Last night, Israel finally struck back against Iran. 
Last weekend, Iran struck Israel with some 350 drones and missiles. Israel was expecting that it was going to have to fire back against Iran in some form or fashion. 
There are a few different options that were tabled that had been considered. One was a full-scale attack on Iran&#8217;s nuclear facilities, completely degrading their nuclear program. Another option would have been to do virtually nothing, which is what Joe Biden wanted to do. 
Israel last night decided on a third option that would be a targeted strike, limited in nature inside Iran, to warn the Iranians that if they decided that they were going to escalate this confrontation, Israel would get to them much more than they would get to Israel. 
That is what Israel pursued last night: a useful means of deterrence, probably the best available scenario for both America and for America&#8217;s allies in the region. If Israel had gone really heavy, there was always the possibility of serious escalation via Hezbollah in Israel&#8217;s north that could have turned into a larger, full-blown war.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1951-israel-strikes-back-against-iran-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
Now, would it have been more in Israel&#8217;s interest to completely destroy Iran&#8217;s nuclear facility? Sure. It also would have been a lot riskier. Right now, the United States and Israel have been in this very fraught negotiation over what the United States will allow Israel to do. And so the Israeli government took a middle road by issuing this targeted strike against Iran. 
The message was “Listen, you guys fired 350 drones, missiles. We knocked nearly all of that down. We basically can hit you anytime, anywhere we want, so you guys better stand down.” 
That was the goal of the Israelis. And it also offered, because it was so limited in nature, the Iranians an off-ramp, to deny that any of this ever happened or minimize it, which is exactly what Iran did. Iran had been mouthing off a lot about the idea that if Israel launched a serious strike into Iranian territory, then Iran would up the ante with a broader retaliatory strike and then you would have an escalating conflict. Israel issued a strike limited in nature so as to allow the Iranian government the possibility of basically denying that anything had ever happened. 
Israel is playing a different game than Joe Biden is used to. Israel is playing in the Middle East, where what you do matters a hell of a lot more than what you say. Joe Biden has spent his entire career in places where what you say matters a hell of a lot more than what you do. He is completely unfamiliar with the foreign policy realm where what you do matters an awful, awful lot. 
That’s why reality keeps clocking Joe Biden directly in the face. Forget about Israel and Iran for a second. Think about the Saudi Arabian government. When Joe Biden was a candidate for the presidency of the United States, he was extraordinarily critical of Mohammad bin Salman, the heir-apparent in Saudi Arabia and the de facto ruler of the country. Biden suggested that he was a mass human rights violator. 
This meant that the United States had to take a very harsh tactical look at our alliance with Saudi Arabia, up to and including giving the green light to the Houthis in Yemen, an Iranian proxy group, by de-listing them as a terror group. 
And then it turns out that reality intervened. And the Houthis, as it turned out, hate the United States more than they hate the Saudis. It turns out that the Saudis have control over oil supply. And Joe Biden had to go on bended knee to Mohammed bin Salman because what you say in the Middle East does not matter nearly as much as what you do. 
So Israel, without making a big statement, made it clear to Iran: we are going to knock you guys back to the Stone Age. Israel simply did the thing and they let Iran know that if, in fact, Iran decides to escalate, it will do significantly more damage to the Islamic Republic than it will do to Israel. 
All of this again was prefaced by the U.N. Security Council being a completely useless and garbage institution. Israel did what it had to do because the U.N. Security Council could not even bring itself to condemn Iran for a full-scale attack on another nation, an act of war. The U.N. Security Council not only did not condemn Iran for that attack last weekend, they allowed Iran to then lecture Israel, suggesting, “Israel must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests.” 
