Iran ; explosions across Tehran following Israeli and US strikes, 28 February 2026

[GatorsNorth]

You don't have to thank me, mate. Those of us who understand history, Europe and the United States, know full well that there are far more people in the United States with political acumen, who know exactly what is going on and are less inclined to follow these idiots who want to kill people and tell anyone who will listen that there are people somewhere who hate us and want to kill us.

The worst people in the world for this sort of thing are Europeans. Have been for say 500 years and still are. No surprise that when the Ukraine thing went haywire the first people in there were Britain and France, old habits die hard, and the United States government had to reel them in and stop them from doing what would end up in chaos.

'Never understood this thing with Americans where they feel like they have to apologise. The United States government isn't perfect but it has been, for hundreds of years, a demonstrably tangible improvement on European governments.

I think we might have to agree to disagree Luv. I don’t think European governments can hold a candle to the current bloodthirsty regime in this country. JMO

 

[MassGuy]

Attacking airports, hotels, and apartment buildings in the Gulf continues to backfire on Iran.


March 1, 2026, 2:07 p.m. ET27 minutes ago
Anushka Patil
In a statement condemning Iranian attacks, the Foreign Ministry of the United Arab Emirates said it was closing its embassy in Tehran and withdrawing the entirety of its diplomatic mission to Iran, including its ambassador.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/01/world/iran-attack-khamenei-trump

 

[JimmyDurham]

under a pile of rubble for nothing

Aye. It's hard to fathom how and why people can make these decisions when they know a lot of people are going to die as a result, a lot of children are going to lose Mothers and Fathers, and a lot of people are going to be displaced. It's always been the case that these psychopaths find their way into power and make decisions that a lot of people do not agree with. Incredible really why that happens time after time.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

The Illusion of Control: Miscalculation and the Road to War with Iran - Open Canada

War has erupted between the United States, Israel, and Iran, shattering assumptions that calibrated pressure could prevent a wider conflict.

opencanada.org

Are we having fun yet??? What path ARE we on.........

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had warned shortly before he was killed on February 28, 2026 in a joint U.S.–Israeli strike: “The Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war.” Hezbollah, the Houthis, and several Iraqi military groups have likewise made clear that they would not remain neutral in any war aimed at Iran. Miscalculation is not a stable strategy; it is a slippery path.

 

[GatorsNorth]

Attacking airports, hotels, and apartment buildings in the Gulf continues to backfire on Iran.


March 1, 2026, 2:07 p.m. ET27 minutes ago
Anushka Patil
In a statement condemning Iranian attacks, the Foreign Ministry of the United Arab Emirates said it was closing its embassy in Tehran and withdrawing the entirety of its diplomatic mission to Iran, including its ambassador.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/01/world/iran-attack-khamenei-trump

Very sad (I’ve lived through more wars than I care to count, and my dad and his five brothers were all in the service). I was hoping and praying that this would de-escalate quickly, but it looks like it’s spreading.

 

[bearfossils]

Trump's Iran Strikes Branded a Distraction From Epstein Files and Court Ruling

Washington's latest military operations in the Middle East are drawing comparisons to the 2003 Iraq invasion, with critics arguing that the strikes against Iran lack a coherent long-term plan and risk triggering regional collapse. Rather than pursuing geopolitical stability, the White House faces accusations that it is manufacturing a spectacle to dominate the news cycle and divert attention from a growing list of domestic troubles.

According to analysts, the administration is using military force as a smokescreen to overshadow mounting scrutiny of the Epstein files, civil rights concerns in Minneapolis, and a Supreme Court ruling that effectively undermined the legal basis for the administration's global tariff policy days before the strikes began.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute, says Iran had offered major nuclear concessions and that Trump could have claimed a strong diplomatic victory, but instead pursued escalation to seek submission rather than advance US interests.

“Trump chose an avoidable war over a good deal.”

Trita Parsi says Iran had offered major nuclear concessions and that Trump could have claimed diplomatic victory.

www.aljazeera.com

“We’re not going to occupy the country,” Graham said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” “We’re going to give the people of Iran a chance to do something they’ve never had before: Chart their own destiny.”

“We’re going to take away from any future government the ability to have a ballistic missile program, a nuclear program, or support terrorism. That’s what we’re going to do,” he added. “And if out of this comes a new government that we can do business with, great. But having Iran no longer the state sponsor of terrorism opens up historic opportunities.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5761713-us-iran-future-leadership/

Trump, who announced plans to completely destroy Iran's Navy, said the remaining Iranian warships would soon be sunk.
"They will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea," Trump said.
"Other than that, their Navy is doing very well!"

