U.S. Intelligence Saw No Change in Iran’s Missile Capabilities Before War
Two top intelligence officials directly contradicted one of the Trump administration’s justifications for going to war with Iran, repeating on Wednesday the intelligence community’s conclusion that Iran was years away from developing missiles capable of hitting the United States…
US intelligence chief struggles to avoid contradicting Donald Trump on Iran war
Pressed repeatedly on whether the intelligence community had assessed that Iran posed “an imminent nuclear threat” ahead of the start of the US-Israel attack on February 28 — one of the administration’s main justifications for the war — Gabbard said: “It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat. That is up to the president.”…
On Iran, Gabbard Turned Intelligence Duties Over to Trump
She had the unenviable task at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday of squaring Mr. Trump’s comments about an urgent nuclear threat from Iran with a letter from one of her trusted aides that the country posed no “imminent threat.”
Her answer? Only the president can decide what is an “imminent” threat. In other words, she was turning one of the key roles of the intelligence community’s 80,000 employees — to make nonpolitical judgments about threats to American security — over to Mr. Trump…
F.B.I. Investigates Joe Kent, Whose Resignation Over Iran War Angered Trump
Mr. Kent is under investigation for a possible intelligence leak, according to people familiar with the situation. The inquiry is said to predate his resignation this week as the top U.S. counterterrorism official…
Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib has been killed, the country’s president has confirmed.
Masoud Pezeshkian said the “cowardly assassination” had left Iran “in deep mourning”, after Israel said on Wednesday it had killed Khatib in an air strike.
It comes a day after Israel announced it had killed Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, and head of the paramilitary Basij force, Gholamreza Soleimani, in strikes…
Trump threatens to ‘blow up’ world’s largest gas field if Iran keeps attacking Qatar
President Donald Trump threatened to “blow up” the world’s largest gas field, a key Iranian asset, if Tehran keeps up its attacks on Qatar. He also said the US “knew nothing” about Israel’s plan to strike the South Pars field yesterday. Oil prices surged again as energy facilities in the region came under attack…
Qatar Reports More Attacks on Energy Infrastructure as Oil Prices Rise
Qatar blamed Tehran for strikes on its natural gas facilities, a day after Iran’s largest natural gas source was hit. The price of oil climbed to $114 a barrel as uncertainty over the war’s impacts on energy supplies grew…
Iran inflicts ‘extensive damage’ on site of world’s largest LNG facility in Qatar
Analysts said the attack had the potential to cause a “lasting global gas shortage” depending on the scale of the damage, as Ras Laffan is normally responsible for about a fifth of global LNG supplies.
“Even when the war ends, the impact on supply could last months or even years as repairs are undertaken,” said Saul Kavonic, energy analyst at MST Financial…
Oil Prices Keep Climbing on Heightened Fears Over Energy Supplies
The price of Brent crude rose to $112 a barrel on Thursday, an increase of over 4 percent. Brent, the global benchmark for crude oil, settled on Wednesday at $107.38 a barrel, bringing the cost of the commodity up over 48 percent since the war began…
US considering selling oil from strategic reserve, US energy chief says
The U.S. is considering coordinating sales of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve with releases from other countries as prices soar during the war on Iran, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Monday.
Wright also said the U.S. has “some other options” on allowing more sales of Russian oil held in tankers on the water in Asia. Late last week, for instance, Washington issued a 30-day waiver allowing the sale of Russian crude currently stranded at sea to continue to India…
Trump ally warns US economy not strong enough to cope with Iran war
“I don’t think this is an economy that is going to be able to handle $100 a barrel for oil, it’s just not,” EJ Antoni told the FT.
“The economy is weaker than we thought it was, and inflation is worse than we thought it was,” he added in a call on Wednesday, shortly before the Federal Reserve’s March rate-setting meeting…
Federal Reserve chief Jay Powell says Iran oil crisis will worsen US inflation
Powell said on Wednesday that in the near term, “higher energy prices will push up overall inflation, but it is too soon to know the scope and duration of the potential effects on the economy”…
Escalating Attacks on Gulf Energy Assets Plunge Iran War Into New Phase
Escalating attacks on Persian Gulf oil-and-gas infrastructure are sending the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran into a dangerous new phase that threatens to worsen the crisis over global energy supplies.
Israel struck at the crown jewel of Iran’s energy industry on Wednesday—the giant South Pars gas field that Iran shares with Qatar and is by far the largest in the world. Iran retaliated with two attacks on a major gas hub in Qatar just across the Gulf and a missile barrage fired at the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with debris landing near a refinery…
Drones over base where Rubio, Hegseth live raise security concerns
The military is monitoring potential threats more closely because of the heightened alert level as the United States and Israel strike Iran, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. Multiple drones were spotted over Fort Lesley J. McNair on a single night in the last 10 days, the official said, prompting increased securitymeasures and a meeting at the White House to discuss how to respond…
Pentagon seeks more than $200 billion in budget request for Iran war
That number would far surpass the costs of the administration’s massive airstrike campaign to date and instead seek to urgently increase production of critical weaponry expended as U.S. and Israeli forces have struck thousands of targets over the past three weeks, according to three other people familiar with the matter, who confirmed that the Defense Department is seeking packages of that size…
US explored tying naval escorts in Strait of Hormuz to government insurance
The administration has since considered requiring ships that want a navy escort to buy insurance under a programme run by DFC along with Chubb, a private insurer, instead of buying commercial insurance in the private market.
It remains unclear if the Trump administration will proceed with the mandatory component of the programme, which senior industry figures believe could generate tens of millions of dollars in profit provided ships were not struck by Iran…
For U.S., Unmet Expectations in Iran Fit a Familiar Pattern in the Region
Iran’s military retaliation, along with the political defiance of its new leaders, evokes a decades-old pattern of unrealized goals for American interventions in the region…
How Israel killing leaders in Iran could complicate Trump’s search for an endgame
But while such assassinations hold powerful symbolism, their long-term political and strategic impacts are less clear. For one thing, martyrdom is embedded in the ideology of the Iranian Islamic Republic.
So, while eliminating a top seam of leadership might shorten the war, it might also incite vengeance while closing diplomatic off-ramps — dragging the war on longer…
Iran sets its price to end the war
Islamic regime is digging in for a protracted conflict as it seeks to ensure the US and Israel will not attack again…
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