The absolute unmitigated sheer gall of that is astonishing. Consider that it is Iranian military adventurism that has led to the entire conflagration in the Middle East, from Iraq to Syria to Lebanon to the Gaza Strip to Judea and Samaria to Yemen. That is Iranian military adventurism that has led to all that and the U.N. Security Council — because the United Nations is the Mos Eisley of international politics, a wretched hive of scum and villainy — the U.N. Security Council was never even willing to take up the possibility of condemning Iran. 
They did, however, take up the possibility in the last 48 hours of a resolution to unilaterally declare Palestinian statehood, which would be an incredibly audacious and stupid move, considering there is no actual government for a Palestinian state. The Gaza Strip is currently governed by Hamas, a terror group that is in an existential war with the state of Israel. The Palestinian Authority has so little control over the West Bank that there is open warfare between Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Authority. 
You may as well simply declare a state of unicorn land in a random part of the earth that has no government as declare a Palestinian state — except unicorn land presumably would not necessarily turn into a terrorist state, whereas a Palestinian state already has turned into a terror state and remains as such. 
Israel decided that it was going to do what it had to do and restore the status quo ante before October 7. That is really what this is about. Remember, October 7 was launched specifically with the green light of Iran in order to scuttle a burgeoning Israeli/Saudi peace deal. Israel and Saudi Arabia were establishing a regional alliance in terms of defense to deter Iran and its proxies in the region. And that alliance de facto included Egypt, Jordan, and a bunch of the Saudi-sponsored states like UAE and Bahrain. A variety of these states had basically formed an alliance, and it was just a matter of toppling that last domino in Saudi Arabia for the alliance to go full-scale. 
And if Donald Trump had been elected, there is no doubt in my mind — or the mind of the Israelis or the Saudis — that that deal would have gotten done. 
Even Biden’s stupidity didn’t get in the way. Because Joe Biden had been so conciliatory toward the Iranians, the Saudis had basically gone to the Israelis and said we don&#8217;t trust that Joe Biden is going to come to our defense if Iran attacks us. So let&#8217;s form a regional alliance against Iran. That was really, really close to happening. 
Iran saw that and activated Hamas to go into Israel and kill 1,200 people and take 250 hostages back to the Gaza Strip in the hopes that this would start a conflagration that would burn down the possibility of a Sunni-Israeli deal. 
Now it appears that the status quo ante is now being reinforced. Why? Because Israel has actually preserved its own ability to deter and militarily destroy its enemies. The whole reason for a Saudi peace deal with the Israelis is not because Israel and Saudi Arabia see eye-to-eye on matters of religion. Obviously, they do not.
The reason for the restoration of the status quo ante is that Saudi Arabia looks at Israel and sees Israel is capable of deterring Iran; Israel is capable of destroying its enemies on the battlefront. Israel is an extraordinarily powerful and innovative military machine and they want to be allied with that. 
What Hamas did by striking at Israel was to try to dent that perception in the Saudis. But now Israel has reinforced the perception, the prior perception, by its successful military action in the Gaza Strip, which is why they are now going to go in and finish off Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. And the last two weeks have shown that Israel not only is capable with its allies of repelling a mass Iranian attack, but also that Israel can strike pretty much where it wants to in Iran. And so Iran had better not escalate because it&#8217;ll be worse for Iran than it will be for Israel. 
And Saudi Arabia wants to sign on to that.

