US/Israel conduct airstrikes on Iran again

Peace through strength US style. Probably sounds like something Hesgeth would come up with if true, " lets cut the water off to those 30 villages of goatherders HELL YA !"

He was also apparently talking to Putin yesterday. I agree he has little power but most of those above him are dead, plus he is a relatively recent appointee and is seen as something of a 'moderate' in regime terms, and thus probably sees himself as having some hope of cutting a face-saving deal. I'm not saying this is in any way a realistic objective and of course his immediate answer was some further attacks on Gulf States targets by the IRGC, plus a statement from the Foreign Minister effectively disavowing what he said.

We must indeed have been asleep if no one expected that.

They should rename em after card suites and names

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/07/dozens-killed-in-lebanon-as-israel-searches-for-signs-of-navigator-missing-for-40-years-00818072

Am I reading that correct?

Israel kills 41, and wounds 40, blowing up a town in Lebanon searching for some bones from someone who died 40 years ago?

Their insanity knows no end.

Engaging with regular Lebanese army as well as Hezbollah seems absolutely inexcusable even by Israel's non-existant standards for these sort of operations.

I mean I think this says it all.

“Our desire to know what happened to Ron stops the moment it endangers Israeli soldiers,” his wife, Tami, wrote on Facebook, noting that the family has said this multiple times through the years.

“For 40 years we have lived with the fact that Ron is missing, and we want to know what happened to Ron, but not at any price. The sanctity of life is above any closing of the circle of certainty for us,” she added.

Adraee said the Israeli force did not suffer any casualties.

Completely insane!

Perhaps. But Iran is well aware that the US has numerous assets in various positions in countries surrounding it. They'll want those countries to know that they can strike them and that they are not as weak as the general perception seems to be.

It was Saudi Arabia, Oman and especially Qatar that put pressure on Trump last year to halt attacks in June, because they got hit by Iran on the 23rd. The next day Trump, who has numerous business and real estate interests in Qatar, put an end to attacks on Iran and put pressure in Israel to do the same. Iran's neighbours have no interest in seeing Trump and Netanyahu's war expanding to their borders. Over the last several months Netanyahu has been in the White House numerous times and, no doubt, has been putting a worm in Trump's ear about attacking Iran again and that she's weak. Trump also suspects that now is the time to row in behind Israel because he might not be able to do so after November.

The Iranians are desperate. They have two of most destructive nations lining up to attack them, so any and all potentially viable strategies will be on the table, including trying to force Trump's hand by proxy because it worked the last time.

Whether it works again is another matter.

Is the Queen Elizabeth even currently deployable?

Yep. A gigantic one.

German is actually the largest ethnic group in the US. Trump is from a German background himself, and as you say you couldn't go twelve metres and not have someone over there tell you how "proud" they are of their ancestry.

But Americans have been groomed for years by certain quarters to view the EU as an enemy, despite the fact that that it is an essential business partner that has been working well with them for decades.

A lot of Americans may bang on about "the old country", even if they've never stepped foot in it. But never underestimate the propensity for some of them to hold wildly stupid opinions and stances that blatantly contradict other positions they may have. All you have to do is look at the so called "Christians" over there and the sheer nonsense that they come out with.

As an anecdote, I ended up randomly talking to a guy in the US once and we got onto the subject of healthcare because topic had changed to the crazy cost of his insurance. I agreed that it was very high and that America should really look into changing how things are done over there with regards to that. Then he said that he thought that socialised medicine was "evil", which I'll admit sent me reeling. I decided not to pursue the topic any further. There would have been no point. This guy then asked me what I thought of Jesus Christ! It was all I could do to stop myself saying "Well, he's a guy would have agreed with socialised medicine".

Thing is, these are the people in the ascendancy over there now. They are part of the demographic that the Republicans, MAGA and Trump wish to appeal to.

And they number in the millions.