As war crimes mean nothing to President Trump, today, 6th April 2026, Iran resists the ‘deal’ Trump demanded to open the Strait of Hormuz.
‘The entire country could be taken out in one night, and that could be tomorrow’…..Trump said in a speech as he boasted about US military achievements.
You can monitor the strikes, on both sides of the war, at this website:
Description at odds with early US intel, Joint Chiefs chairman
The U.S. strikes, carried out on the night of June 21, targeted three facilities: Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordo. They were hit with massive, 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs in what was the largest B-2 strike in U.S. history.
“Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” Trump said as he addressed the nation from the White House over the weekend.
But one key player said the total scope of the damage wasn’t immediately clear.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Sunday it was “way too early” to know the full damage, though he said all three sites sustained “extremely severe damage and destruction.”
China’s Shadow Over Tehran: Reports of 16 Chinese Military Cargo Aircraft Landing in Iran Raise Fears of a New Iran-Israel Escalation
Unconfirmed reports of a rapid Chinese military airlift into Iran involving up to 16 cargo aircraft are fuelling fears of a strategic shift in the Iran-Israel confrontation, raising urgent questions over Beijing’s growing role in Middle Eastern security dynamics.
(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — The sudden emergence of unconfirmed but persistent reports claiming that approximately 16 Chinese military cargo aircraft landed in Iran within a compressed 56-hour period has injected a new and deeply destabilising variable into an already combustible Iran-Israel confrontation, with the scale and speed of the alleged airlift immediately raising questions about Beijing’s willingness to directly alter the Middle Eastern military balance under the cover of strategic ambiguity.
Embedded within these reports is a broader strategic warning articulated previously by a China watcher who cautioned that “we know this isn’t good, because those planes are turning off their transponders as they approach Iranian airspace,” a statement that, when viewed against China’s expanding expeditionary airlift capabilities, underscores growing concern that Beijing may be testing the limits of covert military power projection beyond East Asia.
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The reported aircraft movements also resonate with a June 2025 observation that “aviation experts have noted that the type of plane used are commonly used for transporting military equipment and weapons,” reinforcing concerns that the flights may have carried high-value defensive systems rather than civilian or humanitarian cargo.
At the centre of this emerging narrative lies China’s Y-20 strategic airlifter, a platform symbolising Beijing’s transition from regional power to global military logistics actor, and whose involvement would signal a deliberate decision to leverage logistics dominance as a geopolitical instrument rather than a purely operational enabler.
If substantiated, this operation would represent the largest compressed military airlift from China to Iran ever reported, surpassing previous isolated incidents involving two to five aircraft and signalling a qualitative shift from opportunistic assistance to structured strategic support.
The revolution that built a garden-parliament had begun with sugar.
In December 1905, the price of sugar spiked across Tehran — a convergence of a bad harvest, trade disruption from the Russo-Japanese War, and a cholera epidemic that strangled supply lines. Tehran’s governor, Ala al-Dawla, responded by ordering the bastinado — public foot-whipping — of two respected sugar merchants. One of them was a sayyed, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
That was the match. It united the two most powerful non-state forces in Iran: the mosque and the bazaar. An attack on commerce AND religious dignity simultaneously. The ulama declared the punishment an insult to Islam. The bazaaris declared a general strike. Together, they formed a coalition that no shah could suppress by force alone — because the mosque controlled the narrative and the bazaar controlled the economy.
But the sugar was only the trigger. The fuel had been accumulating for decades.
In 1891, Naser al-Din Shah had sold a monopoly over Iran’s entire tobacco trade to a British company — the Tobacco Régie. Grand Ayatollah Mirza Shirazi issued a fatwa from Samarra declaring tobacco use tantamount to “war against the Hidden Imam.” The boycott that followed was so total it was observed even in the Shah’s own harem — his wives put down their water pipes. The Shah canceled the concession.3 An entire nation had organized against foreign exploitation and won, fourteen years before the constitutional movement began.
The Tobacco Protest proved three things that would become the architecture of 1906: religious authority could mobilize the masses beyond the reach of the state; collective action across class lines could force a monarchy to capitulate; and the fundamental issue — foreign powers extracting Iranian resources while Iranians had no say in their own governance — was a wound that would not heal without structural change.
Kuwait power, water desalination plants damaged by Iranian attack
Story by Jubair Alansari
• 14h
Riyadh:
Two Kuwaiti power and water desalination plants were damaged by a drone attack from Iran, the electricity and water ministry said Sunday.
The attack resulted in “significant material damage and the shutdown of two electricity generating units”, the ministry said in a post on X, adding there were no deaths or injuries.
