The ten-minute applause of delegates at the CDU party congress still echoed when the Federal Ministry of Finance spoiled the festive mood in Stuttgart. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil’s (SPD) department reported a nationwide collapse of corporate tax revenue by 79 percent in January 2026 compared to last year.
At the same time, revenue from assessed income tax fell by 14.2 percent, while wage tax revenue rose by 9.1 percent.
VAT revenue grew by two percent — a reflection of persistent inflationary tendencies in the country, to which the state itself contributes significantly through its taxation policies. While price increases may be slowed by continued economic weakness, cumulative inflation continues to weigh on consumers even if the annual rate declines. Inflation is always good for the state, which is why it persists.
Corporate tax burdens corporate profits at 15 percent plus a solidarity surcharge. Last year, revenue totaled roughly €40 billion, less than one percent of GDP. Even in 2025, revenue had fallen six percent, showing a long-term negative trend.
Its temporary collapse in January will likely have no immediate fiscal consequences. Corporate tax revenue is split — 50 percent to the federal government, 42 percent to the states, and eight percent to municipalities, which appear at least partially shielded at this tax level.
However, municipalities already suffered a fiscal blow last year, especially in the centers of the industrial crisis. Cities such as Wolfsburg and Stuttgart saw sharp declines in their key tax base, the trade tax.
It is undeniable: the situation is becoming serious, and the damage from political mismanagement is now visible. For the first time, fiscal effects appear in a country where policy had long relied on ever-growing tax revenues, postponing social issues with generous spending.
January’s alarming figures allow a troubling diagnosis: the companies that generate corporate tax revenue are largely from manufacturing — the classic industrial sectors of Germany’s automotive and chemical industries. Here, in what was once the pulsing heart of the German economy — source of much of the nation’s value creation — there must have been a first economic infarction last year.
The tax revenue decline cannot be explained otherwise. Last year was suspiciously quiet amid 24,000 corporate insolvencies, hundreds of thousands of lost industrial jobs, and ongoing capital flight from Germany’s regulatory and energy nightmare toward better locations.
The government’s response to this self-inflicted problem is to expand state activity, spinning the intervention spiral faster with ever-new debt to stabilize an industry that largely no longer exists.
Friedrich Merz acted knowingly last year when he secured a special fund with credit for coming years to temporarily stabilize the collapsing economic model. The hour was understood.
Yet now, despite billions flowing into the defense sector and green transformation projects, tax revenue still collapses — highlighting the dramatic state of the private sector. An economy that is largely unviable without perpetual subsidies has now become a problem for politics itself.
No matter how high the federal government’s economic straw fire burns, the Ministry of Finance’s numbers speak clearly. Germany’s economy, after years of restructuring under green transformation and the energy crisis, has suffered such heavy damage that it is now visible at the state level — confirming what practical experience has warned for years. The shift toward a green socialism has gone too far, productive forces are overextended, bureaucracy and the ever-expanding welfare state overstretched.
Germany faces difficult years ahead. It must negotiate how to proceed amid ever-scarcer public funds. The state quota now exceeds 50 percent and continues to rise under federal policy. The bureaucracy and welfare system expand five to six percent annually, demanding ever-greater contributions from society, further weakening productive forces — the poverty spiral accelerates.
A recalibration of the welfare state to match economic realities will soon be unavoidable. Until then, the illusion of prosperity is kept alive by credit.
What is to be expected now? The state will increasingly draw on citizens’ resources to close the growing budget gaps. The corporate tax collapse was likely no anomaly, and it will become ever more expensive to use sectors like defense to mask the collapse of German industry and protect the labor market.
Debates over raising inheritance tax, reintroducing wealth tax, and potential special levies on the rich last year were preparatory. Now, it is serious.
The dead-end German politics has led this country down is brittle. Beneath it yawns an abyss, now revealed in its full depth in Ministry of Finance numbers.
* * *
About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.
Last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a referendum for October 19. It will ask Albertans a slate of policy and constitutional questions. Independence, she said the next day, will be added to the ballot if the requisite number of signatures is met in the petition drive, which is likely.
Albertans will get their chance to say if they want to leave Canada.
But Canadian federalists can relax. The Alberta premier is one of them.
The referendum is the fix to defeat Alberta independence.
It will undermine the separatist cause and split the independence vote.
Smith’s referendum will ask whether the province should exercise more control over immigration, social programs, and voter identification. And whether Alberta should pursue constitutional amendments.Give provinces the power to appoint judges to superior courts? Abolish the unelected Senate? Grant provinces the right to opt out of federal programs in areas of provincial jurisdiction without losing federal funding? Give provincial laws priority over federal ones when they conflict?
These referendum questions lead nowhere. Alberta already has constitutional authority over the policy questions. It could exercise more control in these areas tomorrow if it wanted. There is no realistic prospect of amending the Canadian constitution on controversial matters. Smith and her advisors must know that.
Smith has repeatedly said that her mandate is a sovereign Alberta inside a united Canada. But many of her fellow Albertans are fed up. They perceive that their province has long received a raw deal in Confederation. They tire of Ottawa throwing obstacles in the way of their primary industries. They resent having their wealth taxed and sent elsewhere around the country. A growing number of Albertans are determined to leave Canada. Recent polls peg it at about one in three.
