‘Reasonable grounds’ to believe US committed war crimes in Iran – UN

September 17, 2026

Indiscriminate attacks, such as the strike on an elementary school in Minab, went beyond negligence, a new report has found

Iran war live: UN mission says US likely committed war crimes in Iran

September 17, 2026
Stephen Quillen, Federica Marsi, Mahmoud Sayed and Tracy J. Jawad

• US President Donald Trump says he’s approaching a crucial decision on whether to “annihilate” his Iranian foes.
• The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says fighting along Yemen’s Red Sea coast has displaced an estimated 125,000 people.
• A UN fact-finding mission has found “reasonable grounds” to believe the US was behind two attacks in Iran, including on a school in Minab in February, which it says constituted war ⁠crimes.
  
• Yemeni government forces are trying to prevent Houthi advances on several fronts, including the strategically important Kahbub mountains near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and Taiz, with Saudi Arabia providing air strike support in areas around the city.
• Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi has described Saudi claims that a drone attack targeted Mecca as “an ugly lie” and said his fighters are primarily targeting Saudi military sites and oil infrastructure.
• Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif says the time has come to implement the Mecca mutual defence agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye following Houthi attacks on the kingdom.
• One ⁠person ⁠has been killed and two ⁠others injured in a drone ⁠interception in Saudi Arabia’s southwest governorate of Taif, reported ‌Saudi state TV.

When Britain Used Torture to Control the Strait of Hormuz

September 16, 2026
Amaar Chowdhury
Amaar Chowdhury reports on the emergence of new details about the extreme measures that British soldiers used to support a Gulf autocrat.

 

Map of Oman for use on Wikivoyage, English version. (Burmesedays / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)

انقلاب‌ها

انقلاب آمریکا در دو و نیم قرن پیش، جرقه بسیاری از انقلاب‌های دیگر در سراسر جهان، به‌ویژه انقلاب‌های فرانسه، روسیه، کوبا و چین را زد. هر یک از این انقلاب‌ها — و بسیاری دیگر — سیمای اجتماعی، سیاسی، اقتصادی و جغرافیایی جهان را دگرگون کردند. یکی از این انقلابات که به چهل و هفت سال پیش بازمی‌گردد و گرچه اخیراً کمتر در صدر اخبار بوده اما پیامدهایش هر از گاهی خود را نشان می‌دهند، انقلاب ایران است. در دهه گذشته، تقریباً هر دو هفته یک‌بار شاهد تعاملاتی میان دولت‌های غربی و حکومتی بوده‌ایم که حدود نیم قرن پیش از دل آن انقلاب سر برآورد. مسئله هسته‌ای ایران جدیدترین مورد از مسائل متعددی است که پس از انقلاب سال پنجاه و هفت رخ داده است؛ مسائلی همچون بحران گروگان‌گیری، ماجرای ایران-کانترا و جنگ با عراق، که تنها چند نمونه از آن‌ها به شمار می‌روند. بمب‌های دولت ترامپ و عکس‌العمل دولت ایران با از بین بردن تسلیحات نظامی آمریکا در منطقه، پیشروی اسرائیل در مناطق فلسطینی با سلاح‌های آمریکا، و جنگ‌های متفرقه در مناطق دیگر دنیا، خبر از یک جنگ جهانی‌ جدید می‌دهند که همواره در زمان افت یک قدرت جهانی‌ (آمریکا) و گسترش نیروی جهانی‌ دیگر (چین) تاریخ بارها شاهد آن بوده است.ا

Pentagon Iran War Report admits to Worst Drubbing since Vietnam

September 15, 2026
Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Department of Defense report on the Israeli-US war on Iran admits that it has been costly, has seen extensive destruction of US facilities in the Middle East, and has run down Pentagon munitions. Since it is being issued by a department headed by notorious liar and braggart Pete Hegseth, it is hard to take the report too seriously on the positive side. But to the extent that it admits any downsides to the war on Iran at all, that admission is especially interesting coming from this administration.

Iran: Ongoing Unlawful Execution Campaign Against Protesters

September 14, 2026
Within a span of only five months, between March 18 and the end of August 2026, Iran’s authorities announced the executions of 29 people in connection with recent protests. These executions were unlawful and in violation of international human rights law. Several protesters executed were teenagers aged 18 and 19. Scores more remain at imminent risk of execution. Some executions have been carried out in public to further instill fear, marking a significant escalation.