Earlier, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said a fire broke out in its Shuwaikh oil sector complex, which houses the oil ministry and KPC headquarters, after a drone attack, the Kuwaiti state news agency reported early on Sunday.
I just watched Professor Ansari talking to Fareed Zakaria on CNN. I intend to educate myself, through his work, about Iranian history which this man has devoted his career to doing, and who is desperately sad to see the current tragedy unfolding in the Middle East.
Hegseth removes four officers from military promotion list: report
Story by Ariana Baio
• 1w
The Independent
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly attempting to block four Army officers, two women and two Black men, from a military promotion list to become one-star generals – though his motivations are unclear.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday asked the Army’s top general to step down from his role and immediately retire, extending the Trump administration’s purge of top military officials and creating a key Pentagon vacancy amid the largest U.S. conflict in the Middle East in two decades.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George made it almost three of his four years in the post, which began during the Biden administration. The Pentagon, which confirmed the firing, did not specify why. The high-ranking general had served as a senior military aide to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, so was not seen as a Hegseth loyalist.Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George made it almost three of his four years in the post, which began during the Biden administration. The Pentagon, which confirmed the firing, did not specify why. The high-ranking general had served as a senior military aide to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, so was not seen as a Hegseth loyalist.
Amazon Middle East datacenter suffers second drone hit as Iran steps up attacks
News
Apr 2, 20264 mins
Huge sums invested by US tech companies are at risk as the Iranian strategy of targeting datacenters becomes clear.
Iranian drones have targeted Amazon’s largest Middle East datacenter in Bahrain for the second time in a month in part of what appears to be a planned strategy to disrupt the region’s digital economy.
According to press reports, the ME-SOUTH-1 (Bahrain) AWS site, operated by telecom company Batelco, was hit by the latest drone attack on April 1. Bahrain’s interior minister confirmed to the FT that the attack had caused a fire.
On April 2, the AWS Service Health status page for ME-SOUTH-1 stated that AWS services in Bahrain have been “impacted”, the lowest of three levels of disruption.
However, social media posts by users suggest that the site became unavailable after being attacked around 4am (9pm ET).
Iran first attacked the ME-SOUTH-1 and ME-CENTRAL-1 (United Arab Emirates) on March 1, causing major disruption to services. At the time, Amazon advised Middle East customers to shift AWS workloads to other parts of the world.
“Customers should enact their disaster recovery plans, recover from remote backups stored in other Regions, and update their applications to direct traffic away from the affected Regions,” Amazon said.
Amazon was contacted for comment on the latest Bahrain drone incident, but said it had nothing to add beyond the statement in its current advisory.
Denial of infrastructure
Doing the damage is the Shaheed 136, a small and unsophisticated drone designed to overwhelm defenders with numbers. If only one in twenty reaches its target, the price-performance still exceeds that of more expensive systems.
When aimed at critical infrastructure such as datacenters, the effect is also psychological; the threat of an attack on its own can be enough to make it difficult for organizations to continue using an at-risk facility.
Iran’s targeting of the Bahrain datacenter is unlikely to be random. Amazon opened its ME-SOUTH-1 AWS presence in 2019, and it is still believed to be the company’s largest site in the Middle East.
Oracle office in Dubai hit in Iran strikes? What UAE said
Story by Edited by Sanstuti Nath
• 2d
Oracle Office In Dubai Hit In Iran Strikes? What UAE Said
Amid Iran’s continued attacks on US and Israeli targets in the Middle East, the authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have denied reports claiming that the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have targeted a data centre belonging to American tech firm Oracle in Dubai.
Oracle’s data center services cost $30 billion per year for OpenAI’s needs, as reported in July 2025. This includes building and operating massive facilities like the Stargate project in Texas. TechCrunch DCD
And the center is a target now:
Several days ago, the IRGC named Oracle among a group of American corporations it accuses of enabling U.S. and Israeli military activity, alongside Apple, Boeing, Cisco, Google, HP, IBM, Meta, and Microsoft. Oracle has cloud and artificial intelligence contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense, and its chairman, Larry Ellison, has longstanding ties with Israel, which were among the factors cited in the accusations. In addition, the IRGC targeted American aluminum and steel industries in Bahrain and the UAE, as well as Rafael arms factories in Israel.
While the officials in the United Arab Emirates have not confirmed any successful hit on infrastructure in Dubai. Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior confirmed that an Iranian strike has set ‘a facility of a company’ on fire. That company is said to be Batelco, the country’s largest telecommunications company that hosts infrastructure for Amazon Web Services.