But even among restless Albertans, there’s a moderate middle. They are unhappy with the status quo but have not yet resolved to ditch the country. Smith’s referendum will give them a third way. Choose constitutional and policy reforms to create a fairer deal.
It’s a chimera, of course.
In 2021, 62 percent of Albertans voted in favor of removing equalization from the constitution. “Equalization” means that the federal government will collect more taxes from wealthy provinces and spend it on poorer ones. Alberta is Canada’s wealthiest province per capita, and the main source of equalization funds. Its equalization referendum produced no change. The rest of the country ignored it. Alberta will not get more constitutional powers, whatever the voters say about Smith’s referendum questions. No constitutional amendments are coming. But many voters will not realize that when they mark their ballots.
Smith’s referendum will undermine the prospect for independence in another way too. An independence referendum requires a “clear question.” That’s what the Supreme Court of Canada said in its 1998 reference case about Quebec. It makes sense. Voters should understand, beyond a shadow of doubt, what they are voting on and what is at stake. But the Court did not say exactly what a “clear question” consists of.
The proposed independence question is clear. “Do you agree that the province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?” But a clear question becomes muddy when combined with other questions. If voters support independence but also other constitutional changes, what do they mean? Which should be pursued first? Which is the last resort? What if voters support independence but also support Alberta having the right to opt out of federal programs while retaining federal funding? Both of those things cannot happen. One requires that Alberta be a province, and the other requires that it not be. Any referendum result that requires interpretation is not clear.
The federal Clarity Act legislatures the requirement for a clear question, but it does not give specific criteria either. Nor does it specifically refer to the matter of multiple questions on the ballot. But it does say a question that “envisages other possibilities in addition to the secession of the province” is not clear. And that the House of Commons can consider “any other matters or circumstances it considers to be relevant.” If I was the Canadian government, I would argue that multiple questions create confusion. The Alberta government could ask one clear question. Instead, the Smith referendum will allow Ottawa to reject the legitimacy of the vote.
Some separatists say that Alberta doesn’t need Ottawa to approve its departure. Recognition by the United States and other countries would be enough. But even the United States will not recognize Alberta as independent unless Alberta declares itself to be. The Alberta government, having angled to defeat separation, is not likely to do that, even if voters approve the independence question on the ballot.
Many separatist Albertans insist that Smith is secretly one of them. Or at least that she will not stand in the way. But she could easily have held a referendum on independence at any time. She chose the other questions for the Oct 19 referendum. She could easily have chosen the independence question instead. She preferred to make her own citizens jump through hoops of petitions and signatures to get it on the ballot.
Once the referendum is held, the independence cause will be done for the foreseeable future. Some Alberta separatists might try to see a silver lining. After the country declines to give Alberta a better deal, they might say that the cause will be all the stronger. But by then the US will have elected a new president. Support from the Trump administration, real or imagined, has been a source of hope. And in any event, future demographics in Alberta may no longer offer the same opportunity.
Smith’s referendum, and her promise to include the independence question on the ballot, might appear to open the door for Alberta’s departure from Canada. Instead, it is more likely to slam the door shut. On Alberta’s present path, the Canadian constitutional status quo will continue.
Jeffrey Sachs: ‘Trump Is An Utter Disgrace To Our Nation – He Lied To Us’
Columbia University economics professor Jeffrey D. Sachs appeared on Judge Napolitano’s ‘Judging Freedom’ podcast Monday, where he railed against the US-Israeli attack on Iran and the ‘CIA-led security state,’ calling President Donald Trump a ‘disgrace to our nation’ because ‘he lied to us.’
Watch:
Sachs, a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy, described the recent escalation as the continuation of a decades-old strategy he linked to Israeli and U.S. intelligence objectives dating back to 1996.
“This is a long-term plan. This is a Mossad CIA plan for American control of the Middle East and Israeli military hegemony in the Middle East that has been underway since 1996,” Sachs said. “This is madness. This is murderous delusion.”
The professor pointed to a series of U.S.-backed or U.S.-involved conflicts across the region, from Libya and Sudan to Somalia and the ongoing crisis in Gaza, as evidence of a consistent pattern aimed ultimately at confronting Iran.
“It has involved wars across the Middle East. It has left rivers of blood from Libya to Sudan, Somalia, the genocide in Gaza,” he said, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal since the mid-1990s has been “the destruction of Iran.”
Sachs reserved some of his strongest language for Trump, whom he said reversed course on key foreign-policy pledges after taking office.
“Trump… is an utter disgrace to our nation. Utter disgrace. He lied to us. Every word about America first… And he did exactly the opposite of what he said,” Sachs stated.
The economist also criticized Washington’s approach to diplomacy more broadly, arguing that the United States has abandoned genuine negotiation in favor of coercive tactics.
“The United States does not negotiate. It cheats… Now they kill you because if you negotiate, it means you’re weak,” he said.
On the domestic front, Sachs connected the country’s infrastructure challenges to the enormous costs of overseas military engagements.
