Image is of destruction and damage inside Israel, sourced from this article.
Iran and Israel have struck each other many times over the last few days. There has been a general focus on military facilities and headquarters by both sides, though Israel has also struck oil facilities, civilian structures and hospitals, and in return for this, Iran has struck major scientific centers and the Haifa oil facilities.
Israel appears to have three main aims. First, to collapse the Iranian state, either through shock and breakdown by killing enough senior officials, or via some sort of internal military coup. Second, to try and destroy Iranian nuclear sites and underground missile cities, or at least to paralyze them long enough to achieve the first and third goals. And third, to bring the US into a direct conflict with Iran. This is because the US better equipped to fight them than Israel is (though victory would still not be guaranteed depending on what Iran chooses to do).
Iranian nuclear facilities are hidden deep underground (800 meters), far beyond the depth range of even the most powerful bunker busters (~70 meters or so), and built such that the visible ground entrances are horizontally far away in an unknown direction from the actual underground chambers. Only an extremely competent full-scale American bombing force all simultaneously using multiple of the most powerful conventional (perhaps even nuclear) bunker busters could even hypothetically hope to breach them (and we have seen how, in practice, American bunker busters have largely failed to impair or deter Ansarallah). There are several analysts on both sides who have concluded that it is entirely impossible to physically prevent Iran from building nukes.
I fully expect the US to join the war. I believe the current ambiguity is a deliberate invention of the US while they work to move their military assets into position, and as soon as they are ready, the US will start bombing Iran. After that, Iran’s leadership must - if they haven’t already - harden their hearts, and strike back with no fear, or risk following the path of Libya, Syria, and Iraq, either into either surrender, occupation, or annihilation. Every day where they do not possess a nuke is a day where lives are being lost and cities are being bombed.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Israelis are not allowed to leave the country. Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev
We are on track for a 10,000 comment thread with 1,000 comments in 16 hours.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DK7GqSzqWCH/
If anybody needs a bit of respite before the plunge, witness the cutest Donkey parade in Gaza to honor donkeys for helping them without electricity/gas.
https://aje.io/gn5i1t?update=3780366
Israelis in ‘shock’ as Iranian missiles hit their targets
Bernard Smith ~Reporting from Amman, Jordan~
Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli broadcasting authority is saying that several missiles fell in open areas injuring several Israelis who fled to shelters.
We are waiting on some more details on that. The most significant damage so far has been to Haifa port where refinery operations have been halted because of severe damage to the refinery. This is one of two refineries. Israel refines a large chunk of petrol, diesel and jet fuel, and it will be considerably inconveniencing and difficult for Israel to manage.
Israelis have never experienced anything like this in the last 40 or 50 years. So it’s come as a bit of a shock to a lot of Israelis.
Israelis are beginning to realise that this is a very, very dangerous situation that they are in. Nevertheless, Israelis always rally around the flag. They may not like Benjamin Netanyahu or his extreme right-wing government – he personally remains unpopular – but Israelis will rally around the flag when the country is under attack.
~Smoke and fire rise after an Iranian missile attack on Israel, at Haifa port, on June 15, 2025 [Rami Shlush/Reuters]~
https://aje.io/gn5i1t?update=3780445
Israeli soldier killed, three seriously wounded in southern Gaza
Israel’s military has confirmed that one soldier has been killed and three seriously injured in the southern Gaza Strip.
The military identified the deceased as a 20-year-old sergeant in Israel’s Golani Brigade’s 12th battalion, while the three “seriously injured” soldiers were also from the same unit. All three have been evacuated from the Palestinian territory.
Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military reported than a 28-year-old captain from the Golani Brigade’s engineering battalion was also killed in southern Gaza.
~The Israeli army evacuates wounded soldiers from Gaza in December 2023 [File: Nir Keidar/Anadolu]~
I don’t know what to believe anymore. If this is coincidence I’m stunned by the timing
PRELIMINARY: The Liberian-flagged vessel Front Eagle collided with the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged ship
https://aje.io/gn5i1t?update=3780384
Trump weighing use of US bomb on Iranian nuclear facility, NYT says
The US president is deliberating whether to enter the conflict with Iran to bomb its nuclear enrichment facility at Fordo, according to The New York Times.
The facility can only be reached using the US’s biggest “bunker buster” bomb, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, using American B-2 bombers, according to The Times.
“If he decides to go ahead, the United States will become a direct participant in a new conflict in the Middle East, taking on Iran in exactly the kind of war Mr. Trump has sworn, in two campaigns, he would avoid,” reporters David E Sanger and Jonathan Swan write.
Notably, the piece is tagged under “analysis” instead of news, and does not cite a source or sources for its contention that such a strike is under consideration.
So, was Iran much more cautious today, and that’s why we haven’t seen Israel bombarded? Or is it something else?
Fed accounts say US will launch an attack in the next 72 hours.
I would believe it, Trump isn’t bluffing, he does what he says he’ll do.
History rhymes or whatever
On 12 May 2019, four commercial ships were damaged off Fujairah’s coast in the Gulf of Oman. The ships included two Saudi Arabian registered oil tankers, a Norwegian registered oil tanker, and an Emirati registered bunkering ship. The ships were anchored on the United Arab Emirates territorial waters for bunkering in Port of Fujairah. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates reported that the ships had been subject to a “sabotage attack”. The United Arab Emirates launched a joint investigation probe with United States and France. The initial investigation assessment determined that 5-to-10-foot (1.5 to 3.0 m) holes near or below all the ships’ waterlines were probably caused by explosive charges.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2019_Gulf_of_Oman_incident
President Trump wants J.D. Vance and Steve Witkoff to meet with Iranian officials later this week
- Telegram
Is JD going to kill Khamenei?
While all this has been going on, Russia just bombed Kyiv, with lots of Kh-101 cruise missiles launched from Tu-95MSM and Tu-160 strategic bombers. They can be seen deploying flares before striking in this video
Somewhere in the depths of hell, John McCain is smiling
UK Maritime Agency ‘Ambrey’ Confirms: ‘We are aware of an incident occurring 22 nautical miles East of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman’
So what did Iran get in exchange for giving Russia a shitload of Geran/Shahed drones and letting them copy the model for domestic production? Remember all those military flights between the two and the agreements on shared military research?
@MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net our resident missile sicko, do you think Russia could have shared the Oreshnik technology with Iran? Would that be useful to them as it could reliably deliver nuclear payloads (assuming Iran gets nukes)? Or is that role already covered by the Qassem Bassir? I believe Oreshnik has 36 submunitions and hits at higher speeds instead of one large payload, which would make it a better delivery vehicle. Outside of nuclear applications though, I don’t imagine it would be very useful in this conflict?
