Sunday, April 12, 2026

Mearsheimer: Iran has defeated the U.S.

 John Mearsheimer: President Trump’s decision to attack Iran on 28 February 2026 was irrational because it was based on a noncredible or flawed theory of victory. He assumed that independent air power alone could cause regime change in Iran, which would lead to a new regime that would surrender to US and Israeli demands.

Highly recommended video on President Trump’s war on Iran and its consequences for the region, America and the world.

Click on the link to see the video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2K3qDshr70&t=3s

 

 

Gaza aid flotilla aims to break Israeli blockade

 By Reuters, April 12, 2026

Summary

  • About 30 boats due to set sail from Barcelona
  • More vessels expected to join along way
  • Israel denies withholding supplies for Gaza’s more than 2 million residents

MADRID, April 12 (Reuters) – A ​second flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza was due to set ‌sail on Sunday from the Spanish port of Barcelona to try to break the Israeli blockade.

About 30 boats planned to leave the Mediterranean port city laden with medical aid and other supplies ​on the Global Sumud Flotilla, and more vessels are expected to join along ​the route towards Palestine.

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The Israeli military halted the roughly 40 boats ⁠assembled by the same organisation last October as they attempted to reach blockaded Gaza, ​arresting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and more than 450 other participants.

MISSION TO ‘OPEN HUMANITARIAN CORRIDOR’

Israel, ​which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denies withholding supplies for its more than 2 million residents. Yet Palestinians and international aid bodies say supplies reaching the territory are still insufficient, despite ​a ceasefire reached in October which included guarantees of increased aid.

Liam Cunningham, an ​actor who starred in the Game of Thrones television series who is supporting the flotilla but not ‌taking ⁠part, told Reuters: “Every kilogram of aid that is on these ships is a failure because all these people on these ships giving up their time to help their fellow human beings are doing what their governments are legally obliged to do.”

The World ​Health Organization has said ​that even during ⁠armed conflicts, states are obligated under international humanitarian law to ensure that people are able to reach medical care in safety.

“This is ​a mission that aims to open a humanitarian corridor so ​the aid ⁠delivery organisations can arrive,” Saif Abukeshak, a Palestinian activist and member of the flotilla’s organising committee, told Reuters.

Swiss and Spanish activists on last year’s flotilla said they were subjected to ⁠inhumane ​conditions during their detention by Israeli forces – an allegation ​that was rejected by an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson.

Reporting by Graham Keeley; Additional reporting by Silvio Castellanos, ​Horaci Garcia, Nacho Doce, Albert Gea, Michele Spatari and Amy McConaghy; Editing by David Holmes

Saturday, April 11, 2026

Trump says the US is “loading up the ships” with weapons during ceasefire talks

 

Kevin , wsws, 11 April 2026


Residents gather near charred cars and buildings, at the site of Wednesday’s Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 10, 2026. [AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti]

On Friday, during a phone interview with the New York Post, President Trump said US warships were being reloaded with weapons to be used against Iran in anticipation of a failure of the ceasefire talks taking place in Pakistan.

When asked if he thought the negotiations would be successful, he said, “We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon.” Trump’s remarks are an unmistakable indication that the two-week pause in the US air assault on Iran he announced on Tuesday has resolved nothing and is being used to prepare the next stage of the war.

Trump made clear that the Pentagon is replenishing its weaponry during the pause in the air assault. He said, “We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made—even better than what we did previously, and we blew them apart.”

Emphasizing that a return to warfare was on the agenda, Trump repeated himself, “But we’re loading up the ships. We’re loading up the ships with the best weapons ever made, even at a higher level than we used to do a complete decimation. And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively.”

Reports from multiple outlets since Tuesday show that Iran retains control over the passage through the Strait of Hormuz, with shipping still restricted and, in some accounts, subject to Iranian oversight or tolling arrangements. Disturbed by Iran’s control of the strait and the fact that this is being reported widely by the corporate media, Trump posted on Truth Social at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, “The Iranians are better at handling the Fake News Media, and ‘Public Relations,’ than they are at fighting!” 

A report by CBS News said data compiled by MarineTraffic shows that only 22 ships have passed through the strait since Tuesday. Estimates of shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf indicate a significant bottleneck of over 600 total commercial vessels at a standstill, approximately 400 of which are oil tankers, and not moving through the strait.

