Steve Waserstein

“All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you…” - President Donald J. Trump

I'm honestly very fkn upset! Israel's Defense Minister just blatantly said they will occupy 10% of Lebanon even AFTER the war, and over 600k people that have their homes there cannot return! And also today, Netanyahu is saying that after the Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz needs to be bypassed using pipelines from Saudi to the Mediterranean I'm trying to be objective on everything, but after the destruction of Gaza, recent unwarranted bombing of Syria a few days ago, and now this, I am struggling to remain objective! Israel needs to reconsider its foreign policy or the cycle of violence won't stop! You cannot occupy Lebanon and expect the Government to disarm the militia that was founded BECAUSE of Israeli occupation decades ago! You cannot bomb Syria non stop and expect the people and the Government to sit idly and normalize relations You cannot wipe out Gaza and keep occupying it, then pass a law where the death penalty applies to Palestinians and not Israelis, and expect Palestinians to not be radicalized and fight back You cannot expect to bomb Iran, then propose a pipeline that benefits you, and expect the Arab world to become allies I want Hezbollah gone. I want the Iranian regime gone. I want Palestinian radicalization gone. But this is NOT the way to do it! This is NOT the way to achieve peace in the region!

🚨MAJOR UPDATE: The night hasn’t even ended and we have yet another major escalation which makes no sense! The U.S. and/or Israel just struck a major water source in Western Iran As we’ve seen in recent weeks, Iran has been retaliating reciprocally This means that Iran will likely retaliate by striking a lifeline for the Gulf: Their desalination plants! Qatar get 99% of their drinking water from these plants, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait over 90% and Saudi & UAE over 50%. A destruction of these plants is existential for these countries So why put the Gulf countries at such a major risk? And to make things even more bizarre, the strike on Iran’s water facility won’t have a massive impact on the country: They have access to a lot of rivers, dams & reservoirs. This means the impact this has on Iran will be minimal, while Iran’s retaliation could cause MASSIVE damage to the Gulf So again, why was this target struck? Is the goal to hurt the Iranian people while also severely hurting American allies in the Gulf? And more importantly, who’s behind it? Who benefits from such a scenario? My bet is on Israel, and without U.S. approval. My below post explains why this is my assumption As I said time and time again, this war is not making sense in so many ways

I’m pissed! Trump gave Iran a pause on strikes against their energy infrastructure until April 6. So what did Israel do?

They bombed all three of Iran’s largest steel plants simultaneously, which are crucial to their economy And if that wasn’t enough, they also struck Iran’s Khondab heavy-water reactor facility as well as uranium production and uranium-conversion sites All on the same day Why did Israel do this? And was it in coordination with the U.S.? If it’s in coordination, it means Trump lied to Iran. If not, than Israel is lying. If you take into account the report today that JD Vance yelled at Netanyahu over the phone this week, upset at being dragged into the war by misleading intelligence, then I think you have your answer Israel seems to be trying to sabotage these negotiations, and it serves their interests to do so.

UPDATE: I’m really struggling to call what happens next On one hand, Trump needs an off-ramp to limit the global economic damage and growing domestic political pressure Iran would also like this war to end before more cities are leveled and more leaders are killed On the other hand, Iran is doing surprisingly well controlling the Strait, striking the Gulf and Israel, and selling oil for more than twice the price than before the war, making a killing And on the American side, troops are heading to the region for what increasingly looks like a ground operation to control Hormuz Negotiations are the most promising development since February 28th. But Iran's warnings to Gulf nations against supporting any ground operation, combined with maximalist demands from both sides, make a deal unlikely in the short term