"Acid Rain" Fears In Tehran As Israeli Strikes On Oil Depots Send Toxic Smoke Over City

03/09/26 11:32 AM

Iran's environmental agency warned people in Tehran to stay indoors. Red Crescent said toxic chemicals in the drizzle could lead hurt skin and lungs.

"Every Effort Being Made To Bring Back Stuck Indians": S Jaishankar On Iran War

03/09/26 11:43 AM

Dialogue and diplomacy are the only way out of the Middle East crisis, and the government is closely monitoring developments in the region that is home to millions of Indians, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said in Parliament today.

"Small Price To Pay": Trump Defends Iran War Decision As Oil Soars Over $100

03/09/26 10:02 AM

Oil prices surged above $100 a barrel for the first time in nearly four years on Sunday over worries that the spiralling Middle East war could create prolonged supply disruptions.

'A deep embarrassment': White House sparks outrage with latest Iran 'propaganda' video

03/06/26 4:26 AM

Political analysts and observers were outraged on Thursday after the White House posted its most recent "propaganda" video about the Iran war. The White House published a montage of strikes against Iranian targets interspersed with clips from popular action movies and television shows. The video was captioned, "JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY," on X. It was posted at a time when the Trump administration is facing growing scrutiny for its actions in Iran. On Thursday, the New York Times published an investigation determining that the U.S. had bombed a girls's chool in Iran and killed 175 civilians in the process. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is also challenging the president's reasons for conducting the bombing campaign in the first place. Political analysts and observers shared their reactions on social media. "A deep embarrassment to us all," The Tennessee Holler posted on X. "The entire Trump Cabinet is made up of people play acting actual leaders and now they do videos confirming it," political commentator Neera Tanden posted on X. "Confirming all suspicions of propaganda," journalist Natali Morris posted on X. "This is a f------ disgrace," Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch, posted on X. "There is something in this that seems a poor reflection on people losing their children, sisters, and brothers. They should hire adults," physician David Bell posted on X. JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/0502N6a3rL— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 6, 2026

'Antichrist ideology': GOP lawmaker attacks 'demonic' Texas Dem in unhinged broadcast

03/06/26 5:38 PM

Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) suggested that James Talarico, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Texas, was possessed by demons.The West Virginia Republican attacked the Texas hopeful during a Friday interview with MAGA influencer Benny Johnson."You're fighting for light," Johnson said while introducing Moore. "Christians throughout the world, quite frankly, under persecution. Christians always are the ones who get persecuted, beheaded, slaughtered.""They're always the ones who get trod under and nobody ever talks about them and it's evil," he continued. "You're a man of faith yourself that is actually talking about it."For his part, Moore claimed that protesters had demonstrated outside of his church in West Virginia, but did not allege they broke the law."I had people protesting me outside of my church. My family and I going on," he explained. "They showed up from wherever the hell they're from. And, you know, me and my family were just trying to go to Mass. And here they are. You know, I mean, no, no space is sacred to them.""Now we just got to make sure that James Talarico doesn't get into the Senate," Johnson said before ending the interview. "I mean, that guy saying that Jesus loves abortion and loves transing of the kids and that God is non-binary. I feel dirty, Congressman, just repeating his blasphemes and heresy on my show. I'm telling you what he says. It is antithetical to the Bible. It's actually anti-Christian. It's actually Antichrist's ideology.""I think he is demonic," Moore remarked. "And I think we need to keep an eye on that and watchful eye because there are other forces of work in my view."Johnson replied: "It's a defiling of God's order. It's a defiling of God's nature. Yeah. And it's pretty simple. It's nice. Even a even a, even a community college graduate like me can get it, Congressman."Talarico, a 36-year-old part-time Presbyterian seminarian and former middle school teacher, has built a political platform rooted in Christian theology and social justice. Talarico uses scripture to champion the poor and vulnerable, relying on Christ's teachings to challenge corporate interests and political divisions. He has gained national attention for using his theological background to criticize Christian nationalism, condemning it as a "betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth" that "worships power in the name of Christ." On his campaign website, Talarico references "a barefoot rabbi" who issued two overriding commandments: love God and love your neighbor, "because there is no love of God without love of neighbor." He writes that "every single person bears the image of the sacred; every single person is holy — not just the neighbors who look like me or pray like me or vote like me," and calls for followers to adopt the spirit of that rabbi who "walked into the seat of power and flipped over the tables of injustice," arguing it is time to "start flipping tables." His opposition to a Ten Commandments bill went viral when he declared: "Maybe they should try following the Ten Commandments before mandating them," demonstrating his conviction that genuine faith should guide political action rather than serve as political theater.