“Why do the roads not work and the bridges not work in the United States?… It’s because we spend trillions of dollars in war,” he said. “China just completed its 50,000th kilometer of fast rail because China doesn’t go to war.”
Sachs concluded by expressing deep skepticism about the current state of American governance.
“We’re in the hands of gangsters. We’re not in the hands of a constitutional system,” he said, noting that only a handful of lawmakers – citing Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as one example – have pushed back.
Israel Claims to Strike Iranian Nuclear Weapons Lab
Iran’s nuclear complexes are seeing renewed attacks for both new buildings constructed since the 12-Day War, as well as long-existing infrastructure previously left alone. From what can be seen in recent satellite imagery, the U.S. and Israel are quickly finishing what they started last year.
The IDF announced it has struck a covert underground compound outside Tehran where regime scientists were quietly designing key components for a nuclear bomb.
חיל-האוויר תקף את המתחם החשאי ‘מין-זדאא’י’ בו פעל משטר הטרור האיראני לפיתוח יכולות נדרשות עבור נשק גרעיני
במסגרת מבצע ‘עם כלביא’, צה”ל תקף מטרות רבות של קבוצת הנשק הגרעיני האיראנית, הכפופה למשרד ההגנה באיראן, על מנת לפגוע ביכולות הגרעין הצבאיות של משטר הטרור האיראני.
The target, “Min-Zadai”, was the new facility for SPND scientists after last year’s Operation Rising Lion turned their old facilities into craters.
SPND (Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research) is the Iranian Ministry of Defense’s R&D arm. It’s the successor to the AMAD Project, handling the weaponization side of nuclear power. The AMAD Project (also known as the AMAD Plan) was Iran’s highly secretive, structured nuclear weapons development program launched in the late 1990s and run directly by the Ministry of Defense. It was led by Mohsen Fakhrizadeh until its reported halt in late 2003 under international pressure.
Satellite imagery from today, March 3, 2026, and available ground footage posted to X by (@Vahid), confirms the destruction of what is suspected to be an engineering laboratory-type building in an area north of the main Mojdeh site, which was heavily attacked durng the June 2025… pic.twitter.com/NSO3Rx8tYB
The Institute for Science and International Security (“The Good ISIS”) used satellite imagery and a geolocated strike video to confirm a large engineering laboratory building just north of the Mojdeh site was destroyed. A brand-new building that was externally finished only in early 2025. ISIS states the complex, never visited by IAEA inspectors, has long housed multiple SPND teams quietly advancing nuclear-weapons-related R&D near Malek Ashtar University. The targeted structure was assessed as still active, which is exactly why Israel chose it.
There’s no commentary provided by the IAEA yet, and based on their previous lack of discussion on the site, there likely won’t be any assessment of the area by the UN organization. Without their involvement, it’ll be difficult to assess if any nuclear material was destroyed in the strike. All things considered, the hazardous impact is localized if there was material on site, and is more likely to be a chemical hazard than a radiological hazard.
Operation Epic Fury Sparks Homeland Terror Fears Amid Fallout From Biden’s Illegal Alien Invasion
Fears of Iranian-backed terror cells operating inside the U.S. are resurfacing (again) as concerns grow that President Trump’s Operation Epic Fury could trigger retaliatory threats against the homeland, particularly since the Biden-Harris regime’s open border policies flooded the nation with millions of illegal aliens, including some individuals flagged on terrorist watch lists.
The first terror wake-up call for the homeland came just hours after Operation Epic Fury began on Saturday, when a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from the West African nation of Senegal, wearing a “Property of Allah” hoodie, opened fire at a bar in Austin, Texas, killing three and injuring 14.
Victoria Coates, vice president of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal that possible retaliation inside the U.S. by Iranian-backed operatives or sleeper cells is becoming a major threat.
Here’s the conversation:
It is impossible to know who crossed the border during the four years of the Biden administration, “but we do know there were a number of folks on the terrorist watch list,” said Victoria Coates, vice president of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
It is critical, Coates warned, that “everybody pay attention right now. Watch. If you see something, say something.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered nearly 400 illegal aliens with “terrorism-related records” between ports of entry during the Biden administration, according to the agency’s data.
Additionally, about 2 million “known gotaways” crossed the border to enter the U.S. during the four years of Joe Biden’s presidency, according to the House Homeland Security Committee.
“So, it is entirely possible in those millions of folks who came across … that there were Hezbollah sleeper cells coming up from Venezuela, which we know Nicolas Maduro was pushing them to do, and that they could be here in the United States,” Coates told The Daily Signal.
“These folks aren’t geniuses, but they’re deeply, deeply dangerous, and they can spring up anywhere,” she said. “And so, my biggest concern is actually here at home.”
Let’s take The Daily Signal’s reporting a step further and remind readers of 2024 reports that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was plotting to kill Trump officials from the first administration.
