Middle East

Wall Street Journal - The war in Iran has stranded tens of thousands of Americans in the Middle East who weren’t told by the U.S. government to leave until many countries in the region had closed their airspace to commercial travel amid Tehran’s retaliatory barrage of missiles and drones. [More for subscribers only]

NBC News -    President Donald Trump has privately expressed serious interest in deploying U.S. troops on the ground inside of Iran.  His comments did not focus on a large-scale ground invasion, but rather the idea that a small contingent of soldiers would be used for specific strategic purposes.

Sources said Trump has not made any decisions or given any orders on the matter. The war so far has consisted of an air campaign.

In discussions with aides and Republican officials, he outlined his vision for a post-war Iran in which the county's uranium is secure and the U.S. and a new Iranian regime cooperate on oil production similar to the current situation in Venezuela.  More

Roll Call -  House lawmakers on Thursday rejected, 212-219, a war powers resolution that sought to curb ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran, one day after the Senate voted similarly to quash its own effort

The war is costing the U.S. an estimated $1 billion a day, according to two congressional sources with knowledge of the matter. Oil prices are now forecast to go higher, while gas prices have already jumped to $3.32. It’s the highest price it has reached in either of Trump’s two terms. The situation is so in flux that gas prices are poised to climb higher than that after this article is published.

The Guardian -   The announcement by Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian that Iran will no longer attack Gulf and neighbouring states if they are not attacking Iran appears on the surface a significant change in tactics, reflecting the overpowering diplomatic pressure Iran was under to change course, or risk uniting the whole of the Arab world against Iran. It would be an admission that Iran’s current military strategy is heading for diplomatic disaster.

But the precise implications of his announcement remains open to interpretation. An Iranian armed forces spokesperson seemed to qualify its meaning heavily by saying:

Strikes against the US and Israeli assets will continue. So far, we have targeted every base that was the origin of aggression against Iran and we remain committed to this matter. ?Countries that have not provided space and facilities to the United States and the Zionist regime have not been our target so far and will not be targeted in the future.

If the armed forces believe countries simply providing land, in terms of bases, remain legitimate targets, then effectively nothing has changed since there are US bases in almost every Gulf State. What Pezeshkian seemed to imply is that these countries will not be attacked if the US bases and airspace are not being used to attack Iran, an altogether different proposition.

Bloombeg - Saudi Arabia, which according to the Washington Post joined Israel in urging Trump to attack, is now reaching out to Tehran to find an off-ramp. At the same time, influential voices in the United Arab Emirates are beginning to criticize Trump as Iran’s retaliation continues, roiling the region’s financial markets and economies. The UAE has been among Trump’s staunchest allies, pledging about $1.4 trillion in investments and cultivating commercial ties with his family (which have raised allegations of unprecedented corruption).

That relationship, however, appears to have given Abu Dhabi little influence over the conflict. “Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with Iran? And on what basis did you make this dangerous decision?” Khalaf Al Habtoor, a Dubai billionaire and hotel tycoon, said in a post on social media.