US is sinking Iran's Navy, Trump says

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the U.S. military was sinking Iran's Navy, having destroyed nine Iranian warships so far and "going after the rest."

www.reuters.com

“The transition council is established,” he said, describing a three-member body comprising the president, the head of the judiciary, and a jurist from the Guardian Council. “This group of three would act as in charge of the leadership before the new leader is elected. I assume that it takes a short period of time. Maybe in one or two days, they will elect a new leader for the country.”

President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed on Sunday that the council “has begun its work”, in a prerecorded address aired on Iranian state television, in which he also condemned Khamenei’s killing as “a great crime” and declared seven days of public holidays alongside the mourning period.

Iran foreign minister suggests new supreme leader may be chosen within days

Abbas Araghchi says constitutional process is under way as Tehran mourns Ali Khamenei and vows resistance to US, Israel.

www.aljazeera.com

Videos verified by The New York Times show a Palau-flagged tanker, the Skylight, ablaze while anchored near Oman. It is one of three ships in the Persian Gulf that have reported coming under attack on Sunday. The videos, combined with satellite imagery, show a fire burning on the vessel’s left side, near the bridge and engine room. According to the shipping data firm Kpler, the vessel was not carrying any oil products at the time.

Video


The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has claimed responsibility for attacks on three American or British oil tankers, according to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency. Shipping records indicate that two of those ships, the Starlight and MKD Vyom, have no links to the U.S. or Britain In fact, the Skylight was sanctioned by the United States in December for its ties to Iran. The identity of the third tanker attacked today is not yet known.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/01/world/iran-attack-khamenei-trump

omg.... So history IS NOT going to repeat itself. Whew, thats a good thing, Lindsey.

Graham asserted during his interview that “there will be no American boots on the ground.”
“This is not Iraq. This is not Germany. This is not Japan,” he said. “We’re going to free the people up from a terrorist regime.”

 

[Friday Fan]

Iran said it is closed but the UK is saying it is not officially closed. There has been some kind of recent incident though. And lots of ships aren't passing through.


UKMTO, the British ⁠maritime ⁠agency, says it has ⁠received a report of an ⁠incident two nautical miles north of Oman’s Kumzar, located in the ‌Strait of Hormuz.

The strait is the world’s most vital oil export route, which connects the biggest ⁠Gulf oil producers, ⁠such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United ⁠Arab Emirates, with ⁠the Gulf of ⁠Oman and the Arabian Sea.

*****

At least 150 tankers, including crude oil and liquefied natural gas vessels, have dropped anchor in open Gulf waters beyond the Strait of Hormuz, shipping data has showed.

Dozens more were stationary on the other side of the chokepoint. The movements came after US and Israeli strikes on Iran plunged the region into a new war.

The tankers were clustered in open waters off the coasts of major Gulf oil producers, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as LNG giant Qatar, according to the Reuters news agency estimates based on ship-tracking data from the MarineTraffic platform.

Trump says Iran attacks to continue until ‘all objectives’ achieved

Iran declares 40 days of mourning and launches attacks after supreme leader's killing; Israel strikes Tehran.

www.aljazeera.com

Oh this is interesting:

Khamenei’s death a ‘step forward’, says nephew​

The death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei offers hope to the country, says his nephew, a France-based doctor opposed to the Islamic Republic.

“Like most Iranians, I am happy,” Mahmoud Moradkhani, the son of one of Khamenei’s sisters, said by telephone from his home in northern France.

“I am very happy about the death of Ali Khamenei. I think it’s a step forward, a hope,” AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

“War and military interventions slow down a bit political process, which is a bit regrettable, but maybe we had to go through this step,” said Moradkhani.

He predicted the regime is unlikely to survive Khamenei’s killing. “The regime’s internal rivalries are such and it won’t be able to resist them, it’ll have to disappear and give the power to the people.”

3 US soldiers killed, 5 wounded in Iran retaliation after deadly attacks

Iran declares 40 days of mourning and launches attacks after supreme leader's killing; Israel strikes Tehran.

aje.news

Farideh Moradkhani - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I'm sure he's biased, but it's good to hear something from someone who knows something about the internal workings of the current Iranian regime.

 

[MassGuy]

Very sad (I’ve lived through more wars than I care to count, and my dad and his five brothers were all in the service). I was hoping and praying that this would de-escalate quickly, but it looks like it’s spreading.

This is exactly what Iran was predicted to do. I don’t think a single unexpected (bad) thing has happened thus far.

What has been unexpected is the Gulf’s response to this, which is the opposite of what Iran intended. They wanted those states to apply pressure to the US to stop.

The only other thing that has surprised me is that we haven’t seen massive missile barrages designed to overwhelm missile defense systems.

They did deplete their supply (to an extent) during the 12 day war, and the US and Israel continue to hit their stockpiles and launchers on the ground.