ISRAEL-POLITICS-ANNIVERSARY-INDEPENDENCE

Israel Strikes Back Against Iran

Ben Shapiro

Iran

Israel

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Middle East

Opinion

Readers Pass

Saudi Arabia

Over the weekend, the Islamic Republic of Iran essentially entered a war directly with the state of Israel. There&#8217;s no other way to put it. When you fire 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles at another sovereign nation, you are now in a state of war.
This has been a long time coming. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been using all of its proxy terror groups to attack Israel repeatedly for decades at this point, from Hezbollah in the north of Israel, to Hamas in the south of Israel, to the current attacks from the Houthis in Yemen.
The whole conflict started on October 7 with the Hamas massacre because Iran was deeply afraid that Israel was about to sign a new Abraham Accord with the Saudi government. Everyone was openly discussing it, and that would have solidified a Sunni-Israeli pact against Shia aggression in the Middle East. Iran then would have effectively been boxed in because the reality is that an American-backed Sunni-Israeli alliance would be extraordinarily powerful in the region. It would be a massive counterweight to terror groups in Yemen and Hezbollah and Hamas and Iran itself. Iran was feeling quite boxed in.
So Iran activated the October 7 massacre through General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its terror operations in Syria, Lebanon, and via Hamas. They greenlit the October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostage, with 133 Israelis still missing and most presumed dead.
That was specifically designed in order to elicit a military response from Israel that would supposedly put the nascent Sunni-Israeli alliance on hold. The entire goal was to reorient the Middle East. The Biden administration, acting as cowards, decided to go along with that instead of doing what they should have done: Tell Israel to finish off Hamas and take that Iranian pawn off the board. And if Israel needed to make a move against Hezbollah in the north, which had been threatening Israel for years, then do that as well — because only strength works in the Middle East.
No American troops needed to be involved.
Instead, over time, the Biden administration began to put more and more shackles on the Israeli Defense Force regarding Israel&#8217;s attempt to extirpate Hamas and also to counter Hezbollah.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1947-unprecedented-iran-launches-massive-attack-on-israel-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
The reason the latest attack happened is because Iran saw the gap. Israel took out the general who had greenlit the October 7 attacks, and Iran was faced with this geopolitical prospect: It would be seen as weak by its own people for not responding to Israel taking out General Mohammad Reza Zahedi in Syria.
They couldn’t be seen to look weak in the face of this.
The problem they had is they weren&#8217;t sure just how far they could go in attacking Israel without the United States either directly responding or unshackling Israel. That was their catch-22. They needed to do something in response to the killing of General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, but the response could not be strong enough to elicit a full-scale military response from Israel greenlit by the United States. 
So what did they do? 
It sounds very much as though the United States was approached via channels by the Iranians. And the Iranians basically said, we&#8217;re going to do something and we want to make sure what we do is not enough for you to take the chains off of Israel.
The Jerusalem Post stated in a stunning report that Iran apparently informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel. Washington had then responded to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be within certain limits.
That’s a betrayal of an American ally.
The reason Biden would do that is because he knew Iran had to show its own people it was going to stand up muscularly against the “evil Zionist regime,” and at the same time, Biden did not want this escalating into a full-scale Israeli retaliation. And so the happy medium for him was to greenlight an attack that would cost America billions of dollars in military resources, allow Iran to get away with a massive missile and drone attack on an actual sovereign country, and then tell Israel to stand down.
So it appears the Biden administration effectively brokered this attack, which makes sense. Biden is now playing both sides of the aisle.
Biden said that Donald Trump would get America into a war with Iran. Now the United States is having to use its materiel to shoot down actual ordnance from Iran. That is because Biden is a weakling. It is because his foreign policy on the Middle East is idiotic. The only thing that works in the Middle East is a perception of actual force.
You know what would have happened if Trump had been president and Iran had approached and said, “We want to issue a limited attack on your ally Israel. So what do we greenlight?”
Trump would have said, “I will kick you’re a** if you do that.”
Foreign policy is a fifth-grade schoolyard. Whoever is the biggest bully on the block gets to call the rules.
There is no sovereign state on planet Earth that should be told by America that it cannot defend itself against a state that just fired 120 ballistic missiles at it. That&#8217;s insane. But that&#8217;s exactly the position of the Biden administration.
Trump always opted for a different route: If you screw with the United States or our allies, we will intimidate you.
And you know what? It made for a pretty damn safe world under Donald Trump.
Joe Biden&#8217;s idea has been to feed the alligator and maybe it will be nice to you.

Demonstration in Tehran in support of Iran’s attacks on Israel

Iran Attacks Israel Because Biden Fed The Alligator. Trump Would Have Crushed It.

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Screen Shot 2024-04-15 at 3.07.25 PM

Leftist Activist Threatens To Murder Government Officials, Immediately Regrets It

Bakersfield

Matt Walsh

Palestinians

Protesters

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> will return to the White House this weekend to discuss the Middle East crisis with his national security team, cutting short a trip to his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home. 
Biden will return to Washington to “consult with his national security team about events in the Middle East,” the White House <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-04-13-24/h_96747590ce7877721f328f5e1db92421" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> Saturday. The announcement comes amid rising tensions as American officials <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-warns-iran-to-not-launch-attack-on-israel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">say</a> Iran is expected to launch an attack on Israel. 
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to be at the meeting with Biden, according to CNN. The meeting will come hours after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/irans-irgc-seizes-israeli-linked-ship-near-strait-of-hormuz?topStoryPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seized</a> a ship near the Strait of Hormuz linked to Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group shipping company. 
“The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have seized a Portuguese civilian cargo ship, belonging to an EU member, claiming Israeli ownership,” Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign minister, <a href="https://twitter.com/Israel_katz/status/1779110154300002423" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X. “The Ayatollah regime of @khamenei_ir is a criminal regime that supports Hamas’ crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law.”
“I call on the European Union and the free world to immediately declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards corps as a terrorist organization and to sanction Iran now,” he added.
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The U.S. has called for Iran to release control of the ship, saying it would hold the country accountable. 
“We call on Iran to release the vessel &amp; its international crew immediately,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “It must be condemned unequivocally, &amp; we will work with our partners to hold Iran to account for its actions.” 
On Friday, Biden was asked at the National Action Network Convention about when Iran was expected to attack Israel. “I don’t want to say,” Biden said. “I don’t want to get into secure information, but my expectation is sooner than later.”
“We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel,” he added. “We will defend — help defend Israel. And Iran will not succeed.”

