Will Iran regime fall, or just another umpteenth fail of protesters? (rerun hobbies)

[Zinjanthropos]

Just keep taking heads until some more rational ones prevail in Iran.

First choice was son of Khamenei - still alive (probably) after nearly three weeks. Seeking a rational head by a process of elimination could take some time.

In the pic there's a guy strolling past that fire like its a normal day in the ME, he'd be my choice.

[Yazata]

Tesla has just made Tesla charging free in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

And Tesla has added Israel as well.

Reports coming in that multiple American B-52's took off minutes ago from Britain, presumably headed towards Iran.

One of the revolving-chairs leadership of Hezbollah in Lebanon (as Israel kills their leaders over and over) is threatening to overthrow the Lebanese government and execute Lebanon's leaders. I'm not sure what his complaint is. The Lebanese government has long allowed Hezbollah to operate more or less freely in Lebanon. (Hezbollah has long been stronger than the official Lebanese army.) But now Israel seems to be preparing for a major invasion of southern Lebanon, and I'm guessing the Lebanese army doesn't want to fight the Israelis and that's pissed off Hezbollah.

[Syne]

Just keep taking heads until some more rational ones prevail in Iran.

First choice was son of Khamenei - still alive (probably) after nearly three weeks. Seeking a rational head by a process of elimination could take some time.

In the pic there's a guy strolling past that fire like its a normal day in the ME, he'd be my choice.

All indications are that Mojtaba Khamenei is maimed or in a coma, hence why only written messages... likely from another member of the government. They will likely try to present an image of a surviving, functional government as long as they can.

Yeah, the average Joe would be better.

[Zinjanthropos]

Just keep taking heads until some more rational ones prevail in Iran.

First choice was son of Khamenei - still alive (probably) after nearly three weeks. Seeking a rational head by a process of elimination could take some time.

In the pic there's a guy strolling past that fire like its a normal day in the ME, he'd be my choice.

All indications are that Mojtaba Khamenei is maimed or in a coma, hence why only written messages... likely from another member of the government. They will likely try to present an image of a surviving, functional government as long as they can.

Yeah, the average Joe would be better.

Written messages hard to track electronically. Mojtaba, if in a coma, isn't writing any messages either. I believe Moj is running things about as much as I believe Iranian parents are sending their kids to school while a war is raging.

[Yazata]

Two Iranian ballistic missiles have impacted in the outskirts of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Plumes of black smoke are visible. Unknown what was struck. Iran seems to be aiming at oil and gas infrastructure today.

There's a large fire at the Ras Laffan refinery in Qatar, after a drone attack there. Ras Laffan is said to be the largest LNG export terminal in the world.

Today's attacks on oil infrastructure might have been triggered by the Israelis hitting the Fars natural gas plant in Bushehr province in southern Iran. (See photo below) Satellite imagery confirms that what is burning are the distillation trains that strip water and other chemical impurities from the natural gas.

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According to Bloomberg

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Meanwhile in Tampa Florida

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And photos have been released showing damage at the Naval Support Activity Bahrain which Iran attacked earlier in the war. It was largely evacuated at the time and no casualties were reported

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[Yazata]

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A number of strikes were aimed at the Basij last night in multiple locations. More than a dozen top leaders of the Basij were targeted. The Israelis say that this was a joint US/Israeli effort.

Apparently the Americans and Israelis are getting a lot of information on who and what is located where from the Iranian dissidents. We can be reasonably certain that both the Mossad and the CIA are working hard to cultivate networks of informants.

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At least 23 locations were struck at a single industrial area in east Tehran. It's speculated that this manufactured military goods of some kind.

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The Shelter in Place order at McDill Air Force Base in Tampa Florida has been lifted. Apparently they received a threat and a suspicious package was found at the base visitor center. The package was determined to be inert and the warning was lifted. McDill is the headquarters of US Central Command and of American Special Operations forces.

McDill remains at FPCON Charlie, the second highest force protection condition, invoked when intelligence indicates that a terrorist attack is likely. (The highest level Delta is when an attack is immanent.)

[Yazata]

Views from four different directions 'triangulate' to confirm that the most serious drone strike at the US Embassy compound in Baghdad Iraq actually struck the compound's power plant.

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[Yazata]

Interesting photos out of Larissa Greece. The Greeks that took the photos initially thought that it was a B-2 bomber. But it appears to be the first public photo of the very mysterious RQ-180, a very large new stealth drone. It was known to have been under development at Area-51(!) but nobody outside the Air Force and their contractors had set eyes on it.

It's about the same size and shape as the new B-21 strategic bomber being tested at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and probably has a similar intercontinental range. But internally it's quite different with a different engine layout and no crew cockpit.

Its presence in that place at this time suggests that it's being used in the Iran war.

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[Yazata]

Today an Iranian missile succeeded in hitting Israel's largest oil refinery in Haifa. Damage appears to be localized though a plume of smoke is visible.

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Iran has been boasting of having shot down an American F-35A stealth fighter with a surface-to-air missile somewhere over Iran. They backed it up with video, except that their video appears to show an infrared-guided missile exploding in the aircraft's hot exhaust plume while the jet continued flying. But the US seems to have confirmed that the jet was damaged by explosive fragments from the nearby explosion but was able to return to a friendly airbase outside Iran where its pilot made an emergency landing.

Screenshot from the Iranian video. The missile explosion can be seen behind the jet which continued on though damaged by fragments.

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Yesterday's drone attack on Qatar's Ras Laffan liquified natural gas refinery, the largest single LNG export terminal in the world, caused significant damage that will take years to repair.

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With that in mind, a huge new LNG export terminal is currently under construction near Starbase at the Port of Brownsville in Texas. It will have 4 or 5 trains, hence will be about 1/3 the capacity of the Ras Laffan terminal. But it should be able to replace the diminished capacity in Qatar in world markets. (What's more, there's talk of significantly expanding it.) The Brownsville terminal is intended to export American liquified natural gas to Europe, in hopes of replacing the Nord stream supply of Russian natural gas.

[Magical Realist]

Evidently it takes a lot of taxpayer money to blow up shit for no reason. I guess they didn't think this thru.

WASHINGTON (AP) — "The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, a sizable amount that is certain to be met with questions from Congress, which would need to approve any new money.

The department sent the request to the White House, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information. Asked about the figure at a press conference Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not directly confirm the amount, saying it could change.

“It takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said.

But he said “we’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded.”

Big price tag faces scrutiny over war

It’s an extraordinarily high number and comes on top of extra funding the Defense Department already received last year in President Donald Trump’s big tax cuts bill. Such a request would need to be approved by Congress, and it is not at all clear such spending would have political support. The nation’s debt has surged past a record $39 trillion.

Congress has been bracing for a new spending request but it is not clear the White House has transmitted the request for consideration. Lawmakers have not authorized the war, and Congress is showing growing unease with the military operation’s scope and strategy.

The new funding request was first reported by The Washington Post."

https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-us-p...7fff389791