Peloni: Exactly!

By Conrad Black | Mar 28, 2026

Cargo vessel in the Persian Gulf. Photo by Adam Stone – originally posted to Flickr as A big ass boatUploaded using F2ComButton, CC BY 2.0, Wikipedia

The Iran war was unleashed so suddenly and has proceeded so swiftly that some of its principal objectives and consequences have scarcely been noticed. A few commentators have recognized the pattern of the Trump administration’s removal of Venezuela and soon Cuba and by the actions of Israel, Syria, as well as Iran, as Russo-Chinese allies. But the real background to the status of the Strait of Hormuz as a conduit for 20 per cent of the world’s oil exports has not been seriously publicly explored. There is no doubt that the United States could force the Strait open and it has substantially prepared to do that by obliterating the missile firing capability on the southern Iranian coast and by severely reducing the number of potential interoceptive Iranian warships and swift boats.

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by Majid Rafizadeh  •  Gatestone Institute  •  March 28, 2026

This is the moment when the United States and Israel could make greatest strategic mistake in the Iran war: stopping halfway while leaving “moderate” extremists still in place. Pictured: Iran holds state funeral for IRGC spokesman in Tehran. Screengrab via Youtube

• This is precisely the moment when the greatest strategic mistake could be made: stopping halfway while leaving “moderate” extremists still in place.

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Peloni:  I am glad to see the UAE and Saudi Arabia becoming motivated towards dealing with the Iranian regime’s attacks on their countries, but it was not so long ago that these nations failed to appreciate the plight of the Israeli people who faced in excess of some 19,000 missiles in just the first 9 months following the October 7 slaughter.  Unlike their support for dealing with the source of the unprovoked missile attacks today, they desperately fought to limit Israel’s response against those nations attacking the Israeli population with impunity.  Well, it seems that the worm turns as a fresh reality has come to motivate these nations towards eliminating those who menace their neighbors with unprovoked and indiscriminate missile fire.  It is heartening to see this new resolve among the moderate Arab states, but will this resolve now allow them to finally support the eradication of Hamas?

By Christine Douglass-Williams | Mar 27, 2026

Assistant Minister for Political Affairs and Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, Lana_Zaki Nusseibeh. Photo by © European Union, 2026, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia

There’s obviously more going on with Iran than what Western observers have been privy to. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been attacking its Gulf neighbors, and not only to take aim at American interests.

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Peloni:  This is what Unconditional Surrender means.  It is more than a motivating slogan, as it recognizes that an existential threat only partially diminished will rise up again in the future.

Yigal Carmon | MEMRI | Mar 27, 2026

A 1947 photo of the Führerbunker, the last headquarters Hitler used during WWII. Photo by Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-V04744 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Wikipedia

President Trump is struggling with the Iranian regime’s rejection of negotiations, despite his threats that he will “unleash hell”[1] if its leaders do not make a deal. He has called the regime’s leaders “lunatics” and “madmen,”[2] and said that the “Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange'” and that “they better get serious soon,”[3] suggesting that they have not been serious up to now. He has alternatively also said that “they’re lousy fighters but great negotiators.”[4]

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Peloni:  Leopards don’t change their spots, nor do terror supporting organizations such as the United Nations.  Indeed, the international movement to ignore the role of United Nations in supporting the Jihad against Israel and the West should surprise none of us.  At best the UN wastes precious resources while pretending to address international crises, but their true villainy is apparent in their use of precious resources to exacerbate and support an international agenda to bring down the free world, and which is most acutely and obviously focused on Israel.  Organizations caught being complicit in the support, toleration, and obfuscation of terrorism and the slaughter of innocents would not be offered a chance of reform.  Their leadership would be incarcerated for crimes against humanity, and their resources would be seized, and the organization itself would be immediately shuttered.  This is the just fate which should await the United Nations and its leadership.

By Pamela Geller | March 28, 2026

Screengrab via X

Israeli naval commandos just raided a school in Khiam, Lebanon and uncovered hundreds of Hezbollah weapons, missiles, explosives, and rifles.

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Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf. Photo by Seyed Shahabbodin, Vajedi – Akkasemosalman.ir , CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia 

The apparent eagerness of Trump to make a deal with Iran, leaving in place the current regime, has left many Iranians feeling deceived and disappointed. They are particularly alarmed that his mediators have been talking to the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. More on Ghalibaf can be found here: “Iranians feel ‘deceived, abandoned’ as Trump weighs striking deal with Iran’s old guard,” by Omid Habibinia, The Media Line, March 25, 2026:

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Peloni:  New front opens in stark contrast to Trump’s negotiation efforts, demonstrating once again that efforts to de-escalate are perceived as weakness by Iran.