Also, former CIA targeting officer Sarah Adams has repeatedly warned about:
.@NCTCKent: “So far, NCTC has identified around 18,000 known and suspected terrorists that the Biden administration let come into our country.” pic.twitter.com/XPrHdKMICK
It’s past time @DHSgov stops playing pretend and finally raises the terrorism threat level in this country. We have more than 10,000 Islamist terrorists on our soil, and they cannot keep looking the other way. They don’t get to pad their stats by slapping the terrorist label on…
🚨 BREAKING: Rep. Tim Burchett just EVISCERATED Congressional Democrats for shutting down DHS while Iranian-linked Islamic terror sleeper cells could be awakening
“It’s completely CRAZY that the Democrats have defunded Homeland Security during all this!”
What is clear is that the Biden regime and Democrats allowed open borders that fueled a massive illegal alien invasion. The question now is what consequences those nation-killing policies may bring in the days and weeks ahead, especially if Operation Epic Fury lasts as long as a month.
Asian refiners, particularly state-held majors heavily dependent on Middle East oil supply, are considering slashing crude run rates by up to 30% amid the war in Iran that is holding up millions of barrels of Middle Eastern crude stuck near the Strait of Hormuz.
The de facto halted shipments via the Strait of Hormuz threaten to delay key cargo deliveries that Asian refiners have contracted in recent weeks.
Just before the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran this weekend, Asia, particularly China, planned for a major uptick in purchases of crude from the Middle East after Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, slashed its official selling prices (OSPs) for Asia to the lowest level versus regional benchmarks in more than five years. Saudi Arabia set the price of its flagship Arab Light grade at parity versus the Oman/Dubai average, which is the lowest pricing versus the benchmark since December 2020, making its oil attractive for buyers in China and the wider Asian region.
However, the Strait of Hormuz is now effectively closed with companies and shippers diverting vessels or idling in waters near the vital oil and gas shipping lane. The logjam would delay, at best, the supply many refiners had planned to receive this month.
As dozens of oil tankers are still stuck in the Persian Gulf without a way out of the Strait of Hormuz, for now, some of the big refiners in China and Japan are considering slashing crude processing rates by 20-30%, sources familiar with internal discussions at these refiners told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
The immediate impact of the tanker traffic halt in the Middle East is high for crude oil supply, according to estimates by Kpler.
Asian energy security would be affected as India and China are the dominant Asian buyers of Strait-transiting crude, the energy intelligence firm noted.
Refiners typically have at least two weeks of supply to cushion a short-lived disruption, but if the conflict and disarray near the Strait of Hormuz extend for more than three weeks, some Asian refiners could be indeed forced to slash processing rates, especially if they struggle to procure alternative supply quickly.
Rep. Nancy Mace obliterated Ilhan Omar on X after the Somali-born Democrat raged about U.S. strikes on Iran during Ramadan, escalating calls to expose Omar’s alleged immigration fraud and boot her back to Somalia.
The feud erupted over the weekend when Mace trolled Omar and fellow Squad member Rashida Tlaib, sending them “thoughts and prayers” over the confirmed death of Iran’s Ayatollah in the U.S. strikes.
My heart goes out to Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib tonight. Sending them thoughts and prayers. pic.twitter.com/8CLlk18Q7D
Omar fired back, accusing Mace of being drunk: “I hope you aren’t drunk and took your staff’s advice, Rashida and I don’t know this man and feel confident he didn’t care about us. Please restrain from drinking too much as you have been warned from your staff and stay off social media when you are drunk. I pray in his holy month you find peace and respect for your self.”
I hope you aren’t drunk and took your staff’s advice, Rashida and I don’t know this man and feel confident he didn’t care about us. Please restrain from drinking too much as you have been warned from your staff and stay off social media when you are drunk. I pray in his holy… https://t.co/s4kpye5QVg
Mace doubled down Sunday on NewsMax with Ed Henry, dismissing Omar’s complaints about the timing of the strikes. “I don’t give a damn if it’s Ramadan. I don’t care if Muslims are fasting right now,” Mace said, adding “This was the right time with the right Intel, the right President, to go in there and do this.”
She then called for action: “I’m ready to denaturalize and deport her to Somalia.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) says of Ilhan Omar, “I’m ready to denaturalize her and deport her to Somalia.”
Mace said this after lambasting Omar for marrying her own brother and whining about Iran being attacked during Ramadan.
— Paul A. Szypula ?? (@Bubblebathgirl) March 2, 2026
This isn’t the first time Mace has targeted Omar over immigration fraud claims. Just last week, Mace pushed the House Oversight Committee to subpoena records related to Omar, her former spouses, and family, aiming to prove allegations of marriage fraud to evade U.S. immigration laws. Federal marriage fraud carries penalties including prison, fines, denaturalization, and deportation.
The two have sparred since last year when Mace attempted to censure Omar over vile comments she made following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
? BREAKING: Ilhan Omar is officially in DANGER of being kicked off her committees and CENSURED for justifying Charlie Kirk’s assassination
Rep. Nancy Mace just filed filed the resolution to make it happen.
The push follows a Justice Department probe into Omar’s finances and foreign ties that stalled under Biden but has been revived by Trump, who accused Omar of amassing up to $30 million in family wealth after arriving from Somalia with little.
Adding fuel, an investigation revealed Omar’s husband’s winery as a fake shell for alleged money laundering, with no license or operations despite revenue jumping to $5 million.
