron, an expert at the New America think tank.
Saudi Arabia is making diplomatic efforts to deter the Houthis from engaging in hostilities. The kingdom has an agreement with the Yemeni movement, reached in 2022, that provides for non-attacks on its territory and vessels, the authors write.
Nevertheless, the Houthi leadership has already openly declared its readiness for military intervention. For example, a senior Houthi official, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, stated that their forces are on full combat alert. He stated that Yemen's full-scale involvement in the conflict is only a matter of time.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/23/2026 8:37 Comments ||
Top||
#4
They very likely need IRGC officers to make it happen — does the IRGC have officers to spare who are willing to take the risk that neither the US Navy nor Mossad will tag them for collection?
Because we deserve fun, too. Enjoy, dear Reader, courtesy of President Trump.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump shares a video on his Truth Social network of a TV comedy skit showing a terrified British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hoping to dodge a phone call with the American leader.
The skit, aired on the premiere of the new British version of Saturday Night Live — adapted from the long-running US show — shows Starmer, played by George Fouracres, panicking inside 10 Downing Street at the prospect of a call with Trump.
Starmer turns to a fake David Lammy, his deputy prime minister, and says, “What if Donald shouts at me?”
When Trump picks up the phone, Starmer immediately hangs up, asking why it is so difficult to talk to “that scary, scary, wonderful president.”
“Sir, just be honest and tell him we can’t send any more ships to the Strait of Hormuz,” Lammy says, a reference to the vital shipping lane effectively blocked by Iran since the beginning of the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic.
The US leader has repeatedly railed against Starmer since the start of the war, accusing him of not doing enough to support the United States.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump said earlier this month, after Starmer initially declined to let US warplanes use UK bases to strike Iran.
“I’m disappointed with Keir,” Trump has also said, slamming Starmer’s “big mistake.”
#1
Herger the Joyous: When they come, we form a circle in the center of the room, backs to one another.
Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan: I am not a warrior.
Herger the Joyous: Very soon, you will be.
- 13th Warrior
[IsraelTimes] Steve Reed also rejects claims that Britain has no defense against Iranian missiles; Netanyahu urges Europe to join war after Iran fired at remote US-UK Diego Garcia base and targeted Jerusalem holy sites, says Tehran has everyone in its sights
You places yer bets and you takes yer chances. Let’s meet again in six months to see who was right — assuming Labour is still running things, of couree.
British cabinet minister Steve Reed said on Sunday that there was no assessment that backed claims Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... is planning to strike Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... with ballistic missiles, or that it even has the capacity to do so, and rejected claims in UK media that Britannia has no defenses against Iranian missiles.
On Saturday, Israel Defense Forces chief Eyal Zamir warned, and the IDF posted on social media, that Iran has missiles "that can reach London, Gay Paree or Berlin" after Tehran unsuccessfully tried to hit the Diego Garcia US-UK military base, 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) from Iranian territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned on Sunday that Iran was "putting everyone in their sights," and urged Europe to join the fight against the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
"There is no assessment to substantiate what’s being said," Reed, the British housing secretary, told the BBC.
"I’m not aware of any assessment at all that they are even trying to target Europe, let alone that they could if they tried."
"Our assessment is that the Iranians certainly targeted Diego Garcia," Reed said. "As we understand it, one missile fell short, failed, the other was intercepted and prevented."
"But I don’t think it’s a surprise this has happened, Iran has been recklessly firing missiles around the region," he added.
Major British newspapers led their Sunday editions with Israeli warnings that Iran’s missiles can reach the UK.
The Sunday Times headline was "Iran has the firepower to hit London, Israel claims," while The Telegraph blared: "Iran’s missiles can now reach London, Israel warns Starmer."
The UK’s Daily Mail claimed that the UK has no defenses of its own against Iranian missiles, citing defense experts who said it would be forced to rely on American and German air defenses stationed in Europe. The assertion was also made by broadcaster Piers Morgan.
In a separate interview with Sky News, however, Reed insisted: "We have systems and defenses in place that keep the United Kingdom safe, and that will continue to happen, but the PM has been crystal clear about this war. We didn’t join the war, we’re not going to be dragged into this war, but we will take necessary defensive action to protect British interests, British people, or our allies across the region."
He said the fact that one of the missiles fired at Diego Garcia was intercepted, and the other failed, showed "that our defensive capabilities are correct."
Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands archipelago, is one of two bases that the UK has allowed the United States to use for what the British government insists are "defensive operations" in its war against Iran.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Friday that Iran had aimed two ballistic missiles at the base, which is a key hub for Washington’s Asia operations, including the US bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
While neither hit their target, the launch indicated that Tehran has missiles with longer ranges than previously thought. Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency confirmed the attempted strike, and boasted that targeting the base was a "significant step... that shows that the range of Iran’s missiles is beyond what the enemy previously imagined."
American forces have stationed bombers and other equipment at Diego Garcia. The air base is home to about 2,500 mostly American personnel and has supported US military operations from Vietnam to Iraq, Afghanistan and strikes on Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... rebels.
On Friday, the UK government said it would allow Washington to use its bases in Diego Garcia and Fairford in southwest England to target Iranian "missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz."
Reed also told Sky News that US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... spoke for himself when he threatened to "obliterate" Iran’s power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas normally flows — along with its numerous attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East — has sent crude oil prices soaring.
Asked to define Britannia’s position on Trump’s deadline, Reed said: "The US president is perfectly capable of speaking for himself and defending what it is that he’s saying."
Citing Iran’s long-range attack, targeting of holy sites, Netanyahu urges Europe to join war
While the British minister doubted Iran would extend its attacks to Europe, Netanyahu said Iran’s targeting of Diego Garcia showed the Islamic Theocratic Republic poses a global threat.
"If you want proof that Iran endangers the entire world, the last 48 hours have given it. In the last 48 hours, Iran targeted a civilian area," Netanyahu noted, pointing to the rubble around him. "They’re doing that as a mass murder weapon. Luckily, no one was killed, but... their intention is to murder civilians.
"Second, they fired on Jerusalem [on Friday], right next to the holy sites of the three monotheistic faiths — the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the al-Aqsa Mosque," he said. "And by dint of a miracle again, none of them were hurt. But they were targeting the holy sites of the three major monotheistic religions."
"If you want proof that Iran endangers the entire world, the last 48 hours have given it."
"Third, they fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Diego Garcia. That’s 4,000 kilometers... They have now the capacity to reach deep into Europe," he said. "They already have fired on European countries — Cyprus. They are putting everyone in their sights.
"And fourth, they’re stopping a maritime international route, energy route, and trying to blackmail the entire world," he added, referring to Iran’s blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil artery. "What more proof do you need that this regime, that threatens the entire world, has to be stopped?"
"It’s time to see the leaders of the rest of the countries join up," Netanyahu continued, adding, "I’m happy to say that I can see some of them beginning to move in that direction, but more is needed."
Israel and the US launched their campaign against Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize the regime and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile capacities. Iran has responded with missile and dronezaps across the region, and its proxies in Iraq and Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... have also carried out attacks, with Israel launching massive Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Lebanon in response to the Hezbollah terror group’s rocket barrages.
The war’s effects have been felt beyond the Middle East, raising food and fuel prices around the world.
This will work as well as the FakeBook pruners.
[Jpost] Anthropic is seeking a Policy Manager for Chemical Weapons and High-Yield Explosives with at least five years of experience.
Major artificial intelligence firms are expanding their in-house security expertise. They are recruiting specialists in chemical weapons, high-yield explosives, and biological risks to keep their systems from enabling military or catastrophic misuse. OpenAI is hiring a researcher focused on biological and chemical risks for up to £335,000 ($455,000). Anthropic is seeking a Policy Manager for Chemical Weapons and High-Yield Explosives with at least five years of experience in chemical weapons and/or explosives defense and knowledge of radiological dispersal devices (dirty bombs). It is offering an annual salary of $245,000 to $285,000, according to BBC News.
The hiring push comes amid intensifying concerns that advanced AI systems could be repurposed to cause serious harm, including by providing guidance related to chemical or radioactive weapons. A central worry is the democratization of deadly technologies. Increasingly capable AI tools can lower skill thresholds in areas such as coding, art, and language translation. Some experts caution that they may also lower barriers to assembling explosives or radiological devices.
There are also warnings that attempts to harden models against producing sensitive information may inadvertently expose them to more weapons-related data during the training and evaluation process, even if they are instructed not to use it.
“SUPPLY CHAIN RISK”
Anthropic’s Claude assistant has already been tapped by multiple US national security agencies for intelligence analysis, operational planning, and cyber operations. The integration has extended to Pentagon systems used to model battle scenarios and assess intelligence, despite the US Department of Defense having previously designated Anthropic a “supply chain risk.”