Middle East datacentre capacity set to triple by 2030
Driven by government vision, booming demand for cloud and artificial intelligence, and strategic investments, the region is rapidly becoming a global digital hub, reshaping the future of connectivity and technology
The Middle East datacentre market is undergoing a massive transformation, emerging as a global powerhouse for digital infrastructure.
This evolution is fuelled by a convergence of factors: ambitious government-led digital strategies, surging demand for cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) services, cost-optimisation imperatives and the arrival of both global hyperscalers and innovative local providers.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar are positioned as a digital gateway between Asia and Africa, and the region’s datacentre ecosystem is set to triple in capacity by 2030, reshaping the global digital landscape.
Luis Bravo, senior analyst research EMEA at datacenterHawk, highlights the region’s unique strengths: “First, it’s about access to power and energy, the Middle East is a gateway for Asia and Europe, and many submarine cables are from Singapore, India, and Africa to Oman, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. That’s a big driver, and energy generation capacity is key, the location and energy capacity are major advantages.”
According to the Middle East datacentre construction market – industry outlook & forecast 2025-2030 report, the Middle East datacentre construction market is projected to reach almost US$7bn by 2030. This expansion is driven by a robust pipeline of new projects. Currently, existing third-party capacity is around 500MW (megawatts), and forecasts suggest it will triple to 1.5GW (gigawatts) by the end of the decade.
“The datacentre market in the Middle East is undergoing a major transformation right now. We’re seeing digitalisation accelerate at a remarkable pace, and what’s particularly notable is the proactive role that governments in the region are playing in driving this shift,” say Anisha Walia and Ismael Moreno-Gomez, manager and principal at Analysys Mason.
Regional hubs and strategic advantages
The UAE and Saudi Arabia are at the forefront of this transformation, leveraging their strategic locations, robust digital infrastructure and ambitious national visions. Dubai, in particular, has established itself as a regional datacentre hub, boasting world-class connectivity and a regulatory environment that attracts both global enterprises and cloud providers. Abu Dhabi and Riyadh are also key centres, with significant investments in innovative city projects and AI-driven initiatives.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE’s National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 are not only catalysing domestic demand but are positioning these nations as global technology hubs.
“The region’s going through a major digital transformation, with more people and businesses moving to the cloud,” says Shumon Zaman, chief information and digital officer at Ali & Sons.
“Then there’s the explosion of smart city projects like Neom in Saudi Arabia, which need powerful tech backbones to run. Plus, governments are pushing for data localisation, keeping data within national borders, which means local datacentres are a must. Lastly, there’s a big shift toward sustainable energy, and new datacentres are being built with green tech in mind.”
Walia and Moreno-Gomez from Analysys Mason add: “For example, in Saudi Arabia, digital transformation is a core part of Vision 2030. There’s a whole ecosystem of programmes that have been put in place, from the Digital Government Strategy and the establishment of the Digital Government Authority to widely used platforms like Absher, Seha Virtual Hospital and Tawakkalna. These are real, tangible efforts that are making a difference in how citizens engage with government services.”
The UAE is also making rapid progress on this front. Its Digital Government Strategy 2025 is very focused on creating user-centric, data-driven services. And it’s not just about the front end, the government is also investing heavily in infrastructure, particularly around cloud and AI, through initiatives such as the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031.
At the same time, the GCC is seeing a massive surge in demand for AI inference, cloud and digital services. Between 2025 and 2029, cloud services in the region are projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 9-11%. This is being fuelled by changing consumer behaviour, more e-commerce, digital payments, gaming and streaming. All of this is adding pressure on the existing infrastructure and creating strong demand for both hyperscale and colocation datacentres.
The hyperscaler wave
The Middle East’s strategic importance has not gone unnoticed by global hyperscalers. Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle have all established or announced cloud regions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, often partnering with local telecom giants or government-backed entities.
Amazon Web Services, for instance, has committed more than US$5bn to develop new datacentres in Saudi Arabia, while Google Cloud and Microsoft have launched cloud regions in Dubai and Dammam, respectively.
While global players make headlines, local providers are equally instrumental in shaping the region’s datacentre landscape. Khazna Data Centers, headquartered in Dubai, is a standout example. With a mission to build and operate highly secure, energy-efficient and scalable facilities, Khazna has become a trusted partner to enterprises seeking cost-effective, sustainable infrastructure.
“Because of the growth we have seen in the region in Khazna, we have increased our capacity. During Covid, the way businesses adopted the cloud enabled us to scale to fulfil their needs. For us, the demand is in the GCC, mainly because of local regulations where data is required to be kept within the country,” says Greg Jasmin, head of international client development at Khazna Data Centres.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed on April 1 that 37 US military officers were killed in an attack on a covert gathering point in the UAE, as part of five naval operations launched since dawn, according to an IRGC statement.
