Iran war live: China rejects US sanctions on Tehran; Israel hits Lebanon

August 21, 2026
Daniel Khalili-Tari & Christine Maguire

• China says it doesn’t support additional US sanctions on Iran as it calls for dialogue between Tehran and Washington. “Military force and pressure tactics will only lead to escalation that serves no one’s interests,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
• Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the threat of new US economic sanctions, describing the proposed measures as “illegal and inhumane”. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the new sanctions threaten the global economy.
• This comes after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that Washington will impose the “toughest sanctions in history” to “collapse” the Iranian government, calling on other nations, including China, to join the effort.
• Several areas in southern Lebanon, including Bint Jbeil district in Nabatieh province and al-Mansouri town in Tyre, have been hit by Israeli strikes today despite a ceasefire.
• Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says that the war must end at some point, and it is better to end it today while Tehran is in “a position of strength”. He added that Iran will not “bow to bullying”.

 

Exclusive: How Trump tried to bribe the head of the IRGC

August 21, 2026
Empire of Chaos, Lies, Plunder, Piracy. And bribes.
Mike Pompeo, former aspiring Tony Soprano, admitted: “We lie, we cheat, we steal.” And we bribe.

No, Trump, this isn’t regime change — Iran just doubled down on the iron fist

August 20, 2026
There are moments when personnel decisions reveal more about a political system than its speeches, slogans, or diplomatic statements. The military hierarchy now taking shape in Tehran is one of those moments. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei may represent a new leadership at the apex of the Islamic Republic, but the men being elevated around him belong overwhelmingly to an older political world: the revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, intelligence and counterintelligence operations, ideological enforcement, confrontation with Israel and the United States, and the suppression of dissent at home.

The End of the American Middle East

August 18, 2026
Marc Lynch

Iran and the Last Gasp of a Failed Order

Iran May Be Today, But Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring

August 19, 2026
Tom Engelhardt

Hey, Donald Trump couldn’t have made it clearer that he wanted to go to war with Iran, could he?

Report: US Considers Reducing Persian Gulf Military Presence After Iran War

August 18, 2026
Dave DeCamp

Many US bases in the Gulf Arab states were evacuated due to their vulnerability to Iranian attacks

President Trump and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on May 15, 2026 (US Air Force photo)

Personal bankruptcy filings are soaring in 2026, signaling growing economic distress

August 19, 2026
Jay L. Zagorsky
The number of Americans who file for bankruptcy is growing. More than 500,000 people took this step in 2025, nearly 50% more than in 2022. And the numbers have kept on climbing, with a 12% jump in June 2026 from a year earlier as many consumers struggled to pay their bills.

ماهها

ماههای قمریا

ز محرم چو گذشتی برسد ماه صفر

دو ربیع و دو جمادی ز پی یکدیگر

رجب است از پی شعبان، رمضان و شوّال

پس به ذی‌الحجه و ذی‌القعده بکن نیک نظر

Trump labels Strait of Hormuz ‘US territory’ as Iran says Israel is biggest obstacle to negotiations

August 18, 2026
Elis Gjevori

Tehran says the waterway will remain closed until Washington lifts its blockade and fulfils an interim agreement

On 15 August 2026, Iran rejected the US president’s threat to declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory, saying the crucial energy waterway it has blockaded 'will remain Iranian'. (AFP)

Trump Threatens to ‘Bomb the Shit’ Out of Oman as Strait of Hormuz Traffic Again Grinds to a Halt

August 17, 2026
Brad Reed

Trump’s warning to Oman over its negotiations with Iran comes as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is once again putting upward pressure on petroleum prices.

Imperialism in a Full World: Neomercantilism and the Return of the Zero-Sum Game

August 17, 2026
Alberto Garzón
In September 2010, a Chinese fishing vessel was detained by the Japanese Coast Guard near the disputed Senkaku Islands. China’s unofficial response was to halt rare-earth exports to Japan—a country whose entire electronics industry depended on them. The dispute was brief: Japan released the captain, and China never formally acknowledged the embargo. But that episode became a geopolitical watershed, exposing the enormous dependence of the developed world on a single country’s monopoly over the minerals that are indispensable for the energy and digital transitions. Interdependence, once praised as a virtue of globalization, had become a weapon and a vulnerability.1

Dora Weiland (1892-?) from Wietze uses a hand scoop to fill barrels with oil that has run together in pits. By Unknown author - Deutsches Erdölmuseum Wietze (Erdoel Museum), CC BY 2.5, Link.