A few minutes later, Trump escalated his threats against Iran, writing, “The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!”

There are major conflicts within the US ruling establishment over whether the talks will produce any results because of Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon. Iranian officials have warned that time is running out, while US officials are trying to preserve the ceasefire before it expires on April 22.

However, based on Trump’s comments to the New York Post, it is likely the Israeli attacks on Lebanon are being used to deliberately sabotage talks that function as a cover for preparations to restart the war on a far higher level.

The truce discussions are taking place in Islamabad, with Pakistan mediating and a large US delegation involved, including Vice President JD Vance, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Marco Rubio and Adm. Brad Cooper, alongside officials from the National Security Council, State Department and Pentagon.

On the Iranian side, reports say the delegation arrived in Islamabad and is headed by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other senior officials also included. Reuters described the meeting as “make-or-break,” and other reports say the two sides remain far apart on core issues.

The official line is that the talks are meant to translate the ceasefire into a longer standing arrangement, but there is no agreement over whether Lebanon is covered. Pakistan and Iran have said that the ceasefire framework includes Lebanon, while the White House and Israel have denied it. 

Iran’s position is tied to Israel’s continued expansion of the war in Lebanon. Iranian state-linked comments reported in the press have framed the Lebanese front as inseparable from Iran’s own security, with Revolutionary Guard commander Gen. Seyed Majid Mousavi warning that “Aggression towards Lebanon is aggression towards Iran,” and promising a “heavy response.” 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who previously said there is “no cease-fire in Lebanon,” agreed on Thursday to start direct negotiations with Lebanon after Trump urged restraint by Israel, and the European imperialist leaders warned that the attacks on Lebanon threatened to collapse the ceasefire with Iran.

Recent reporting says that more than 1.2 million people have been displaced since the beginning of the conflict, with the UN citing evacuation orders covering 14 percent of the country. On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least 303 people and injured more than 1,000, the deadliest day so far in the war that began on March 2.

The scale of destruction is also being measured in infrastructure collapse. Reports cite strikes on roads, bridges, hospitals and commercial districts, with aid delivery badly disrupted and parts of the south rendered non-functional. Like the Gaza genocide, this is not a limited border operation; It is a systematic campaign to make areas of Lebanon uninhabitable.Available from Mehring BooksThe struggle against imperialism and for workers’ power in IranA pamphlet by Keith Jones

The correspondence of interests between Washington and Tel Aviv were expressed when Trump said on Wednesday that he had spoken with Netanyahu and that Israel would “tone it down” in Lebanon. Knowing full well the Iranian position on the Lebanon, Trump added, “I just think we need to be a bit more low-key,” and claimed Netanyahu would “ease up” and be “totally fine” on the Lebanon issue.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s latest statements make clear that Israel’s objective is not a pause but a political-military restructuring of Lebanon. He has said the talks with Lebanon will focus on “disarming Hezbollah” and establishing “peaceful relations” on Israeli terms, while also insisting that Israel will keep striking until its security conditions are met.

These remarks should be understood alongside the fact that the bombing of Lebanon continues. Israel is using negotiations as a cover to press its military campaign, not as a genuine path to de-escalation. Israeli strikes continued Thursday killing dozens more, with between 17 and 24 killed in specific strikes by Israel.

This is in fact the same modus operandi of the Trump administration itself. The “talks” in Islamabad are but a respite as the White House considers its next move to militarily impose the requirements of US imperialism onto the Iranian people.

The WSWS has consistently maintained that this war is part of the imperialist effort by Washington to subordinate the region to American interests. The US is pursuing “the obliteration of Iran as a state and a campaign of terror against the population,” and that the assault on Iran is tied to control over energy resources and preparation for wider a conflict, including against China and Russia.

As an anonymous senior defense official told Politico in March, “Iran is not the end. It’s the first test of a broader geopolitical reorientation. We’re rebuilding the capacity to project power simultaneously in multiple theaters—Eurasia, the Pacific, and the Middle East.”

This analysis identifies the present war as a warning of what is coming next. The aim of US imperialism is the domination of Iran as a major opening act in a broader global escalation. The Middle East war is the sharpest expression of the world crisis of capitalism.