The U.S. Navy has evacuated the Bahrain-based Naval Support Activity (NSA) Manama, the headquarters of the U.S. 5th Fleet, after the facility was subjected to multiple strikes. The Pentagon confirmed that 1,500 sailors, their families, and pets were relocated from NSA Bahrain to the Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.
Why it matters
The evacuation of the U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain is a significant development, as it marks the first time the U.S. has been forced to abandon a major naval command center since World War II when the Philippines were invaded by Japan. This move highlights the escalating tensions and security challenges in the region.
The details
Satellite images confirmed that at least seven buildings, including communication infrastructure and warehouses, were destroyed at NSA Manama in the first week of the attacks. American sailors arrived in Norfolk with only what they could carry in their backpacks, and local community organizations are being mobilized to provide basic necessities.
On February 28, the first day of Operation Epic Gloom, NSA Manama was subjected to the initial strikes.
In the first week, at least seven buildings were destroyed at the facility.
Two HC-130J Combat King II aircraft were stranded in Iran during a rescue operation for a downed F-15E crew member. To prevent their capture by Iranian forces, U.S. forces destroyed these aircraft. turkiyetoday.com defencesecurityasia.com
These sophisticated aircraft cost a billion dollars each.
It has become clear the F15E was unable to detect a heat seeking missile heading for it:
Explained: How Passive Infrared May Have Helped Iran Down US F-15E
Emerging reports say Iran may have used passive infrared detection system to down the US F-15E Strike Eagle. Here’s how it works – and why it challenges American air superiority.
Reports are emerging that Iran may have used passive infrared detection systems to down the US F-15 jet. Pictured above: A US F-15 Strike Eagle jet
The reported downing of a US F-15E fighter jet over Iran has triggered a deeper strategic debate. At the centre of this debate is a striking claim: that Iran may have used passive infrared detection systems – a method fundamentally different from conventional radar – to track and engage one of America’s most battle-tested aircraft. While details remain contested, the implications are significant.
As per an ABC News report, Iran may have used passive infrared detection system to down the US F-15E Strike Eagle, with one crew member rescued and another still missing. The incident marks the first confirmed instance during this war when a US piloted aircraft was downed by Iran, immediately raising questions about American air superiority. The situation is further complicated by reports that additional US aircraft – including an A-10 – were also hit during the same operational window.
A tweet shared online by security intelligence analyst Brian Allen said, “Passive infrared detection does not emit radar signals. It cannot be detected or jammed by American electronic warfare systems. It is invisible to the technology America has spent trillions building its air superiority around.”
Iran’s military said Friday that it had downed a second US jet in the Gulf, following earlier reports of an F-15 fighter going down in the country’s southwest.
After F15 was shot down over Iran, so far one pilot has been recovered, the other is being sought.
The missing airman, a weapon systems officer, was aboard a US F-15 fighter jet that was downed in southern Iran, CBS reports
It’s not known what has happened to the missing crew member – a pilot who was also on board has been rescued
Iranian security forces are searching the region for the airman – officials in the country are urging citizens to find the crew member “alive” and are offering rewards for their capture, state media says
Iran says it has shot down a second US warplane over the Gulf – US media reports an A-10 Warthog was shot at during a search-and-rescue mission for the first downed aircraft
The pilot of the Warthog reportedly ejected over the Gulf and has been rescued
Elsewhere, Israel says it has carried out a new series of attacks on “key infrastructure” in Tehran. In Israel, emergency services say one person is injured from shrapnel after a missile attack from Iran was intercepted
According to Military Machine, The A-10 Thunderbolt II costs about $18.8 million per aircraft. This makes it one of the more affordable combat aircraft in the US Air Force, especially given its role in close air support missions.
The cost has changed over time. In the 1970s, the original flyaway cost was about $9.8 million per aircraft. When adjusted for inflation, that comes to around $18.8 million today. The total program cost per aircraft was about $13 million in 1994 dollars, including development.
The F-15E Strike Eagle serves as the primary tactical bomber for the US Air Force. The F-15E Strike Eagle historically cost $31.1 million, adjusting to over $65 million today. Costing $19,000 per flight hour, this Mach 2.5 jet carries a massive 10,400-kilogramme payload.
Reports say two US helicopters were hit during recovery operations linked to a downed aircraft in Iran. All crew members are safe, though some injuries have been reported.