Tensions over the scope of permissible military use surfaced before US and Israeli attacks on Iran, when Anthropic rebuffed demands for unrestricted access to its AI tools. Claude was nevertheless integrated into systems deployed by the US in the US-Israeli attack on Iran, according to Semafor. Beyond the Middle East, the US government is using AI companies for other military operations, including activities in Venezuela, highlighting the widening footprint of commercial AI in defense contexts and the urgency of setting clear boundaries on acceptable use.
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE
The regulatory landscape lags behind the technology’s spread. There is no international treaty or comparable global framework governing the use of AI in connection with chemical, radiological, or related weapons. Researchers have questioned the safety of entrusting sensitive weapons-related data to AI systems in the absence of such guardrails. Across the industry, leaders and researchers have continuously warned about potential existential threats posed by their own technology, but those alarms have not been accompanied by efforts to slow the pace of development. That has left companies to devise their own internal policies, staffing, and technical controls to mitigate risk.
Anthropic has said its new position focused on chemical weapons and high-yield explosives is in line with other roles it has created for sensitive domains. The company suggests it is building a broader program to manage high-consequence risks within its AI models and enterprise offerings.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
03/23/2026 00:00 ||
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[Jpost] Palantir’s Maven artificial intelligence system will become an official program of record, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg said in a letter to Pentagon leaders, a move that locks in long-term use of Palantir’s weapons-targeting technology across the US military.
In the March 9 letter to senior Pentagon leaders and US military commanders, Feinberg said embedding Palantir’s Maven Smart System would provide warfighters “with the latest tools necessary to detect, deter, and dominate our adversaries in all domains”.
Maven is a command-and-control software platform that analyzes battlefield data and identifies targets. It is already the primary AI operating system for the US military, which has carried out thousands of targeted strikes against Iran over the last three weeks.
#2
Finally, a long-awaited Pentagon intelligence tool awakening.
Alexander Semyon Vindman (born Aleksandr Semyonovich Vindman) and his identical twin brother Yevgeny were born in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, to a Jewish family.[7][13] After the death of their mother, the three-year-old twins and their older brother, Leonid, were brought to New York City in December 1979 by their father, Semyon (Simon). They grew up in the Brighton Beach neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Here’s the problem: Software (at least, good software) is not static. It’s constantly improving, yet the cost is relatively flat across stages of development, which is why you pay a recurring subscription for commercial software instead of a large, upfront fee. This insight is the basis of the software-as-a-service model, and it enables constant improvement of the product. Development, testing and production of software happen simultaneously, all the time. Understanding this, Cukor made the heretical argument to Congress that Maven should be procured as a continuously evolving capability, with a similar cost over its lifetime. Cukor procured software using Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs), a flexible contracting vehicle that categorized software as RDT&E. Although this categorization wasn’t perfect, the BAA allowed the program costs to reflect how software was developed and deployed and allowed Cukor to make frequent changes to the product while it was in production.
AI-powered battlefield technology is enabling the U.S. and its allies to carry out military operations faster and more efficiently than ever before, Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar said Monday, pointing to the Iran conflict as evidence of a seismic shift in modern warfare.
"The planning that happened was done in a fraction of the time it would have taken in prior conflicts of this scale, and we accomplished more than twice as much per day of strikes," Sankar told "America's Newsroom."
"How do you do 2,000 strikes in 48 hours?" he asked. "It’s the sophistication of the technology, combined with service members who are better than we deserve. It has proven the deterrent capability."
[Just The News] Americans are feeling the impact of the conflict in Iran when they fill up their vehicles, but they’re likely to see it on their grocery bill as well in the coming months. Yes, armed conflict has a way of changing things in global markets.
The region is also one of the largest suppliers of nitrogen fertilizer, which is critical to modern farming. As American farmers are starting the growing season, they’re being faced with large increases in the cost of farming. As a result, the nation’s food supply could be impacted by farmers reducing acreage or producing lower yields.
Traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a thin waterway connecting the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea through which 20% of the world’s petroleum is exported, has been reduced to a trickle as a result of the conflict.
"There were a lot of farmers taking losses on crops last year, probably this year again. So it's something that needs to be addressed at probably all levels," Arthur Erickson, CEO of agriculture drone manufacturer Hylio, told Just the News.
NATURAL GAS CONVERTED TO PLANT FERTILIZER
Nitrogen fertilizer starts out as natural gas, and through the Haber-Bosch process, the gas is converted into ammonia. The ammonia is then made into urea and other nitrogen products. Writing in Forbes, Robert Rapier, a chemical engineer, said that "nitrogen fertilizer is natural gas transformed into plant food."
