🔑Defender1

🇱🇧🇮🇱 Hezbollah's Secretary General, Naim Qassem, issues a statement condemning Israel on the eve of historic Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington: "It is unjustifiable for the state of Lebanon to be a tool for implementing Israel's wishes by pressuring the resistance The Lebanese army will not do what is required of it, which is to fight the people. Lebanon is targeted by the Greater Israel project, and we believe in our country's sovereignty. No one dictates to us how it should be governed. We are fighting because the Israeli-American enemy has attacked us. The current battle is not to ensure the security of northern Israel, but rather it is a battle to annihilate Lebanon. We reject negotiations with the Israeli entity; they are futile and require a Lebanese agreement and consensus. We will let the battlefield speak for itself, and we reject negotiations with the Israeli entity. Let's confront the aggression together, and then we can discuss the future. Israel is clearly stating that the negotiations are for the disarmament of Hezbollah and peace with it. What cards does the Lebanese state hold? We reject negotiations that strip Lebanon of its strength. Israel must implement the ceasefire agreement, and we call for the cancellation of negotiations with it." Source: Al Jazeera

🇮🇷 Iran is warning the UN of a radiation risk after strikes near the Bushehr nuclear power plant. An active nuclear reactor was just put in the blast radius of a war, and Iran's FM is putting that in writing to the Secretary-General. If the containment holds, it's a near miss. If it doesn't, it stops being a Gulf war and becomes something else entirely. Source: Al Jazeera

🇮🇷🇺🇸 Since Feb 28, Iran has launched nearly 1,200 ballistic missiles and 4,000 drones at targets across the Gulf. That’s forced the US and Gulf states to burn through ~2,400 Patriot interceptors basically wiping out a huge chunk of their pre-war stockpiles. On top of that, America is also rapidly using up high-end missiles like Tomahawks and JASSMs, the exact weapons the Pentagon wants to keep for a potential fight with China. In just a few weeks, the US has burned through years’ worth of expensive munitions that are very hard (and slow) to replace. Allies are already getting nervous that this Middle East war is draining America’s ability to support Ukraine and deter China at the same time. The arsenal isn’t infinite, and the meter is running fast. Source: Bloomberg

Tonight will be a bad night for the Gulf Iran will retaliate hard for the strikes on their largest gas field