{"id":94060,"date":"2026-02-17T06:41:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T11:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94060"},"modified":"2026-02-17T06:41:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T11:41:29","slug":"news-and-analysis-2-17-261","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94060","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis 2\/17\/261"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As diplomatic talks begin, both sides\u00a0 threaten war:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cwyknjnd706o\">New Nuclear Talks Between US and Iran Begin in Geneva<\/a> (BBC)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingmag.com\/report-u-s-military-planning-for-lengthy-operations-against-iran\/\">Report: U.S. Military Planning for Lengthy Operations Against Iran<\/a> (Flying)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/iran-launches-strait-of-hormuz-drills\/a-75990650\">Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guards Launch Strait of Hormuz Drills<\/a> (Deutsche Welle)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com.tr\/en\/asia-pacific\/russia-china-iran-deploy-ships-for-joint-exercises-in-strait-of-hormuz\/3832330\">Russia, China, Iran Deploy Ships for Joint Exercises in Strait of Hormuz<\/a> (Andalou Ajansi)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/defense-news\/article-886906\">Preparing for New Iran War, Israel Escalating Lebanon Strikes to Cripple Hezbollah &#8211; Report<\/a> (Jerusalem Post)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Settler violence and Israeli war crimes continue:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/english.aawsat.com\/arab-world\/5241728-under-israeli-cover-gaza-gangs-kill-and-abduct-palestinians-hamas-controlled\">Under Israeli Cover, Gaza Gangs Kill and Abduct Palestinians in Hamas-Controlled Areas<\/a> (Asharq al-Awsat)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysabah.com\/world\/mid-east\/8-muslim-majority-countries-call-out-israels-west-bank-land-grab\">8 Muslim-majority Countries Call Out Israel\u2019s West Bank Land Grab<\/a> (Daily Sabah)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;A radiologist and trauma imaging expert who has reviewed the images says that the group of patients would constitute &#8216;absolutely a mass casualty situation'&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2026\/feb\/17\/x-rays-injuries-iran-protesters-hospital-birdshot-bullets\">\u2018Deliberate Targeting of Vital Body Parts\u2019: X-rays Taken After Iran Protests Expose Extent of Catastrophic Injuries<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; while <span class=\"bigcharacter\">I<\/span>ranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warns that &#8220;social unrest in the country should be managed in a way that minimizes harm to all parties and prevents dissatisfaction from escalating into a crisis&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.turkiyetoday.com\/region\/social-incidents-must-be-managed-with-least-harm-iran-president-3214682\">&#8216;Social Incidents Must Be Managed with Least Harm&#8217;: Iran President<\/a> (Turkiye Today)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The bombing on Sunday occurred when the market was packed with people, &#8216;exacerbating the humanitarian tragedy'&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/16\/drone-strike-on-busy-market-in-sudan-kills-at-least-28\">Drone Attack on Busy Market in Sudan Kills at Least 28<\/a> (Aljazeera)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">&#8220;The dominant message was neither the plight of prisoners nor a roll call of the dead from recent crackdowns; it was the elevation of one individual as an inevitable leader, alongside an appeal for foreign\u2014chiefly American\u2014military intervention to topple Tehran quickly&#8221;:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/the-munich-spectacle-foreign-hammers-wont-forge-irans-democracy\/\">The Munich Spectacle: Foreign Hammers Won\u2019t Forge Iran\u2019s Democracy<\/a> (National Council of Resistance of Iran)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;More than 5,000 people have &#8230; signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/erasing-a-word-erases-a-people-reinstate-palestine-in-the-british-museum?recruiter=31945787&amp;recruited_by_id=b3d7d990-fddd-012f-6431-4040aa777426&amp;utm_source=share_petition&amp;utm_campaign=share_petition&amp;utm_term=7feb00970a6c45f4abaf68366e9b4631&amp;utm_medium=copylink&amp;utm_content=cl_sharecopy_491033663_en-GB%3A9&amp;ref=ed_direct\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Change.org petition<\/a> calling for the museum to reverse its decision&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/2026\/feb\/16\/british-museum-removes-word-palestine\">British Museum Removes Word \u2018Palestine\u2019 from Some Displays<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A &#8220;well-known Islamic scholar, poet, author, civil activist, and former political prisoner living in Iran [on] How likely is war? Is solidarity possible between active forces inside Iran and Prince Reza Pahlavi?&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/iranwire.com\/en\/features\/149217-sedigheh-vasmaghi-warns-against-replacing-clericalism-with-monarchy\/\">For the Future of Iran: We Should Not Replace Theocracy With Monarchy. There Must be a Third Choice<\/a> (Iranwire)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As diplomatic talks begin, both sides\u00a0 threaten war: New Nuclear Talks Between US and Iran Begin in Geneva (BBC) Report: U.S. Military Planning for Lengthy Operations Against Iran (Flying) Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guards Launch Strait of Hormuz Drills (Deutsche Welle) Russia, China, Iran Deploy Ships for Joint Exercises in Strait of Hormuz (Andalou Ajansi) Preparing for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94060"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94062,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94060\/revisions\/94062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}