US-POLITICS-BIDEN

Biden Leaves Beach For White House Ahead Of Imminent Iranian Attack On Israel

Delaware

Washington D.C.

White House

The U.S. Department of Defense is deploying additional military assets to the Middle East to deter attacks from Iran as the Islamic regime is expected to launch attacks against Israel as soon as Friday.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iranian-attack-expected-on-israel-in-next-two-days-42b0537c">reported</a> on Thursday that U.S. officials believe that Iran&#8217;s attack against Israel is expected in the next 48 hours. The expected attack is in retaliation for Israel terminating Mohammed Reza Zahedi, the top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria, last week as he met with other Iranian commanders and leaders from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.
Zahedi allegedly played a “strategic role in forming and strengthening the resistance front as well as in planning and executing” Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack against Israel, according to a staunchly pro-IRGC political group.
The U.S. Military is moving the additional assets to the region “to bolster regional deterrence efforts and increase force protection for US forces,” a Pentagon official <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/12/politics/white-house-iran-threat-israel/index.html">told</a> CNN.
Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/04/12/iran-israel-attack-us-troops-warning">reported</a> on Friday that Iran that &#8220;U.S. forces in the region will be attacked&#8221; if the U.S. helps defend Israel
Officials believe that Iran&#8217;s attack will include &#8220;ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and attack drones&#8221; launched from inside Iran, the report said.
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The Biden administration has reportedly asked Israel to notify it of any retaliatory measures against Iran and to allow the U.S. to have a say in what those measures are, the Axios report added, which comes as Biden has repeatedly attacked Israel in recent weeks for its war against Hamas inside Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last week that the country will not hesitate to take preemptive military action against any threat it faces.
“Iran has been acting against us for years — directly and via proxies. And, therefore, Israel acts against Iran and its proxies — defensively and offensively,” he said. “We will know how to defend ourselves, and we will act according to the simple principle: that those who harm us or plan to harm us, we will harm.”

Defense Minister Pistorius travels to Poland

U.S. Moving Additional Military Assets To Middle East To Deter Iranian Attacks: Report

Conflicts

World

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, warned on Thursday that the situation in the Middle East could soon become the most dangerous it&#8217;s been in more than 50 years as tensions between Israel and Iran have reached a fever pitch.
Rubio&#8217;s comments come as Iran has threatened to launch an attack against Israel after an Israeli airstrike <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/major-escalation-alleged-israeli-airstrike-kills-top-iranian-general-in-syria" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed</a> Mohammed Reza Zahedi, the top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria, last week as he met with other Iranian commanders and leaders from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.
Zahedi allegedly played a “strategic role in forming and strengthening the resistance front as well as in planning and executing” Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack against Israel, according to a staunchly pro-IRGC political group.
&#8220;Iran wants to launch a large scale attack from their own territory against Israel,&#8221; Rubio <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1778400321523306774">posted</a> on X. &#8220;Israel will respond instantly with an even more severe counterattack inside of Iran.&#8221;
&#8220;What happens next is the most dangerous Middle East moment since 1973,&#8221; the senator added.
In 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a simultaneous coordinated surprise attack on Israel during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism.
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U.S. officials have said that Iran, the world&#8217;s leading state sponsor of terrorism, was planning a &#8220;significant&#8221; attack against Israel.
Israeli media reported on Thursday that Iran was ready to strike but appeared to have delayed or changed its plans in response to threats from the U.S.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak echoed the U.S.&#8217;s support for Israel on Thursday, <a href="https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/388332">saying</a>: &#8220;The threats from Iran are completely unacceptable and we, like the Americans, fully support Israel’s right to defend itself against that.&#8221;
&#8220;We have already highlighted Iran as a significant risk to regional security and we have always said that we will support Israel’s ability to defend itself and we are taking action ourselves to make sure we can protect the UK against threats from Iran,&#8221; he added.

