Pentagon investigation into Iran school strike being finalized
Center Left
WASHINGTON — Senior U.S. military officials are in the final stages of reviewing an internal investigation into a deadly airstrike on an Iranian elementary school and preparing to share it with lawmakers, according to a person familiar with the probe.
The Justice Department Fraud Taskforce announced today fifteen individuals, 11 illegal aliens and four U.S. citizens, have been charged and arrested for benefit fraud in Massachusetts. The defendants are charged with more than $1.4 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit fraud, MassHealth benefit fraud and disability and unemployment benefit fraud. Assistant AG Colin […]
The post DOJ Announces 15 Individuals Indicted in Massachusetts Fraud Investigation, 11 Illegal Aliens and 4 U.S. Nationals appeared first on The Last Refuge.
The U.S. military lifted its naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S., Iran and intermediaries signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end the conflict in the Middle East. U.S. forces ended the blockade, which barred maritime traffic from entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, the U.S. Central Command (Centcom)…
US President Donald Trump’s war with Iran may finally be reaching a close. But consumers and businesses around the world will continue to pay the price in the months ahead as still-elevated energy costs funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to fossil fuel giants.That’s according to a report from the environmental group 350.org released Thursday, following Trump’s signing of a memorandum of understanding with Iran this week to begin the process of formally ending a war that has sent global oil prices skyrocketing and saddled ordinary people with record fuel prices.The group estimated that just 110 days of war resulted in the transfer of an additional $374 billion from consumers and businesses into the coffers of oil and gas companies beyond what would have been expected had the war never been launched.And while Trump claims his agreement to end the war this week will avert an “economic catastrophe,” there will likely still be tremendous pain even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens promptly.Using oil and gas pricing scenarios from the International Monetary Fund’s April 2026 World Economic Outlook and data on global consumption, 350.org predicted that by the end of the year, consumers and businesses will spend an additional $199.8 billion on oil and $128.1 billion on gas above a non-war scenario, making for a grand total of more than $700 billion as a result of the war.This, the group said, is a conservative estimate, as it does not even take into account knock-on effects. The war will ultimately end up costing much more when factoring in inflation across the rest of the economy, resulting from higher fuel costs or fertilizer shortages caused by the strait’s closure, which has affected food prices.It also does not take into account the resulting effects on economic output or employment as rising costs and lower consumer spending force companies to tighten their belts.“The oil and gas industry is draining billions from people and businesses on the back of a war that has killed thousands and pushed millions toward poverty and hunger,” said Andreas Sieber, head of political Strategy at 350.org.“Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens tomorrow, we should expect prices to remain above pre-crisis levels,” he said. “We witness not only a massive fossil fuel crisis but a vast upward transfer of wealth built on instability of fossil fuel markets and pain.”While the war has brought it into starker relief, previous reports from 350.org have shown that even if the US had never attacked Iran, the continued global dependence on fossil fuels was resulting in trillions of dollars of avoidable costs each year, including $9.3 trillion to mitigate climate-related damages and air pollution-related deaths each year, costs that disproportionately fall on the world’s poorest.In order to alleviate economic strain from the war, Sieber said, “governments should tax these excess profits now and use the revenues to protect people, cut bills, and rapidly deploy renewables that make households and small businesses less vulnerable to the next fossil fuel shock.”Estimates of inflation also do not account for how the war has heightened global instability and poverty, which will require additional resources for humanitarian relief efforts. In late April, the United Nations Development Program estimated that even if the conflict had ended then, more than 32 million people worldwide would be pushed into economic precarity.This is not to mention the resources that will need to be expended to address the harms caused by the war itself.In exchange for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, a portion of the memorandum of understanding requires the US to work with “regional partners,” presumably other Persian Gulf allies, to scrounge up at least $300 billion to help Iran pay for reconstruction and economic development after the country was devastated by American and Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure and millions were displaced.As a report from the International Rescue Committee detailed last week, the Iran war has also had cascading effects on other conflicts and catastrophes.“Six months ago, the IRC warned that a New World Disorder was emerging,” said David Miliband, the humanitarian group’s president and CEO. “Since then, disorder has not only grown but accelerated. A war with Iran. A million people have been forced to flee their homes in Lebanon. A brewing global food security catastrophe that risks plunging millions more people into acute hunger. An expanding Ebola outbreak. Defanged diplomacy and collapsing aid budgets.”“The Iran war couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” Miliband said in a New Yorker article published Thursday. “It set off a chain of events that’s very damaging.”
Vice President JD Vance on Thursday reaffirmed that Israel still has the right to defend itself against Hezbollah, but warned against escalating the conflict, calling for Lebanon's sovereignty to be "respected by all parties." "The Israelis, just like everybody else, have to respect this peace process that is fundamentally good for them and good for the entire region," Vance said.
The post WATCH: JD Vance Says Israel Still Has the Right to Self Defense But Has to “Respect Peace Process” – Blasts Strikes on Civilians in Beirut: “That’s Not Acceptable” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
US Vice President JD Vance speaks at a news conference about President Donald Trump's signed memorandum of understanding with Iran. (Source: Bloomberg)