As Rashida Tlaib was caught chanting “KKK” during Republican “USA!” chants at Trump’s State of the Union, Omar also heckled Trump during the address, refusing to apologise and then bizarrely invoking racial slurs.
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Tankers Burn From Strait Of Hormuz To Mediterranean Sea Amid Spillover War Risks
Times of Malta reports that the Russian-flagged LNG tanker Arctic Metagaz, identified as part of Russia’s shadow fleet, suffered an explosion while transiting the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and Libya.
Multiple sources told the local newspaper that Arctic Metagaz experienced a “series of explosions” and that it “was a case of deflagration; indications are that there was a huge explosion on board.”
The outlet cited the UK-based global security risk firm EOS Risk Group, which said the explosion is due to a “drone attack.”
In a separate report, Reuters also says the LNG tanker may have been hit by a drone, with Ukraine suspected of carrying out the operation.
Reuters recently reported that three crude oil tankers have been damaged by blasts in the Mediterranean area, with the cause unknown.
Last December, Ukraine hit the Russian-linked tanker Qendil with kamikaze drones in the Mediterranean, marking the first shadow fleet tanker strike outside the Black Sea. Moscow has claimed Ukraine hit one of its tankers off West Africa, as well.
The world is seemingly at war, with the US-Iran conflict choking the critical maritime Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC has hit numerous oil and gas infrastructure targets in Gulf states and multiple tankers in the narrow waterway.
On Tuesday afternoon, President Trump announced that the US government will provide insurance for “ALL Maritime Trade” through the US Development Finance Corporation and will provide naval escorts in the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the waterway remains open. This will be a huge relief for China.
From the Strait of Hormuz to the Mediterranean, numerous tankers are on fire …
… as the world seemingly seems to be accelerating toward major conflict.
In September 2019, federal prosecutors asked New Mexico to shut down its active investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s desert compound.
The state complied. The feds never held up their end of the deal.
According to a report by The Albuquerque Journal, former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas revealed recently that prosecutors from the Southern District of New York pressured his office to cease its probe into sex trafficking at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch, a 7,500 acre estate south of Santa Fe that Epstein purchased from former Governor Bruce King’s family in 1993.
The stated reason was that parallel investigations could produce conflicting witness statements that defense lawyers might exploit.
In exchange, the feds promised to share their own findings. That promise was never fulfilled.
On September 8, 2019, assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, confirmed in an email that Balderas’s office had agreed to halt its work and turn over all materials, per a report by Time.
Epstein had died in federal custody less than a month earlier. By September 17, New Mexico’s Chief Deputy Attorney General Clara Moran had sent police reports, recorded witness testimony, and documents about Epstein’s use of state lands to the SDNY.
By July 2020, having received nothing in return, Balderas sent a letter urging federal prosecutors to seize the ranch through civil forfeiture.
“We believe that this ranch was utilized by Epstein and others to facilitate and conceal the ongoing trafficking of children,” the letter stated. The New York Times reported that he received no response. An internal federal email from December 2019 later confirmed that agents had “not searched the New Mexico property,” as the Times reported.
When the DOJ released over three million pages of Epstein files on January 30, 2026, none of New Mexico’s investigative records appeared among them, according to NPR.
The fallout has been swift. Reuters reported that Attorney General Raúl Torrez reopened the criminal investigation into Zorro Ranch on February 18.
The state House unanimously created a bipartisan truth commission with subpoena power and a budget exceeding $2 million, per a report by the Albuquerque Journal.
U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who has reviewed unredacted federal files, confirmed that multiple prominent New Mexicans are named in the investigation.
Separately, Reuters New Mexico is now probing allegations from a redacted email claiming two foreign girls who died at the ranch were buried nearby at Epstein’s direction.
Comey, the prosecutor who brokered the original deal, was fired by the Trump DOJ in July 2025 without explanation.
The ranch itself was sold in 2023 to a Texas developer planning to convert it into a Christian retreat.
“The inquiry should have been expanded, not restricted,” Balderas said.
CIA Moves To Arm Kurdish Forces To Foment Govt Collapse In Iran: Officials
Here are the most critical developments unfolding in the US-Iran conflict:
CIA working to arm Kurdish forces to spark uprising in Iran, sources say: CNN
State Department securing military aircraft, charter flights to get Americans out of Middle East
Iran International is claiming (unverified) Iran’s Assembly of Experts chose Mojtaba Khamenei as new Ayatollah under heavy IRGC pressure to ensure hardline continuity and regime stability after his father’s death
Drone hits CIA station in Saudi Arabia, also reportedly a consulate in Dubai. WaPo: A suspected Iranian drone attack hit the CIA’s station in Saudi Arabia in what would amount to a significant symbolic victory for the Islamic Republic as it lashes out at U.S. targets and personnel across the Middle East.
IAEA’s Grossi says there has been no evidence of Iran building a nuclear bomb; Iran’s large stockpile of near-weapons grade enriched Uranium and refusal to grant IAEA full access are cause for serious concern
Trump Weighs Backing Militias to Dislodge Iran’s Regime. Future insurgency fragmentation and Iraq-style nightmare coming to Iran?