The ceasefire talks in Islamabad cannot resolve a conflict rooted in imperialist strategy, Israeli expansionism and the drive of the US ruling class to redivide the region by force. With these objectives intact, the present truce will be unstable, and the threat of a far broader war will continue to hang over the region and the world.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 ‘𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛 𝟏𝟔𝟖’

By Tohid Asadi, Aljazeera, 11 April 2026

Reporting from Tehran, Iran

We know that the Iranian delegation is going there to stop the war and that the war is putting a huge amount of pressure on civilians living inside the country.

For 40 days, they were experiencing attacks after attacks targeting civilians and infrastructure, and the naming of the delegation as Minab 168 symbolises one of the first attacks on the very first day, when an elementary school was targeted in the city of Minab, where over 168 student girls and teachers were killed.

We know that more than 800 schoo

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 ‘𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛 𝟏𝟔𝟖’

By Tohid Asadi, Aljazeera, 11 April 2026

Reporting from Tehran, Iran

We know that the Iranian delegation is going there to stop the war and that the war is putting a huge amount of pressure on civilians living inside the country.

For 40 days, they were experiencing attacks after attacks targeting civilians and infrastructure, and the naming of the delegation as Minab 168 symbolises one of the first attacks on the very first day, when an elementary school was targeted in the city of Minab, where over 168 student girls and teachers were killed.

We know that more than 800 schools, more than 30 universities, healthcare facilities, and a long list of other infrastructural facilities were targeted as a result of this campaign of strikes.

So, the message or the interpretation is that first, Iran is trying to put an end to this suffering and pain that civilians have been witnessing over the past weeks as a result of war, but it also symbolises a diplomatic opportunity that Iran is trying to settle down the issue.

That is more than crystal clear when it comes to the delegation that you see in Islamabad, showing how serious Iran tries to be when it comes to the potential for diplomatic settlement.

ls, more than 30 universities, healthcare facilities, and a long list of other infrastructural facilities were targeted as a result of this campaign of strikes.

So, the message or the interpretation is that first, Iran is trying to put an end to this suffering and pain that civilians have been witnessing over the past weeks as a result of war, but it also symbolises a diplomatic opportunity that Iran is trying to settle down the issue.

That is more than crystal clear when it comes to the delegation that you see in Islamabad, showing how serious Iran tries to be when it comes to the potential for diplomatic settlement.

Friday, April 10, 2026

Pakistan’s defence minister calls Israel ‘curse for humanity’ in deleted post

Pakistan is set to mediate talks between the US and Iran from Saturday

 

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif speaks during an interview with Reuters in Islamabad on 20 October 2025 (Reuters)

By Daniel Tester

Published date: 10 April 2026 13:35 BST | Last update:39 mins 32 secs ago

Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, called Israel “evil” and a “curse for humanity” in an X post on Thursday, just hours before US and Iranian delegations were due to arrive in Islamabad for peace talks mediated by Pakistan.

In the post, which has since been deleted, Asif wrote: “While peace talks are underway in Islamabad, genocide is being committed in Lebanon. Innocent citizens are being killed by Israel, first Gaza, then Iran and now Lebanon, bloodletting continues unabated. I hope and pray people who created this cancerous state on Palestinians land to get rid of European jews burn in hell.”

The statement followed a wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday that killed over 200 people and wounded over 1,000 in the heaviest day of bombing on the Lebanese capital in decades. 

The Israeli attacks were met with widespread condemnation, including from European leaders and the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk

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The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office called Asif’s comments “outrageous” in a post on X. 

“This is not a statement that can be tolerated from any government, especially not from one that claims to be a neutral arbiter for peace,” it said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X that Israel “views very gravely these blatant antisemitic blood libels from a government claiming to mediate peace”.

“Calling the Jewish state ‘cancerous’ is effectively calling for its annihilation,” he added. 

A screenshot of the deleted tweet on 9 April by Pakistani Minister of Defence Khawaja Asif describing Israel as
A screenshot of the deleted tweet on 9 April by Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif describing Israel as ‘cancerous’ and ‘evil’

Islamabad is set to host delegations from the US and Iran from Friday, with talks scheduled to begin on Saturday. They are aimed at ending the US-Israeli war on Iran, which reached a tentative ceasefire agreement on Wednesday.  