Approximately half the global food production depends on synthetic fertilizers, and without it, yields will sharply decline. Countries that are impacted by the trade disruptions in the region around the Strait of Hormuz produce nearly half of the global exports of urea and 30% of the global exports of ammonia.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
03/23/2026 07:27 ||
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[1801 views]
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#1
But, but, but I thought we led the world in the production of natural gas and crude oil fertilizer.
#2
My neighbor will be ticked. He’s really really in to lawn care. Also it might cause a bunch of people to starve.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/23/2026 8:28 Comments ||
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#3
We are Besoeker and the US won't have a shortage. However, in a global market where there is huge demand, prices will go up and other nations try to buy whatever they can including the supply the US produces.
Posted by: chris ||
03/23/2026 9:19 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"Food prices likely to rise..."
"Likely" was back in 2020.
Coffee has gone from $14.95 to $19.95 = 33.4%
Large DZ Eggs $1.49 to $2.59+ = 73.8%
Wally World Spices were $0.99 now are $1.38 and 10% smaller
= 35%+/- increase.
Snickers Candy bar was $1.38 now $2.39 = 73.8%
16oz Coke was $1.56 now is $2.59 = 66.02
In my Mid-East GA area
Diesel fuel for the delivery trucks has risen from $3.29 to $5.49 = 66.8% a increase in just delivery costs.
Gas $2.34 to $3.79 = 61.9%
Packages are smaller and the contents changed claiming
NEW and Improved (Shrinkflation).
But our various Government Swampers, waste no time increasing the "claimed" new value of our increasingly hard to sell homes to tax us more. Plus still managed to spend $38,000,000,000,000.00 +++ ($38+ Trillion) more than they steal from us to line certain pockets.
They fund our banking system with our Tax $$$$, which then loans our $$$ back to us at 6.5% to 28% + .
But they did give us a whopping 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2026 to offset all this.
BTW: The 2027 COLA now stands at 0.7 %.
How much corp Fertilizer does the USA make vs. import?
In 2025 the United States produced 53M tonnes or USD $31.68 billion in 2026. The USA Imports 1/5th of total US usage.
In 2025, the main origins of United States' Fertilizers imports were: Canada ($3.63B), Russia ($1.58B), Saudi Arabia ($438M), Qatar ($430M), and Israel ($271M).= $6.34B
So of that $6.34B only $1.139B comes from the Middle East. Or about 3.59% of the Total USA import.
The Real question is.
What will the Fertilizer Producers try to Scam the US Farmers/ Agriculture producers for?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[ColonelCassad] Official statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps regarding Trump's threats to attack Iran's energy grid.
If the American threats to strike Iranian energy facilities are carried out, the following retaliatory measures will be taken immediately:
1. Complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz. It will not be reopened until the destroyed energy facilities are restored.
2. Large-scale strikes against all power plants and energy and information and communications infrastructure of the Zionist entity.
3. Complete destruction of all similar companies in the region with American shareholders.
4. Power plants in countries in the region where American bases are located will become legitimate targets for us.
Everything is ready for a great struggle with the goal of completely destroying all US economic interests in the West Asian region. We have not started the war and will not start one now, but if the enemy damages our energy facilities, we will take all necessary measures to protect the country and the interests of the people.
The continuous destruction of the above-mentioned targets will begin, and nothing will be able to stop our operations against the energy, oil and industrial infrastructure of the United States and its allies in the region.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/23/2026 00:00 ||
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[1769 views]
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#1
Given the MM's ability to actually hit that they're aiming for ...
Both Moslem Brotherhooders together, they agree that the jihad to establish the Moslem Caliphate in Israel must continue..
[IsraelTimes] Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin meets with Hamas politburo members in Istanbul, according to a senior Turkish official.
The Turkish official says the meeting covered the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, but does not mention discussion of Hamas disarmament, a key piece of the ceasefire plan, in a summary of the meeting.
The official says they discussed “the importance of unity against Israel’s occupation and destabilization policies — aimed at setting the entire region ablaze, with Jerusalem at the center — and made clear that no fait accompli would be tolerated.”
The Gaza-based terror group and its Turkish backers discussed stopping Israeli attacks and removing any impediments to humanitarian aid in Gaza, the official says.
According to the official, the Hamas leaders and Kalin discussed “possible measures” in response to violence by extremist West Bank settlers and the building of Israeli settlements in the territory.