Trump tries to articular war justification: says if we have a little high oil prices, could be for a little while, but they will drop, and could even be below the levels before, but that he ‘had to’ act or else Iran would have ‘used nukes’. Claims Israel didn’t force America’s hand. Admits leadership vacuum.
US to offer military protection to ships/insurance in the Strait of Hormuz
The Pentagon has released Operation Epic Fury’s objectives; 1- Demilitarization of Iran: destruction of its missile forces, production facilities, and naval fleet 2- Elimination of the terrorist regime 3- Protection of the United States from current and future threats 4- Ensuring that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons
UAE mulling joining US-Israel attack on Iran, and the Saudis too, to stop Iranian missile and drone strikes on their countries.
The American Embassy in Riyadh has been hit in another drone attack, with WSJ reporting it was struck twice Tuesday, resulting in damage to the roof. More embassies across region are shuttering, including the US Embassy in Beirut.
President Trump mulling arming anti-Tehran militias. But he hasn’t decided yet while urging Iranians to rise up and be Washington’s ‘boots on the ground.’
The Israelis just struck the meeting of the Iranian Supreme Council where officials were gathering to choose a new Supreme Leader, a senior Israeli official told Fox News. “Israel struck while they were counting the votes for the appointment of the supreme leader.”
US-Israel bombing is expanding inside Iran. Explosions heard in the northwestern cities of Tabriz and Urmia, as the capital no longer the only focus.
Iraq’s crude oil output is being significantly curtailed. An update from Iraq specifies a shutdown of 460,000 bpd at West Qurna 2 and a cut of 700,000 bpd at Rumaila, while warning that more than 3 million bpd could be forced offline in the coming days if tanker access remains limited.
Export crude bottlenecks are developing across Iraq. Storage at southern export terminals is nearing critical capacity because tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has been paralyzed. Iraq has also halted most Kurdistan-to-Turkey exports via Ceyhan, leaving only about 50,000 bpd for domestic use.
Iranian retaliation expanded on Tuesday, with Gulf states’ energy infrastructure hit by multiple drones. This included a drone strike on Fujairah in the UAE, a key bunkering and crude-loading hub outside the Strait of Hormuz, as well as a drone strike at the Port of Salalah in Oman.
The U.S.-Israeli operation against Iran is intensifying. Strikes are said to be hitting major targets, including state media, military command sites, and leadership compounds, with the reported Iranian death toll rising to 787 since the start of Operation Epic Fury.
The war is spreading into a broader regional conflict. Israel has expanded attacks into Lebanon, including renewed strikes on Beirut and a ground move into the south, while regional actors such as Qatar and possibly Saudi Arabia are portrayed as being drawn more directly into the conflict.
France sending aircraft carrier to Mediterranean, says Macron
* * *
Update(1940ET): This is moving very fast, and even though the White House claimed there will be no ground war (yet), Trump is looking for a few good proxies to use to bring down the Islamic Republic.
“The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran, multiple people familiar with the plan told CNN,” fresh late Tuesday reports say. “The Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq about providing them with military support, the sources said.”
Hours ago we published: Trump Floats Backing Anti-Tehran Insurgency As Alternative To US Boots On Ground. What groups would be willing to work with the US against Tehran?It already appears clear that the White House lacks understanding of the internal dynamics of Iran, and has woefully underestimated how things would go after killing the Ayatollah.
Apart from the Kurds, there’s also historic Sunni minority populations along the southwest border regions of Iran. This would potentially mean the US once again backing Sunni Al Qaeda insurgents, as it did in Syria. Another top contender, probably already involved in the war via the Mossad and CIA, is the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) – based largely outside of Iran.
Iranian Kurdish armed groups have thousands of forces operating along the Iraq-Iran border, primarily in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Several of the groups have released public statements since the beginning of the war hinting at imminent action and urging Iranian military forces to defect. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been striking Kurdish groups and said on Tuesday that it targeted Kurdish forces with dozens of drones.
This invites possible Turkish cross-border intervention in the north, given Turkey has long warned against any and all Kurdish armed insurgencies.
Update(12:45ET): To quote Rumsfeld there are many “unknowns” as the Iraq Iran war continues to go regional, but a Tuesday Oval Office press conference saw Trump try and articulate war justifications. A quick summary:
President Trump spoke at the White House alongside visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, declaring the military campaign against Iran a decisive success. “We’re doing very well,” Trump said.
“They have no navy; it’s been knocked out. They have no air force; it’s been knocked out. They have no air detection — that’s been knocked out,” he stated, adding that Iran’s radar systems and “just about everything’s been knocked out.”
Pressed in the Oval Office on why there was no evacuation plan for Americans in the Middle East before Saturday’s strikes, Trump said, “Well, because it happened all very quickly.”
“I thought we were going to have a situation where we were going to be attacked. They were getting ready to attack Israel,” he said.
When asked whether Israel had “forced” his hand, Trump replied, “No, actually, I might have forced their hand.”
Addressing speculation about Iran’s future leadership, Trump referenced Reza Pahlavi. “He seems like a very nice person. But it seems to me that someone from within might be better” to take over, he said.
Trump acknowledged the risks of regime change. “I guess the worst case would be, we do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right?” he said. “That could happen. We don’t want that to happen.”