Their missile and drone supplies are finite, fortunately.

 

[GatorsNorth]

This is exactly what Iran was predicted to do. I don’t think a single unexpected (bad) thing has happened thus far.

What has been unexpected is the Gulf’s response to this, which is the opposite of what Iran intended. They wanted those states to apply pressure to the US to stop.

The only other thing that has surprised me is that we haven’t seen massive missile barrages designed to overwhelm missile defense systems.

They did deplete their supply (to an extent) during the 12 day war, and the US and Israel continue to hit their stockpiles and launchers on the ground.

Their missile and drone supplies are finite, fortunately.

If you listen to anything they say, they have an infinite supply.

 

[MassGuy]

If you listen to anything they say, they have an infinite supply.

Lol of course.

And Khomeini was supposed to speak “imminently” all day yesterday, until they finally admitted he was dead.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised thousands of such targets in the near term, aiming to create the conditions for the Iranian people to return to the streets and replace the regime.

Israeli officials say progress today is moving faster than originally planned. Today’s strikes , including regime targets in the heart of Tehran, were brought forward. These were objectives scheduled for a later stage, but following yesterday’s successes, they were advanced to today

Israel signals escalation of strikes on Iran ahead of security cabinet meeting - i24NEWS

Prime Minister Netanyahu vows thousands of regime targets as Israel accelerates attacks deep inside Iran, with officials saying the campaign may last weeks

www.i24news.tv

 

[MassGuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028196776839135260

 

[JimmyDurham]

I think we might have to agree to disagree Luv. I don’t think European governments can hold a candle to the current bloodthirsty regime in this country. JMO

We'll certainly have to disagree.

European governments haven't been able to do anything for nigh on 80 years because they've been too weak and they've been told what to do by the United States. That's the only reason there has been peace in Europe, despite what they claim. There are plenty of examples of European countries getting involved in other peoples' business after WW2 and there are plenty of examples of the United States telling them to behave.

As soon as they feel stronger though, off they go with their "partnerships in the east" and "spreading democracy". You only have to read the European Union constitution, as per their own documents, to understand how special these people think they are with their liberty, charity and law. Apparently, nobody else has that: only Europe. Never mind that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the rest of the world are scratching their heads thinking: what? liberty and charity? 'joking surely.

As said, no surprise that Britain and France were the two countries straining at the leash to get involved in Ukraine until told to stop being so stupid by the United States. Old habits die hard.

Anyway, that's not to say this is a defence of the United States. It's not. There's no defence for attacking people, and I remember 1986 when The Sandinistas, a rag-tag outfit, were turned into the Mongol Hordes by the United States government that set up a propaganda department.

All I'm saying is: pound for pound, you're not anywhere near as bad as Europe in terms of government propaganda and the people believing it. No consolation I suppose when it comes to what really matters.

 

[SouthAussie]

"Israeli police say 11 people are currently listed as unaccounted for as search-and-rescue teams continue looking for survivors in the attack on Beit Shemesh, near West Jerusalem.

As we previously reported, nine people were confirmed killed in the missile strike.

Fifty-one people were wounded in the attack, police said."

Trump says Iran attacks to continue until ‘all objectives’ achieved

Iran declares 40 days of mourning and launches attacks after supreme leader's killing; Israel strikes Tehran.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Trump's Iran Strikes Branded a Distraction From Epstein Files and Court Ruling

I think we have to use the expanded sentence here.....
It isn't only Epstein (which I do believe can hold its own in 'temporary hold'), but it is beyond belief to me, that his devout followers are not speaking up about the many many domestic issues he is not addressing effectively or hopefully.


Rather than pursuing geopolitical stability, the White House faces accusations that it is manufacturing a spectacle to dominate the news cycle and divert attention from a growing list of domestic troubles.

 

[missy1974]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028196776839135260

I see reports that their headquarters for the State broadcaster has been hit too.
Not seeing MSM reporting it yet though.

 

[Friday Fan]

Imagine building a school next to a naval base, sick and evil people.

I went to US Department of Defense schools that were ON military bases. My junior high was NEXT to a military base, because the DOD school did not have a junior high school. I went to these schools in Japan, New Jersey and Vandenberg AFB. Vandenberg was the Soviets wet dream bombing target. It was where all the missiles were. I wouldn't consider our military sick and evil.

 

[Friday Fan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028196776839135260

They were also hacked about a month ago with a Reza Pahlavi (Shah's son) video.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Operation names like this has been standard practice for generations. It’s done for public messaging and troop morale.

SBMFF

They have? This is a far cry from Enduring Freedom or Iraqi Freedom or Babylift. There's a huge difference in the naming of our operations with this president.

MOO.