'He blew it': ​President found to have tossed away 'golden opportunity' to stop Iran war

03/08/26 6:22 PM

Even some conservatives are sounding the alarm after a report revealed that Donald Trump apparently threw away a "golden opportunity" to de-escalate a global conflict and bring an end to the Iran war.It started with a report from Trita Parsi, an Iranian-Swedish writer and political analyst, who sought to reveal what happened with Iran issuing a reconciliation video to its neighboring nations. When that dropped, Trump seized on the opportunity to humiliate Iran, but Parsi shows how that could have been the wrong move."Speaking to several people involved on all sides, I believe I have gotten to the bottom of the story about Pezeshkian's video message - and how Trump blew up a golden opportunity to de-escalate the war," he wrote. "Here's what happened: Regional efforts at de-escalation in the war had convinced Iran to gradually adjust its regional retaliation conduct. In a first step, the Iranian President, as head of the interim leadership council, announced that attacks on neighboring countries would cease as long as their territories wouldn't be used to attack Iran. This is why Pezeshkian issued that video statement."According to the analyst, "Regional states were then expected to respond in kind. This would, understandably, take a few hours, as they were monitoring whether Iran's attacks were being reduced."Then Trump entered the situation."But before they could reciprocate the reconciliatory tone and take regional de-escalation to the next level, Trump issued his Truth Social post that declared victory, insulted and humiliated Iran, and even issued further threats of 'complete destruction and certain death'. To make matters worse, the US also crossed another red line shortly thereafter by attacking the water desalination plant at Qeshm Island. (This is incidentally a war crime according to Article 54 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions)," according to the political expert.He then added, "Trump's actions deliberately or inadvertently sabotaged the sensitive de-escalation talks in the region, which is why there was also an uptick by prominent GCC accounts blaming Trump for the war. Had Trump not done this, chances are that, at a minimum, the regional widening of this war would have been halted and reversed. With last night’s attacks by Israel on Iran‘s oil infrastructure, we can only assume how Iran may retaliate. We’ve entered a new phase of this high-intensity war."Former Republican John Jackson shared that analysis and added, "Trump blew it, if this is correct." That post from Jackson was also shared by another former Republican, attorney George Conway.

'Iran School Struck By Tomahawk, Israel Not Known To Have It': Fact-Checker

03/09/26 11:20 AM

The Feb 28 strike on a military compound in Iran's Minab in which a school was struck and over 165 people, mostly children were killed has been traced to a Tomahawk missile, a conflict researcher with Dutch fact-checking group Bellingcat said.

'Lazarus' species previously thought extinct confirmed to be alive in Indonesia

03/07/26 4:48 PM

Two species of marsupials previously believed to be extinct were confirmed alive in the Indonesian half of New Guinea by researchers.

'Reckless' Trump hid Iran invasion plans from Kristi Noem's DHS: former official

03/06/26 5:48 PM

Prior to Donald Trump's attack on Iran, which has grown into a war with no end in sight, there is no indication that the White House alerted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which, since its founding, has been tasked with preventing retaliatory attacks in the US.Appearing on MS NOW with host Anna Cabrera, former DHS chief of staff Miles Taylor claimed that, from what he has heard from staffers at the agency under now-fired DHS head Kristi Noem, they all were kept in the dark.Brought on to talk about Noem’s ouster and the selection of Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Ok) to replace her, Taylor instead warned that the county is now at risk after the way Noem, with Trump’s blessing, has changed the emphasis at DHS from national security to immigration enforcement.According to Taylor, the failure to bring all stakeholders in and explain what was about to transpire in Iran was, and is, dangerous.“When we are in a war that's a really, really big deal,” he told the host. “And you don't have to play the violin for Kristi Noem to say that’s a reckless and irresponsible thing to do.”“There's a bigger question here, too,” he emphasized, “which is, did the Department of Homeland Security even know strikes were going to happen against Iran? Was Kristi Noem or her team even brought in to conversations to prepare for this? I have seen no indication; no one at DHS has told me that has happened.”“That, in and of itself, is reckless,” he warned. “So Markwayne Mullin, if he does get confirmed, is coming into a department unlike any other secretary of Homeland Security ever before. We've never had a new secretary confirmed in the middle of a war where the possibility of imminent attack is happening. That's very, very serious.” - YouTube youtu.be

'Unconscionable': Fury as investigation finds US likely killed 175 in Iran school strike

03/05/26 11:49 PM

Political analysts and observers were outraged on Thursday after an investigation determined that the U.S. was likely responsible for a Feb. 28 strike on a girls' school in Iran that killed 175 civilians, many of whom were children. The New York Times reported on Thursday that the strike on the girls' school in Minab was "severely damaged" around the same time that U.S. forces were conducting an attack against an "adjacent naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps." The Times added that "official statements ... suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.""In the several days since the attack, U.S. officials have neither confirmed nor denied responsibility," according to the report. "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that an investigation was underway. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters on Sunday that 'as of now,' he was not aware of any Israeli military operation 'in that area' at the time.""U.S. officials in public statements have indicated that on the day in question, U.S. planes were conducting operations in the region where the school was located," it added.Political analysts and observers expressed outrage on social media. "It is unconscionable that there has still been no attempt by either the US or Israel to account, let alone apologise, for the killing last Saturday of more than 150 people at the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school in Minab, southern Iran," Peter Westmacott, former British Ambassador to Turkey, posted on X. "Simply heartbreaking," activist Amy Siskind posted on X. "It seems like the most obvious thing to say in the world, but people need to be held accountable for the murder of children during an illegal war," Benjamin McKean, associate professor of political science at Ohio State University, posted on Bluesky. "Yet any real accountability for this will clearly require a radical political break." "When Pete Hegseth starts flexing in front of American flags and talking about 'death and destruction from the sky,' this is what he’s talking about: dozens of little girls murdered," Stephen Cohen, managing editor at The Atlantic, posted on Bluesky. "Investigate it, be open about it, hold folks accountable to why it happened, be public what action is taken," writer Andrew Donaldson posted on X. " [The] argument 'we are the good guys' depends on such things when things go horribly wrong, like it appears it did here."