Iran Reports One Killed in Attack on Iranian Commercial Ship Near Qeshm Island

September 13, 2026
Dave DeCamp
When asked who was responsible for the attack, President Trump said, 'I don't want to say'

A man walks on a road while vessels are in the Strait of Hormuz near the beach of Bandar Abbas, Iran, June 30, 2026. Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA/WANA via Reuters

Pezeshkian urges BRICS to form 'permanent secretariat,' independent payment mechanisms

September 12, 2026

The Iranian president urged the bloc to trade in national currencies and build payment channels that no single country can shut off

Forever War: How 9/11 Unleashed U.S. Violence on Civilians Abroad & Attacks on Rights at Home

September 11, 2026
We look at how post-9/11 policies and the so-called war on terror reshaped the country and the world with two Columbia faculty members who convened a two-day symposium on “The Forever War and the First Amendment.” The symposium brought together journalists, scholars, lawyers and activists to explore the legacy of the “war on terror,” specifically focused on the impact on democratic rights, including the freedoms of speech and the press.

Real History: After 9/11, the “War on Terror” Was a War of Terror

September 10, 2026
Norman Solomon
Three days after terrorists killed almost 3,000 people in the United States on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush stood behind a pulpit at the Washington National Cathedral and spoke to a nation in shock. “Our responsibility to history is already clear,” he proclaimed, “to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.” The vow was, of course, preposterous. Yet the “war on terror” that followed was scarcely more realistic.

 

Asia’s Strait of Hormuz oil cushion is running out

September 9, 2026
William Pesek

No one needs a more destabilizing oil surge as Trump’s war, tariffs and efforts to control Fed policy erode trust in the dollar and US government debt

Somali piracy was under control, then Came Iran war

September 8, 2026
Khaled Mahmoud
Bandits off the Horn of Africa have taken advantage of the deteriorating security situation, attacking at least 15 ships this year.

ایران و انقلاب

دربارهٔ انقلاب ایران در بهمن ماه سال هزار و سیصد و پنجاه و هفت که نزدیک به نیم قرن از آن می‌گذرد، بسیار گفته و نوشته شده است. جمهوری اسلامی به رهبری آیت‌الله خمینی از دل این انقلاب بیرون آمد و تا به امروز رژیم اسلامی بر همهٔ نهادهای کشور حکومت، و آنها را مدیریت کرده است. مردم ایران که اکثریت آنها به جمهوری اسلامی رأی دادند، اکنون چنان از این رژیم به ستوه آمده‌اند که هر ثانیه آرزوی نابودی آن را دارند، اما هیچ نیروی دیگری برای جایگزینی این رژیم ننگین وجود ندارد.ا

Why America Can’t Strangle Iran

September 8, 2026
Esfandyar Batmanghelidj

The Sources of Tehran’s Economic Resilience

 

At a local market in Bandar Abbas, Iran, August 2026 Majid Asgaripour / Reuters

Iran to declare new ‘restricted zone’ outside Strait of Hormuz – official

September 7, 2026

Tehran will slap sanctions on any vessel entering the area, the National Security Council secretary has said

On Labor Day, Mamdani Announces First-of-Its Kind ‘Office of Worker Power’ in NYC

September 7, 2026
Jake Johnson

“We’re setting it up to help workers organize in an economy where more and more is stacked against them.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signs an executive order establishing the Office of Worker Power on September 7, 2026. (Photo: New York City Mayor’s Office)

In War Crime, Trump sinks Civilian Iranian Tanker, disables 2 Others

September 6, 2026
Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration continues to fire on civilian Iranian targets in a campaign that has intensified in the first week of September, after a relatively quiet August, returning the two countries to an dangerous active war footing. On Saturday, the U.S. Navy sank one Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. The sailors were warned beforehand to abandon ship. US strikes badly damaged two other tankers by firing at the stern, one near Kharg Island and another near the port of Jask.

Evidence points to direct US hit on Iran wedding – Reuters

September 3, 2026

Vice President J.D. Vance says Washington is investigating the strike, which killed five people

FILE PHOTO. Iranians gather at a cemetery to commemorate victims, most of them children, killed in a US Israeli attack on a primary school in Minab, Iran on March 20, 2026. © Getty Images / Hassan Ghaedi/Anadolu

Explosions near Kharg Island amid Reports US Struck Iranian Oil Tanker

September 5, 2026

Explosions were heard near Iran’s strategic Kharg Island Saturday amid Iranian media reports that US forces struck an oil tanker nearby.

‘There was blood everywhere’: Survivors recount US strike on wedding in Iran

September 4, 2026

Witnesses describe chaos and devastation as a family celebration instantly turned into a night of mourning

A medic runs an ultrasound on an injured child following an overnight strike in Kuhestak, southern Iran, on 2 September 2026 (Morteza Akhondi/Tasnim News/AFP)