Post #5276

💥 “Most of the People We Had in Mind Are Dead” Trump finally said the quiet part out loud: Washington was shopping for a new Iranian leadership — and then helped bomb its own shortlist. Sitting next to Germany’s chancellor, he bragged that “most of the people we had in mind are dead,” adding there’s already a “third wave” of possible successors who also “may be dead,” and that in five years the U.S. could discover it “put somebody in who’s no better.” Translation: we don’t know who will run an 86‑million‑person country we’re actively decapitating, but we’ll claim credit either way. ​ Officially, the script is still preemptive self‑defense. Trump insists Iran was about to attack its neighbors and Israel, says he went to war to stop that, and then sends Congress a letter claiming the strikes defend the U.S. homeland, U.S. troops and regional allies “in collective self‑defense,” while admitting “it is not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration” of what he’s unleashed. Intel officials, meanwhile, quietly say he exaggerated the immediacy of any threat. On the ground, the “leadership vacuum” looks like bodies, not talking points. Iran’s Red Crescent now counts 787 dead from U.S.–Israeli strikes; Lebanon’s health ministry reports at least 31 killed; at least 10 people are dead in Israel and six more across the Gulf as Hezbollah rockets, Iranian missiles and retaliatory airstrikes rip through Beirut, southern Lebanon, Israeli cities and Gulf infrastructure. Total regional deaths since Saturday are already north of 800, and Hezbollah–Israel clashes are raising fears of a wider ground war in Lebanon. Markets got the message faster than the diplomats. Fears of a drawn‑out regional conflict sent global stocks sliding and oil prices spiking, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf energy hubs under threat and the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia warning of imminent drone and rocket attacks on Dhahran, home to Aramco. Washington has now told Americans to “depart immediately” from 14 countries — including Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian territories — and has shuttered embassies in Riyadh, Kuwait City and Beirut. So the “latest” is this: Trump claims he wasn’t pushed by Israel, says this was “our last best chance to strike,” and boasts about vaporizing not just Iran’s current leadership but the bench of successors, while conceding he has no idea how long the war lasts or who ends up in charge. Iran, Hezbollah and allied militias keep firing; Israel keeps bombing; U.S. troops keep dying; civilians from Tehran to Beirut to Dhahran keep paying the price — and the only thing that looks truly pre‑planned is the chaos. #Iran#Trump#Israel#Hezbollah#oil#MiddleEast#war#leadershipVacuum 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