Defending the timing of the strike, Trump said, “You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack. If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that.”
And finally: very GW Bush style…
If we hadn’t attacked Iran, it would have already started a nuclear war with many countries, because “they are pure evil and sick in the head” – Trump.
If we hadn’t attacked Iran, it would have already started a nuclear war with many countries, because “they are pure evil and sick in the head” – Trump. This stupid president touched the streets with hornets pic.twitter.com/FEIQ20Q0qX
Update(11:15ET): American or regional officials have confirmed that the US Embassy in Riyadh has come under drone attack twice on Tuesday resulting in the roof suffering a partial collapse.
Part of the building is engulfed in smoke, with staff said to be sheltering in place. An earlier State Dept statement said: “Embassy Riyadh has been struck by two UAVs that hit the roof and the perimeter of the chancery.” The cable added: “Post is sheltering in place and reported no injuries.” Initial reports say no casualties, according to a person familiar with the incident. Meanwhile…
Saudi Arabia condemns ‘flagrant’ Iranian drone attack on US Embassy in Riyadh – Al Arabiya English
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, of the smoke rising from the U.S. embassy after it was struck by 2 Iranian drones in the night. pic.twitter.com/AnXgd2gU71
Update(0920ET): In a massive though not completely unexpected development, Iraq has shut down 460,000 barrels per day of production at the West Qurna 2 field, Iraqi oil officials told Reuters. Officials warned the country will be forced to cut more than 3 million barrels per day within days if oil tankers cannot move freely and access loading terminals, as confirmed in Bloomberg.
On Tuesday, Iraq reduced output at the Rumaila oil field by 700,000 barrels per day. Rumaila is the second-largest oil field in the world, and storage levels at southern export terminals have reached critical capacity due to disruptions and slowdowns in tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, according to local officials.
Importantly, Iraq also halted crude exports from its semi-autonomous Kurdistan region through the key pipeline to Turkey’s port of Ceyhan, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. Roughly 200,000 barrels per day have been shut in as producers cut output amid escalating regional conflict. Only about 50,000 barrels per day are now being produced for domestic use.
Energy infrastructure in northern Kurdistan has faced repeated attacks during prior unrest. And now with major fields throttling output and exports constrained, oil prices are surging.
Targeting Gulf production from across water in Iran….
Thick black smoke pours Tuesday from the Port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, located on the Gulf of Oman as one of the UAE’s only oil terminals south of the Strait of Hormuz, following a drone attack this morning on oil storage tanks and other infrastructure at the port… pic.twitter.com/WaU87tJsNA
Iran appears to have turned its sights on Fujairah in the UAE. The port is the the Middle East’s largest bunkering terminal for tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz and major loading point for Murban crude. Map from @EnergySPG shows scale of the facility. pic.twitter.com/SVjv0RPWJD
Israeli and US forces pressed forward with their assault on Iran, striking targets across the country, including Iran’s state broadcaster and central military command centers, as the official death toll has climbed to 787 Iranians killed since the start of the Trump-ordered Operation Epic Fury. The US has sustained at least six troop deaths and several more seriously wounded.
Fears that this could open to a broader multi-front war appear to be coming to reality, as at the same time Israel escalated operations on a second front, intensifying airstrikes on Lebanon and launching a new ground incursion into the south. Beirut is once again under Israeli bombs, after Israel accused Hezbollah of firing rockets on the north. What’s more is that Kann News is citing a senior Israeli official as follows: We assess that Saudi Arabia will attack Iran soon after it was attacked yesterday. The war is expanding.
The conflict has continued to spread across the Gulf. Saudi authorities said two drones struck the US Embassy in Riyadh, igniting a small fire and causing minor damage. However, there’s been surprisingly little information or video to come out of this major incident.
Qatar has formally joined the war on the US-Israeli side, having already said it took out a pair of Iranian jets. The tiny oil and gas rich GCC country Foreign Ministry stated that “the two Iranian planes shot down by Qatar yesterday were flying toward Doha and were warned before being shot down. Qatar is searching for the pilots.”
Iran has continued its retaliation by targeting energy infrastructure across the Gulf, driving global oil and gas prices sharply higher. As we reported previously, Qatar’s state-owned petroleum company suspended all LNG production after two of its facilities were hit.
The status of the vital Strait of Hormuz remains a big unknown, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announcing that the vital oil transit chokepoint for roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption is now “closed”. While the consensus is that after the US blew up all or most of the Iranian Navy’s vessels, it doesn’t have the maritime power to effect a blockage, the IRGC can certainly wreak havoc through its drone and missile arsenal.
New Footage Shows US Base in Bahrain Under Iranian Missile Strike
New video has surfaced online showing US military base in Bahrain that were targeted in recent hours by heavy Iranian missiles. pic.twitter.com/LHC3iSD0Ws
Iran has also continued missile attacks on Israel, with the Israeli military reporting interceptions over West Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Eilat. At least 10 people have been killed in Israel since Saturday. Many dozens, possibly in the hundreds, have been injured and wounded. Fox live shots and correspondent on the ground Trey Yingst have been offering proof that Israel’s anti-air defenses are routinely being overwhelmed and significant impacts have resulted.