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Friday that Iranian delegates would not attend peace talks unless the ceasefire agreement is extended to Lebanon.

One Pakistani official involved in the mediation talks told The Guardian on Friday: “Our priority is that the talks go smoothly.” 

“We don’t want to be seen as a spoiler. Our role is as a facilitator and mediator. We will leave it to both parties, Iran and the US, to share any developments with the media if they want.”

Pakistan, which has positioned itself at the centre of global conflict mediation during the war, has also been mired in its own conflict with Afghanistan since declaring “open war” on 27 February.

Hundreds have been killed and nearly 100,000 displaced by cross-border shelling and air strikes during the conflict, which China is simultaneously mediating. 

Asif, a veteran member of the conservative Pakistan Muslim League party that has governed Pakistan since 2024 and during several previous administrations, has long been vocal in his criticism of Israel. 

On 3 March, he described Zionism as “a threat to humanity” in a post on X. 

“From the establishment of Israel on the land of Palestine until today, every catastrophe that has befallen the Islamic world, every war imposed upon it, will show the direct or indirect hand of Zionist ideology and the state,” he wrote.

 

Thursday, April 09, 2026

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒 𝐊𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧

by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar. com, April 9, 2026

US officials were aware that a statement from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the US-Iran ceasefire that was issued on Tuesday included a truce in Lebanon as part of the deal, according to media reports.

The New York Times reported that the US had already seen and signed off on Sharif’s statement before he posted it. The initial post included a header that said “Draft – Pakistan’s PM Message on X,” causing speculation that the statement was actually written by the US, though a White House official denied that President Trump drafted it.

A diplomatic source familiar with the negotiations leading up to the ceasefire announcement told ITV News that Iranian and Pakistani officials ended the talks with the understanding that the US was aware that the truce also applied to Lebanon, contradicting claims from Trump and Vice President JD Vance that it did not.

Vance claimed it was a “misunderstanding” on the part of the Iranians that the ceasefire included Lebanon and said it would be “dumb” for Tehran to allow the negotiations to collapse over the issue, though he also insisted the deal includes a halt to Iranian attacks on Israel and the US’s Gulf allies in the region.

Israel not only continued its attacks on Lebanon, but it also dramatically escalated the bombardment, launching a new military operation dubbed “Operation Eternal Darkness” and killing hundreds of people across the country. According to NBC News, Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale down the attack, but heavy Israeli strikes continued on Thursday.

Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Thursday that he instructed his government to open negotiations with the Lebanese government, though there’s no sign he plans to halt the bombing campaign.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed in a statement on Wednesday that the ceasefire must include Lebanon or the deal will be off. “The Iran-US Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the US must choose—ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,” Araghchi wrote on X. “The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the US court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”

 

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐔𝐒 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 ‘𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭’



US threats against Iran and ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon cast doubt on fragile ceasefire efforts.

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and AP

Published On 9 Apr 2026

United States President Donald Trump has warned that US forces will remain deployed around Iran and threatened overwhelming military action if Tehran fails to meet Washington’s demands, casting doubt over a fragile ceasefire.

Writing on social media late on Wednesday, Trump said US troops, aircraft and naval forces would stay in position until what he described as the “REAL AGREEMENT” is fully implemented.

“All US ships, aircraft, and military personnel … will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“If for any reason it is not … the ‘Shootin’ Starts,′ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”

The remarks came just a day after a two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, brokered by Pakistan, paused six weeks of fighting and briefly calmed global markets worried about disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Yet Trump’s language underscored how quickly the truce could unravel. He reiterated US demands that Iran abandon any nuclear weapons ambitions and ensure safe passage through the vital shipping lane, while boasting that US forces were “Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest”.

Meanwhile, in Iran on Thursday, the semiofficial ISNA and Tasnim news agencies published a chart suggesting the country’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war.

The chart showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme, which was the route ships take through the strait. The chart suggested ships travel further north through waters closer to Iran’s mainland near Larak Island, a route that some ships were observed taking during the war. It was dated from February 28 until April 9, and it was unclear if the IRGC had cleared any mining on the route since then.
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