Senate Select Intelligence Committee

Rubio Warns Situation In Middle East Could Soon Be ‘The Most Dangerous’ Since Yom Kippur War

Congress

Marco Rubio

Politics

Rishi Sunak

Yom Kippur

The U.S. Military announced late on Wednesday evening that it had shot down multiple <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/terrorism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terrorist</a> suicide drones that were launched around the Arabian Peninsula.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that early Wednesday morning, U.S. forces &#8220;successfully engaged three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.&#8221;
&#8220;Two UAVs were launched over the Gulf of Aden and one UAV was launched over the Red Sea,&#8221; CENTCOM said. &#8220;Then between approximately 7:50 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. (Sanaa time), USCENTCOM forces successfully engaged and destroyed eight UAVs in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in self-defense.&#8221;
The attack drones were determined to present &#8220;an imminent threat to U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels in the region.&#8221;
No one was killed or injured in the attacks and no ships were damaged.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
April 10 Red Sea Update
Between approximately 4:15 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. (Sanaa time) on April 10, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces successfully engaged three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. Two UAVs were launched over the Gulf… <a href="https://t.co/QMFyDAkOxD">pic.twitter.com/QMFyDAkOxD</a>
&mdash; U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) <a href="https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1778236320449495371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The attacks from Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen come as U.S. forces are on high-alert in the region for an expected attack from Iran and its terrorist proxy groups against Israel after Israel killed a top Iranian general last week who was allegedly involved in helping Hamas plan and execute its October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
U.S. officials told Bloomberg News that they believe the attack is imminent and that it&#8217;s no longer a matter of if, only when.
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Officials believe that Iran and its terrorist proxy groups would use high-precision missiles and drones targeting a variety of targets in Israel.
Gen. Erik Kurilla, commander of the U.S. Central Command, is expected to meet with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tomorrow to coordinate operations with Israel in case Iran attacks.
The Times of Israel <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-threatens-to-bomb-nuke-sites-as-iran-backs-down-from-direct-attack-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> this week that Israel has been conducting air force drills in recent days “that include preparing to target Iranian nuclear facilities and other key infrastructure.”
Israel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/major-escalation-alleged-israeli-airstrike-kills-top-iranian-general-in-syria" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eliminated</a> Mohammed Reza Zahedi, the top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria, from the battlefield last week as he met with other Iranian commanders and leaders from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.
The Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces, a staunchly pro-IRGC political group, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-iranian-irgc-general-targeted-by-israeli-airstrike-played-key-role-in-october-7-terror-attack-pro-irgc-group" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to the strike by praising Zahedi’s “strategic role in forming and strengthening the resistance front as well as in planning and executing” Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack against Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last week that the country will not hesitate to take preemptive military action against any threat it faces.
“Iran has been acting against us for years — directly and via proxies. And, therefore, Israel acts against Iran and its proxies — defensively and offensively,” he said. “We will know how to defend ourselves, and we will act according to the simple principle: that those who harm us or plan to harm us, we will harm.”

ISRAEL-DIPLOMACY-NAVY-EMERGENCY

U.S. Destroys Nearly A Dozen Terrorist Drones Launched In Middle East

Drones

Terrorism

Yemen

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said during an interview over the weekend that Americans in the Middle East were in danger of becoming targets for the Islamic Republic of Iran as the world&#8217;s leading state sponsor of terrorism looks to avenge the loss of one of its top generals.
Turner made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; with Jake Tapper when asked about Iran&#8217;s forthcoming retaliation after Israel killed Mohammed Reza Zahedi, the top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force, last week.
A hardline group in Iran with connections to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that Zahedi played a “strategic role in forming and strengthening the resistance front as well as in planning and executing” Hamas&#8217; unprecedented terrorist attack on October 7.
&#8220;I think Americans in the area remain in danger,&#8221; Turner said when asked about what Iran was planning. &#8220;Remember, Iranian proxies have continued to attack U.S. troops in the area, again, with the Biden administration being slow to respond and ultimately responding to those attacks. And, of course, the United States has moved additional capabilities and assets in the area to deter Iran from entering into this conflict directly with Israel, although their proxy is Hamas, which the conflict is directly with.&#8221;
&#8220;And Hezbollah continues to be a threat to Israel in Lebanon,&#8221; he added, noting that Zahedi was a &#8220;legitimate target&#8221; for Israel to eliminate because he was a key Iranian player behind much of the country&#8217;s terrorism in the Syria and Lebanon.