Costly interceptors are also being expended at a high rate across the Gulf, and these countries are urgently appealing for more from Washington, but they will soon be in short supply at this rate. The Wall Street Journal warns as follows:
Persian Gulf nations targeted by Iran have, so far, managed to limit the damage by deploying sophisticated U.S.-made air defenses against the hundreds of drones and missiles that have rained on their cities.
With costly interceptors and radar, all integrated with the U.S. military, the oil-rich Gulf Arab states have fielded some of the most advanced air defenses in the world, despite their small populations and militaries.
A crucial variable in this war, however, is whether these monarchies start running out of interceptors before the Iranian regime runs out of projectiles. At current burn rates, it could be very soon.
Alarmingly, initial White House talking points of a ‘limited’ campaign of mere days (and based on pre-war comments during the build-up) have now gone out the window as on Monday President Trump and Secretary Rubio indicated the operation could run for roughly four or five weeks. But they also admitted there’s a basically open-ended timeline to “do whatever it takes” to eliminate Tehran’s missile and nuclear capabilities, and to destroy the country’s missile arsenal.
But then here’s what the Trump administration failed to take into account, or perhaps chose to completely ignore. Trita Parsi told The Economist:
“This is not a monarchy in which the shah is gone and you take out all of the male heirs.” He explained: “This is a system—not a particularly popular system—but nevertheless one with a security establishment that is not dependent on a single person or a single family.”
Pentagon brass doesn’t seem to know what the plan is, how long it will last, or why they’re there: “The hours, days, and perhaps weeks ahead will challenge you. There will be noise and confusion.”
Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military officer at @CENTCOM, sent this message to the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops directly involved in operations against Iran, I’m told. pic.twitter.com/9VGvRSWtTW
There are reports that in the instance of the Ayatollah’s death under US-Israeli bombs, which is the first thing that happened Saturday as he was apparently not in hiding, Iran put a strict emergency protocol in place. This reportedly involved plans for the IRGC and various military units across the country to begin acting autonomously within their respective chains of command, so that a state decapitation strike won’t disrupt the ongoing retaliation.
That retaliation has already killed at least six US service members stationed at Gulf bases:
The U.S. is facing increasing risks to its military forces and diplomatic presence in the Middle East as Iran is launching waves of missile and drone attacks across the region that are testing its ability to defend a swath of territory.
U.S. Central Command said that six servicemembers had been killed in the three-day-old campaign on Monday. The six died in a drone strike on a base in Kuwait, The Wall Street Journal reported. Separately, three American F-15 jets were downed by apparent friendly fire over Kuwait on Monday, in one of the most significant losses of equipment for the U.S. in the operation.
Bases that house U.S. forces have also come under attack in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
In at least one instance troops were in a mobile trailer which served as a makeshift command center or office when an Iranian projectile hit.
The White House has meanwhile said it is not at all in diplomatic contact with the Iranians, who may want to impose a deeper cost before even starting a discussion for an offramp – and it’s the same with the Gulf states – there doesn’t seem to be any top-level contact.
Rubio and Hegseth have kept repeating that “this is not Iraq” and have insisted this is not another Neocon “endless war”. They might be right in that what just opened up might prove far worse than the Iraq war. So far there’s no US boots on the ground that we know of, but we’re already at that admin talking point of ‘we haven’t ruled it out’. White House leadership has also been surprisingly open as to Israel’s role in the US decision to attack Iran.
🎯STRUCK: The Iranian Regime’s Leadership Compound — the central headquarters have been dismantled
This command headquarters was one of the most heavily secured assets in Iran. The compound that housed the regime’s most senior forum was struck by the IAF overnight using precise… pic.twitter.com/4iW2xd71bC
Israeli defence forces announce that they did not deploy ground troops in Iran, Israeli source report.
The IDF announces that they have struck Iran’s leadership compound in Tehran.
IAEA confirms recent damage to entrance buildings of Iran’s underground Natanz fuel enrichment plan.
Israel’s Home Front announce early warning after detection of rockets fired from Iran toward Israel, Al Jazeera reported.
Israeli Military Spokesperson said it is not likely that Israel will deploy ground forces to Iran as it is not practical.
IDF spokesperson said launches detected from Iran and alerts expected in the northern area from the Golan to northern Sharon.
Iran’s military said it targeted the Al Udeid base with missiles.
Iran’s IRCG said they targeted the aircraft carrier “Lincoln” with 4 cruise missiles; The aircraft carrier “Lincoln” headed towards the southeastern Indian Ocean , Al Arabiya reported.
Member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said choosing a successor to Supreme Leader Khamenei “won’t take long”, according to ISNA.
Hezbollah said it targeted the Ramat David Air Base in northern Israel.
US VP Vance said President Trump wants to make sure Iran never had nuclear weapons, adds the US has a lot of capacity in Iran.
US President Trump held a call with Kurdish leaders in Iraq on Sunday to discuss the US-Israel war with Iran and what might come next, according to three sources with knowledge of the called cited by Axios.
US is said to prepare for a ‘pickup’ of attacks in Iran during the next 24 hours, according to CNN.