US reportedly fired over 850 Tomahawk missiles in four weeks of war with Iran. Heavy usage raised concerns over supply and rising costs inside the Pentagon. Each missile costs over $2 million, making large-scale use expensive.
Back in March 2025 this extract from an article on asymmetric warfare seems to have not impacted the Pentagon strategy:
Throwing Money at the Problem
In January 2025, the U.S. Navy disclosed that it has fired more than 200 missiles to repel Houthi attacks on civilian shipping in the Red Sea since November 2023, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.
This includes 120 SM-2 missiles priced at around $2.1 million each, eighty SM-6 missiles at $3.9 million apiece, and twenty Evolved Sea Sparrow and SM-3 missiles estimated to cost between $9.6 million and $27.9 million each, as well as 160 rounds from 5-inch naval guns.
Of course, the comparison is not as simple as measuring a million-dollar interceptor against a thousand-dollar drone.
When a NATO destroyer engages a drone or missile in the Red Sea, it does so to prevent it from hitting a military target, thus killing sailors and damaging equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars, or striking an unprotected civilian ship, creating the risk of environmental disaster if an oil spill occurs.
Houthi disruption in the Red Sea has already cost the global economy and financial markets hundreds of billions of dollars, so mitigating this threat with a few missile interceptors can represent a good return on investment.
Militaries are therefore seeking ways to tip the economic calculus back in the defender’s favor. The U.S. and British navies, for example, are exploring the possibility of re-arming missile tubes at sea, a first-time endeavor, to reduce the time, money, and fuel required for ships to return to port after expending their munitions.
They are also racing to expand electronic warfare capabilities to jam, spoof, blind, or confuse incoming drones and munitions.
Perhaps most ambitiously, they are experimenting with high-powered lasers and microwave weapons. These directed-energy systems, once the stuff of science fiction, offer the prospect of a low-cost way to destroy targets within the weapon’s line of sight. Following a recent test of its DragonFire laser system, the UK Ministry of Defense claimed that it cost just twelve dollars USD per shot to down aerial targets such as small drones and mortar rounds, despite the $120 million spent on development.
Beyond active defenses, militaries are pursuing more passive measures to reduce the threat and expense of hostile air, missile, and drone strikes. Examples include dispersing forces, employing camouflage and decoys, and investing in fortifications or backup systems to minimize the impact of attacks.
Alongside punitive retaliation, these tactics aim to deter and disincentivize attackers, shifting the cost-benefit calculation in the defenders’ favor.
In addition to the many ways of dealing with threats “right of launch,” when enemy drones or missiles are airborne, there is renewed interest in addressing them “left of launch,” before they can be enacted.
President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget request asks Congress to deliver the largest military outlay in American history while directing hundreds of millions of dollars towards White House renovations, funded in part by cutting billions from health research, education, housing and climate grants
Musk under pressure after Starlink link to Russian ships
Story by August M
Musk under pressure after Starlink link to Russian ships
An investigation cited by TVP World found that vessels linked to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” are using Elon Musk’s Starlink system to communicate and coordinate operations.
According to the Kyiv Independent, which conducted the investigation, sailors working on these ships said they unknowingly became part of the covert network used to keep Russian oil exports flowing despite restrictions.
Hidden network
The shadow fleet refers to a group of aging tankers used to avoid Western sanctions on Russian oil exports.
Experts say these vessels often rely on opaque ownership structures and evasive tactics to continue operating
According to the Kyiv Independent, communication between ships and operators is maintained using Western tools, including satellite phones and Starlink terminals.
“It could be purchased through a proxy company. As far as I know, it is difficult to buy a Starlink in Ukraine now. Elsewhere in the world, you can simply order it and have it delivered by mail. It is not a weapon; everybody can buy it,” one sailor said.
Calls for action
Ukrainian officials have urged SpaceX to respond to the findings.
“Any activity by Russia’s shadow fleet effectively finances the war against Ukraine. If Starlink is being used to evade sanctions or bypass maritime safety rules, this is unacceptable,” said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an adviser on sanctions policy, as quoted by the Kyiv Independent.
“We expect SpaceX to review this issue carefully and take steps to prevent the use of Starlink by shadow fleets of any country, including Russia, Venezuela or Iran.”
Wider concerns
The report adds to existing worries about unauthorized Russian access to Starlink technology.
According to previous reporting, Russian forces have attempted to use the system on the battlefield, prompting efforts to restrict access.
SpaceX has said it has taken steps to limit such use, including technical and contractual measures introduced in recent months.
The findings highlight ongoing challenges in enforcing sanctions and controlling the spread of dual-use technology during the conflict.
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