House Intelligence Committee Hears Testimony On The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment

House Intel Chairman Warns ‘Americans In The Area Remain In Danger’ From Iranian Attacks

Hamas

Hezbollah

terrorist

Despite the best efforts of the Biden administration to move toward green alternatives, oil remains a vital commodity to not only the American economy but also global civilization in general. Easy access to the substance can be the deciding factor between a country&#8217;s prosperity and its descent into chaos and poverty.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-nixes-plan-to-help-refill-strategic-petroleum-reserve" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that it had canceled plans to help refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, citing a rise in crude oil prices to $85 a barrel. The government had previously announced in March that it would solicit up to 3 million barrels for a facility in Louisiana as part of its efforts to resupply the SPR.
The Energy Department claimed to be “keeping the taxpayer’s interest at the forefront.” The agency said, “We will not award the current solicitations for the Bayou Choctaw SPR site and will solicit available capacity as market conditions allow,” adding, “We will continue to monitor market dynamics.”
In an attempt to stimulate skyrocketing gas prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration <a href="https://rollcall.com/2022/10/19/biden-to-announce-more-oil-reserve-sales-to-reduce-gas-prices/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">initiated</a> a 180-million-barrel <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/18/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-announce-new-actions-to-strengthen-u-s-energy-security-encourage-production-and-bring-down-costs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drawdown</a> of the SPR in 2022, decreasing the reserve to its <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/11/02/biden-strategic-petroleum-reserve-oil-levels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lowest level in decades</a>. Since that drawdown, Biden has slowly purchased more oil, around 32 million barrels, but the reserve is still well below where it was before Biden took office.
<div id="attachment_719633" style="width: 779px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-719633" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-719633" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1434804700-769x576.jpg" alt="FREEPORT, TEXAS - OCTOBER 19: In an aerial view, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage at the Bryan Mound site is seen on October 19, 2022 in Freeport, Texas. US President Joe Biden is planning to release fifteen million barrels of oil from the nation's emergency reserves in an effort to continue curving gas prices around the country. The deal completes Biden's March initiative to release 180 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)" width="769" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1434804700-769x576.jpg 769w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1434804700-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1434804700-768x575.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1434804700.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 769px) 100vw, 769px" />Brandon Bell/Getty Images</div>
The SPR currently stands at <a href="https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/weekly/pdf/table1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">363.6 million barrels</a> according to recent data, down from around <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-inflation-business-opec-climate-and-environment-cd15107ef2e0bb49db9165eb190b450c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">600 million</a> barrels in late 2021 and nearly half the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/ceser/spr-quick-facts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">authorized storage capacity</a> of 714 million barrels.
Though the administration&#8217;s decision on the SPR was received passively by the mainstream media, it&#8217;s actually a pretty massive deal for those who remember why it was created in the first place.
The SPR, “the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil,&#8221; was established in 1975 specifically to &#8220;reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products&#8221; in the wake of the oil crisis of the mid-1970s, the Energy Department <a href="https://www.energy.gov/ceser/strategic-petroleum-reserve" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notes</a>.
In retaliation for supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, the Arab-dominated OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-oil-embargo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">imposed</a> an embargo on oil exports to the United States. Within a year, the price for a barrel of oil in the U.S. quadrupled, and the nation suffered its first oil shortage since World War II.
In response, the federal government lowered the national speed limit to 55 mph in order to reduce oil consumption, several states <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/05/13/gas-shortages-1970s/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">imposed</a> rationing schemes, and gas lines <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2012/11/10/164792293/gas-lines-evoke-memories-oil-crises-in-the-1970s#:~:text=During%20two%20separate%20oil%20crises,they%20tried%20to%20fill%20up." target="_blank" rel="noopener">became</a> common. One common scheme to control gas consumption was to only allow cars with license plates that ended in an odd number to refuel on an odd day of the month, and vice versa for cars with license plates ending in an even number.
<div id="attachment_719631" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-719631" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-719631" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-155367107-866x576.jpg" alt="Drivers queue for fuel at a petrol station near Trenton, New Jersey, USA, circa 1974. The country has been hit by worldwide fuel shortages caused by the oil embargo imposed by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). (Photo by Frederic Lewis/Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-155367107-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-155367107-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-155367107-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-155367107.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" />Frederic Lewis/Archive Photos/Getty Images</div>
The U.S. economy <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/arab-oil-embargo-40-years-later" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shrank</a> by an estimated 2.5% because of the crisis. Though the embargo was ended after negotiations between the U.S. and OPEC in March 1974, the surge in prices and unemployment contributed to the stagflation the plagued the U.S. economy for the rest of the decade.
After it was established in 1975, the SPR was quickly stocked throughout the 1980s, remaining relatively stable during the next three decades and even reaching a high of over 715 million barrels around 2010.
The oil crisis also motivated the government to encourage more domestic oil production, <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/1973-energy-crisis-definition-5222090" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reducing</a> the nation&#8217;s reliance on OPEC oil from around 70% of total oil imports in the early &#8217;70s to around 16% <a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=727&amp;t=6#:~:text=Crude%20oil%20imports%20of%20about,%2C%20and%20U.S.%20Virgin%20Islands)." target="_blank" rel="noopener">today</a>. The U.S. also sources a majority of its oil imports from Canada. Still, the U.S. imports over 8 million barrels of oil per day from around the world, <a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=727&amp;t=6#:~:text=Crude%20oil%20imports%20of%20about,%2C%20and%20U.S.%20Virgin%20Islands)." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Energy Information Administration, and as shown by the global supply chain disruptions seen during the pandemic, global events can still wreak havoc on domestic prices.
The SPR was not intended to be used as the president&#8217;s oil piggy bank — broken open to drive down gas prices and shore up his party&#8217;s chances in the upcoming midterms. It&#8217;s there to stave off the gas lines that marked the 1973 oil crisis and keep the military machine going in the event the nation is cut off from overseas oil.
A full-scale conflict in the Middle East — home to major oil exporters like Iraq and Saudi Arabia — or a war between the U.S. and China in the Pacific would certainly sow discord in global trade. If global tensions continue to escalate and the SPR remains understocked, the president threatens to leave the nation disastrously short of a critical product for a significant length of time.