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By Gerald Honigman

There’s an old-adage regarding the hypothetical question about what really was responsible for a problem or a series of problems, one particular thing or another…

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Peloni:  Naturally, after not having joined the war against Iran, the Gulf nations expect their share of the winnings.

“The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stressed on Thursday the importance of Gulf states participating in any talks between Iran and the United States to end the war in the Middle East,” UAE news said.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN | MARCH 26, 2026 17:10

Iran has focused a majority of its attacks in the region on Gulf countries since the February 28 war began. The US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, and Tehran responded by carrying out ballistic missile attacks on Israel, as well as drone and missile attacks on the Gulf countries. This has included attacks on Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. The UAE has received the brunt of attacks, but the others have also suffered. Attacks have targeted energy infrastructure, US bases, and other sites.

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As Chinese siblings are charged with planting an IED at CENTCOM headquarters, the question must be asked.

by Robert Spencer | Mar 27, 2026

Screengrab via Youtube

Was there just an attempt to carry out a mass casualty attack at CENTCOM headquarters?

MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida is where the headquarters of CENTCOM, the United States Central Command are located. CENTCOM oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Central Asia, and some areas of South Asia, and that means that it is involved in U.S. actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Recently, an improvised explosive device was discovered outside a gate at MacDill; it didn’t go off, but if it had, the damage could have been extensive. Was someone targeting CENTCOM? And if so, who?The more one examines this story, the more questions multiply.

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Clips From the Memri Archive

MEMRI | Mar 27, 2026

Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf. By Seyed Shahabbodin, Vajedi – Akkasemosalman.ir, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia

Iranian Majlis speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf (sometimes spelled Ghalibaf), who is now responsible for strategic decision-making in the regime,[1] is a former IRGC commander who has served in numerous regime roles since the Islamic Revolution in Iran. He is reportedly close to Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.[2]

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by Pierre Rehov  •  Gatestone Institute  •  March 27, 2026

• This is not containment. It is disarmament. It is the eradication of Iran’s nuclear ambitions as a strategic variable. And it is accompanied by equally stringent regional and military demands: the cessation of financing, arming, and directing the organizations of the proxy terrorist network that has defined Iranian power projection for decades…. The United States is not seeking behavioral change. It is demanding total transformation.

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Peloni:  Iranian intransigence has been their worst strategy.  The expectation that Trump will roll over and go away defies the reality that Washington is intent upon having Iran shift from being a Chinese facing game piece in the Great Game of Geopolitics to becoming an American facing game piece.  This would give America the control over energy which aligns with US strategy for the future.  If Trump fails to achieve this goal, Iran will remain seated with China, giving them a great advantage in the further development and exploration of AI, which is limited by access to energy reserves.  Controlling energy reserves has an economic component of course, but the future will be built on AI, and this requires ready access to energy reserves such as exist in Venezuela and Iran.  Controlling these reserves are literally the key to the winning the AI war…but this requires Trump having his way in Iran and Trump’s Achilles heal remains to be the length of the war which should be understood to be on a timer.  The Iranians understand this, which is why they feel they can manipulate Trump into accepting defeat, but for Trump, not gaining control over Iran comes with significant counterpunch in the form of him not being able to control Iran’s vast energy reserves.

Israeli officials express uncertainty over Trump’s intention, IDF seeks to damage regime as much as possible

All Israel News Staff | Published: March 27, 2026

Graphic of Iranian areial defense system production site following Israeli Air Force strikes.  Photo by IDF.

The Israeli military is racing to take out as much of Iran’s military equipment and the production sites necessary to restore it, amid uncertainty over how long U.S. President Donald Trump intends for the war to continue.

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Israfan | Mar 25, 2026

Averted Tragedy in Chicago: Synagogue Shooting Plot Unveiled

The FBI’s Chicago division. Photo by File:Chicago’s New F.B.I. Headquarters.jpg: Supaflyrobbyderivative work: Georgfotoart – This file was derived from: Chicago’s New F.B.I. Headquarters.jpg:, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikipedia

The streets of Chicago are a little safer today, thanks to the vigilance of law enforcement. Federal authorities recently unveiled charges against a Chicago man accused of plotting a violent attack against a local synagogue, a stark reminder of the ever-present threat of antisemitism lurking beneath the surface of our society.

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