Trump reinvents the Portuguese Empire with Plan to make Hormuz US Territory

August 16, 2026
Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump said in a speech on Saturday that he wants to make the Strait of Hormuz part of the United States.

Netanyahu’s réprise of the ‘Iraq WMD deceit’ – re-launched to promote war on Iran

August 15, 2026

Trump’s pivot to economic pressure as the key to Iranian capitulation is not a credible strategy.

Iran war live: US eyes ‘indefinite’ naval blockade, vows to isolate Tehran

August 14, 2026
Yashraj Sharma and Caolán Magee

• US Vice President JD Vance has outlined Washington’s key objectives in the Iran conflict as keeping energy prices stable for Americans, preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons and securing a stronger US position.
• US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says that the US can sustain its blockade against Iran “indefinitely”.
• Iran’s military disputes US assertions that maritime traffic is flowing normally through the Strait of Hormuz, maintaining that no vessel passes without its authorisation.
• US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the United States will apply economic measures against Iran that have “never been seen” before in efforts to isolate Tehran.

 

Sen. Van Hollen: Iran war is illegal and we cannot fund another dime

August 14, 2026

Martin Di Caro

In an interview with RS, the senator discusses Israeli influence in the US, whether Libya was a mistake, and more

 

Iran’s next front isn’t the Middle East — it’s America’s backyard

August 13, 2026
Jose Lev Alvarez
When Israeli officials revealed in November 2025 that Mexican security services had disrupted an Iranian plot to assassinate Jerusalem’s ambassador in Mexico City, naive Washington bureaucrats predictably responded with surprise. Mexico’s regime mendaciously denied the operation. Yet, Israeli intelligence identified its architect as Hasan Izadi, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force operative embedded within the Iranian Embassy in Caracas. Diplomatic whitewashing cannot erase the chilling warning: Tehran is actively preparing murder in the Americas.

Tehran says 'Hormuz is ours' after Trump claims ownership of strait

August 13, 2026

The president went on social media and said that the waterway is under 'full US control'

‘Lies and Fabrications’: Khatam al-Anbiya Rejects US Claims on Hormuz

August 13, 2026

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters says Hormuz remains closed and under Tehran’s control, rejecting US claims of normalized maritime traffic.

Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters. (Photo: Video grab)

America’s Fatal Attraction to War

August 12, 2026
Emma Ashford

The Perverse Incentives for Presidents to Use Military Force

تاریخ

کسانی‌ که به تاریخ علاقه‌مندند و وقایع تاریخی‌ را مطالعه می‌کنند، هر یک از دید خاصی‌ به آن رویدادها می‌نگرند. ولی‌ آنچه که بیش از همه جلب توجه می‌کند جنگ‌ها و لشگر‌کشی‌هاست که در هر دورهٔ تاریخی‌ بی‌وقفه ادامه دارند. نه تنها داستان جنگ‌ها و لشگرکشی‌ها، بلکه مرور ابداعات و اختراعات جنگی و سلاح‌هائی که ضایعاتِ انسانیِ و نظامیِ نیروی خودی را کمتر، و در عوض خسارات جنگی دشمن را چند برابر می‌کنند. گرچه جوامع بشری همواره و در طول تاریخ با اختراعات و اکتشافات و نوآوری‌های خود رو به پیشرفت بوده‌ا‌ند، بلکه همواره در نقطه‌ای از این کرهٔ خاکی درگیری نظامی بین دولت‌ها و ملت‌ها رقم خورده است. ولی‌ روند جوامع همیشه به سمت بهتر و راحت‌تر زیستن بوده است، و بسیاری از جنگ‌ها نیز به منظور تحت اختیار گرفتن و یا غلبه کردن بر آن نوآوری‌های نظامی بوده‌ا‌ند. دانشمندان همیشه با کاوش و تجسّسِ خود کشف کرده‌ا‌ند که چگونه می‌توان از آنچه که در دسترس بشر قرار دارد، چون عوامل جوّی و رودها و اقیانوس‌ها، و سایر ثروت‌های طبیعت مانند کشتزارها و معادن،  و انرژی خورشیدی، و هر آنچه که در این کرهٔ خاکی یافت می‌شود، به منظور راحت زیستن استفاده بهتر و شایانی کرد.ا