Remember The ’70s Oil Crisis: Biden’s Reluctance To Restock America’s Oil Reserves Should Be A Massive Red Flag

Remember The '70s Oil Crisis: Biden's Reluctance To Restock America's Oil Reserves Should Be A Massive Red Flag

Biden Administration

Energy

OPEC

Strategic Petroleum Reserve

U.S.

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Islamic Republic of Iran</a> continues to push forward with a secret underground nuclear facility located south of the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant, according to newly released satellite imagery.
The Institute for Science and International Security compared the new images that were taken earlier this year with previous satellite images of the construction site at Kolang Gaz La mountain from 2022 and 2023.
&#8220;The site is slated to hold a new, large, advanced centrifuge assembly facility that replaces the Iranian Centrifuge Assembly Center (ICAC) destroyed in an attack in July 2020,&#8221; the report <a href="https://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/Continued_Construction_at_Natanz_Kolang_Gaz_La_Tunnel_Complex_March_25_2024_Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;Iran is apparently determined to make the new facility harder to destroy. In fact, the tunnel complex is more deeply buried than the Fordow underground enrichment plant, with more entrances and no apparent ventilation shaft, making it harder to destroy than Fordow and certainly harder than a surface facility.&#8221;
The report added that Iran appears to have completed the construction of the tunnels and is now working on &#8220;construction inside the tunnel complex, likely related to the finishing of the underground rooms.&#8221;
Iran is further breaking international laws by refusing to comply with its obligations &#8220;under modified Code 3.1 of its comprehensive safeguards agreement (CSA) to declare new nuclear facilities such as uranium enrichment plants in the design phase, and continued lack of full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),&#8221; the report added.
Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at Hudson Institute and the director of its Keystone Defense Initiative, slammed President Joe Biden&#8217;s appeasement of the Iranian regime in a statement to The Daily Wire.
&#8220;There could not be a U.S. team more eager to placate the Iran regime than this White House, and the approach has only encouraged the regime to become more belligerent, more dangerous, and willing to advance its illicit nuclear program,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We are running out of time to overhaul this Middle East strategy. Iran cannot be permitted to finish this site.&#8221;
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&#8220;Iran has successfully distracted the West from focusing on ongoing construction at the Natanz facility, which could allow the Tehran regime to complete a dash to nuclear weapons,&#8221; said Andrea Stricker, FDD Research Fellow and Deputy Director of FDD’s Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program.
&#8220;Washington must prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear deterrent and permanently changing the game in the Middle East,&#8221; she added.

