News and Analysis 3/20/26

“On Friday morning hundreds of worshippers were forced to pray outside the Old City, as Israeli police barricaded the entrances to the site”:

• The Saddest Day for Muslim Worshippers in Jerusalem’: al-Aqsa Mosque Closed at Eid (The Guardian)

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Thursday that, at the request of President Donald Trump, Israel will hold off on any further attacks on the offshore gas field” …

• Israel Says It Will Hold Off Striking Key Iranian Natural Gas Field as War Rattles Energy Markets (AP)

… but the retaliation persists as the war continues:

• Iran Hits Gulf Energy Sites, Escalating War, as U.S. Mulls Sanctions Rollback (Washington Post)
• Iran Hits Kuwaiti Oil Refinery as Israel Renews Attacks on Tehran (Aljazeera)
• Iran Renews Fire on Israel After Brief Lull, Claims It Can Still Produce Missiles (Times of Israel)

“Key lawmakers doubt budget reconciliation is a viable path for a $200 billion Pentagon infusion”:

• Republicans Balk at Going It Alone on Iran War Funding (Politico)

“According to rights groups, the three men had confessed under torture and were executed without a fair trial”:

• Teenager Among First to Be Executed over Iran’s Anti-government Protests (BBC)

Another “date which will live in infamy”?

• Trump Compares First Strikes on Iran to Japan’s Attack on Pearl Harbor (USA Today)

Israel continues its assassination campaign …

• Iran War: Revolutionary Guards Spokesman Killed in Strike (Deutsche Welle)

… but “Israel has carried out dozens of targeted killings throughout its history, but Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups have often endured and grown even more powerful after the loss of top leaders”:

• Israel Is Rapidly Killing Iran’s Top Leaders. Experts Warn the Strategy Could Backfire (PBS)

“Still, his hold could grow more tenuous if the number of U.S. casualties rises and the war stretches into the summer” …

• Trump Stretches ‘America First’ on Iran. His Voters Are Going Along with It (Politico)

… and “[v]ery soon, the U.S. president will face a choice between doubling down on an unpopular war or, to end it, wresting a concession from Israel that Iran could frame as a triumph”:

• How America’s War on Iran Backfired: Tehran Will Now Set the Terms for Peace (Foreign Affairs)

The players who changed their minds about staying in Australia (under threat?) are embraced for choosing to return to Iran in the end …

• Iran Women’s Football Team Feted in Tehran After Asylum Battle at Asian Cup (Aljazeera)

… but “one of ?Iran’s top football players … has ?been expelled from the national team for … posting a picture on his Instagram feed of a meeting with Dubai’s ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum”:

• Iran Footballer Azmoun Kicked Off National Team for Disloyalty, Say Reports (Aljazeera)

“For Modi and his BJP, Israel has become a model for strong ethno-nationalist governance and effective counterterrorism“:

• India in a Fix amid US-Israel War Against Iran (The Loop)

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