[IsraelTimes] Scott Bessent defends partial lifting of sanctions from Iranian oil to counter price hikes, says US has ‘plenty of money’ for war, after military requested additional $200 billion
The United States may need to "escalate" its attacks against Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... to be able to wind down the war, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, after President Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... offered contradictory trajectories for the conflict with the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iranian energy plants if Tehran did not fully open the pivotal Strait of Hormuz, just a day after saying US objectives were "very close" to being achieved, and that he was considering "winding down" the war.
Asked on NBC’s "Meet the Press" if Trump was winding down or escalating the war, Bessent said: "They’re not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate."
"This is the only language the Iranians understand," he argued.
The US and Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its holy manal regime and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Iran has responded with missile and dronezaps across the region, and with threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global gas and oil supplies flow.
The closure has sent energy prices soaring around the world. As part of efforts to abate market turmoil, Bessent on Friday temporarily lifted US sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil that had already been loaded onto ships.
But the move has produced some backlash, with critics saying it will provide funding to Iran at the same time that the US-Israeli conflict is ongoing.
Asked on NBC about the contradiction, Bessent defended the move as helping alleviate pressure on US partners and lowering the price Iran can receive for its oil.
"That Iranian oil was always going to be sold to the Chinese. It was going to be sold at a discount," he said. "So which is better? If oil prices spiked to $150 and they (Iran) were getting 70 percent of that, or oil prices below 100?"
’PLENTY OF MONEY’
The spike in crude prices has also seen costs at the pump across the United States quickly rise, creating potential political risks for the president just months before the midterm elections.
Bessent on Sunday refused to put a timeline on when Americans should expect prices to moderate, while arguing that the electorate will agree that removing Iran’s nuclear threat will be worth the temporary costs.
"I don’t know whether it’s going to be 30 days. I don’t know whether it’s going to be 50 days. I don’t know whether it’s going to be 100 days," he told NBC.
"But to have 50 years of peace in the Middle East and know that the Iranian regime is defanged" will be worth it, he added.
Bessent also ruled out pushing for any tax increases to fund the war, and claimed the US government has "plenty of money" to pay for it, but is requesting supplemental funding from Congress to ensure the military is well supplied in the future.
The US military’s request for $200 billion in additional funding for the Iran war faces stiff opposition in Congress, with Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... and even some Republicans questioning the need after large defense appropriations last year. Trump has not yet sent a request for the Senate and House of Representatives to approve the sum, and his administration has made clear that the number could change.
Speaking to NBC, Bessent defended the request without confirming the amount.
"We have plenty of money to fund this war," he said. "This is supplemental. President Trump has built up the military, as he did in his first term, as he is now doing in his second term, and he wants to make sure that the military is well supplied going forward."
[IsraelTimes] The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court extends the remand of a young Arab Israeli suspected of stabbing and severely injuring a man earlier this month, in what police are probing as a terror attack.
Muhammad Watad, a 21-year-old pharmaceutical student from the Arab village of Jatt, was detained on suspicion of stabbing 47-year-old Gedalyahu Ben Shimon, the head of Ramat Gan’s religious council, several times in the city on March 12.
Ben Shimon was severely wounded in the attack and paramedics rushed him to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery. He emerged in stable condition.
Watad has been held in custody since the stabbing, but is reportedly insisting on his innocence before the court.
According to Ynet, the suspect denies being the black-clad man seen stabbing Ben Shimon on security camera footage from that day. Instead, he claims he was working in a nearby pharmacy, but ran out of the building once he heard alarms.
Police during the hearing confirm that officers did not find the knife used in the stabbing on Watad himself, and further add that they have not yet completed DNA and fingerprint tests that could link him to the weapon, Ynet reports.
🚨 BREAKING: More details emerge on Iran’s sudden missile range leap—now reaching ~4,000 km.
Former IDF air defense chief says the jump likely comes from a two-stage, satellite-style launch system, long suspected as a pathway to ICBMs. 
➡️ Key points:
• Range doubled from ~2,000 km to ~4,000 km overnight 
• Demonstrated in strike attempt toward Diego Garcia (US-UK base) 
• Puts Europe within reach—not just Israel 
• Likely based on upgraded MRBMs like Khorramshahr variants
This confirms long-standing fears: Iran’s “space program” may be a cover for long-range missile development.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/23/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1768 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
[Just The News] Americans are feeling the impact of the conflict in Iran when they fill up their vehicles, but they’re likely to see it on their grocery bill as well in the coming months. 
...every time you hear the phrase 