President of Iran Hassan Rouhani

Iran Continues To Push Forward With Secret Underground Nuclear Facility

Global Politics

Nuclear

Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists killed civilians for the first time this week in their current campaign of terror attacks against merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, U.S. officials said.
The Islamic terrorists have launched more than 50 terror attacks against cargo ships and chemical tankers since November of last year. The M/V Rubymar, which was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/crew-forced-to-abandon-ship-after-houthi-missile-attack">hit by an anti-ship missile</a> last month, became <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/houthis-sink-first-major-merchant-ship-in-red-sea">the first ship to be sunk</a> from the attacks.
&#8220;At approximately 11:30 a.m. (Sanaa time) Mar. 6, an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) was launched from Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen toward M/V True Confidence, a Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier, while transiting the Gulf of Aden,&#8221; U.S. Central Command said in a statement. &#8220;The missile struck the vessel, and the multinational crew reports three fatalities, at least four injuries, of which three are in critical condition, and significant damage to the ship.&#8221;
&#8220;The crew abandoned the ship and coalition warships responded and are assessing the situation,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;This is the fifth ASBM fired by Houthis in the last two days. Two of these ASBMs impacted two shipping vessels — M/V MSC Sky II and M/V True Confidence — and one ASBM was shot down by USS Carney (DDG 64).&#8221;
CENTCOM noted that the continued terror attacks from the Houthis have &#8220;disrupted global trade and taken the lives of international seafarers&#8221;; yet President Joe Biden has failed to take the action required — an aggressive military response — to deter attacks from the group.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Houthis Kill Innocent Civilians with Missile Attack
At approximately 11:30 a.m. (Sanaa time) Mar. 6, an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) was launched from Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen toward M/V True Confidence, a Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned… <a href="https://t.co/W1H0GP4Y6i">pic.twitter.com/W1H0GP4Y6i</a>
&mdash; U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) <a href="https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1765497688710173116?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On Tuesday, CENTCOM shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile and three one-way attack unmanned aerial systems that the Houthis fired at the USS Carney (DDG 64) in the Red Sea. Later in the day, CENTCOM again had to defend itself, destroying three anti-ship missiles and three unmanned surface vessels (USV) in self-defense.

M/V True Confidence

Houthis Kill First Innocents In Terror Attacks On Merchant Ships

Houthis

U.S. Central Command said on Tuesday that Iranian-backed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/houthis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Houthi</a> terrorists in Yemen struck a cargo ship that was carrying humanitarian aid to the people of Yemen.
The news comes as the terrorists <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-failing-on-world-stage-cargo-ship-could-sink-after-houthi-attack-u-s-drone-downed-u-s-cargo-ship-hit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot down</a> a U.S. drone this week, severely damaged a British cargo ship, and launched countless additional attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
&#8220;On February 19, between 12:30 p.m. and 1:50 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles at M/V Sea Champion, a Greek-flagged, U.S.-owned bulk carrier bound for the port of Aden in Yemen,&#8221; CENTCOM said in a statement. &#8220;One of the missiles detonated near the ship causing minor damage. Nevertheless, her crew proceeded on course to their ultimate destination: delivering grain to Aden, Yemen, for the benefit of the Yemeni people. M/V Sea Champion has delivered humanitarian aid to Yemen 11 times in the past five years.&#8221;
&#8220;Houthi aggression in the region has exacerbated already high levels of need in conflict-impacted Yemen, which remains one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with nearly 80 percent of the entire population needing humanitarian assistance,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;We are committed to countering the Houthis’ malign activities, which directly endanger the imports of foodstuff and humanitarian aid to Yemen.&#8221;
CENTCOM said that U.S. forces destroyed a surface-to-air missile launcher, shot down 11 one-way attack (OWA) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and an anti-ship cruise missile over the last day and a half.
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&#8220;The OWA UAVs, the SAM system, and ASCM destroyed were identified by CENTCOM and determined they presented imminent threats to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;These actions will protect navigational rights and freedoms and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-failing-on-world-stage-cargo-ship-could-sink-after-houthi-attack-u-s-drone-downed-u-s-cargo-ship-hit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden Failing On World Stage: Cargo Ship Could Sink After Houthi Attack; U.S. Drone Downed; U.S. Cargo Ship Hit</a>

cargo ship

Houthi Terrorists Strike U.S. Cargo Ship Carrying Humanitarian Aid To Yemen

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