{"id":94069,"date":"2026-02-19T20:25:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94069"},"modified":"2026-02-19T20:25:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:25:24","slug":"news-and-analysis-2-19-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94069","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis 2\/19\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Iran-U.S. war could erupt as early as this weekend:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2026\/02\/19\/us-military-ready-for-iran-strike-from-saturday-reports-claim\">US Military Ready for Iran Strike from Saturday, Reports Claim<\/a> (Euronews)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/six-signs-us-iran-war-nearing-trump-11543496\">The 6 Signs Trump\u2019s Iran War Is Imminent<\/a> (Newsweeek)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jeffries&#8217; protestations are toothless as he has done nothing to hold Trump accountable for last June&#8217;s unauthorized military strikes on Iran:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/watch-congress-must-approve-any-possible-u-s-military-action-against-iran-jeffries-says-in-news-conference\">WATCH: Congress Must Approve Any Possible U.S. Military Action Against Iran, Jeffries Says<\/a> (PBS)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-iran-war-pushback\">As Trump Marches US Toward Iran War, Critics Ask: Where\u2019s the \u2018Pushback\u2019 from Dems and Media?<\/a> (Common Dreams)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Settler violence and Israeli war crimes continue &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2026\/02\/18\/israel-west-bank-annexation-trump-land-registration\/\">As Israel Takes Steps to Claim Land in West Bank, U.S. Stands By<\/a> (Washington Post)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/19\/torture-threats-rape-palestinian-journalists-detail-israeli-jail-abuse\">\u2018Torture, Threats, Rape\u2019: Palestinian Journalists Detail Israeli Jail Abuse<\/a> (Aljazeera)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; while &#8220;[f]ar from resisting annexation, the PA\u2019s role as a security subcontractor for the occupying army is aiding it&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.palestinechronicle.com\/israeli-authority-with-palestinian-stripes-how-the-pa-is-slaughtering-palestinians-to-forward-annexation\/\">Israeli Authority\u2019 with Palestinian Stripes: How the PA is Slaughtering Palestinians to Forward Annexation<\/a> (Palestine Chronicle)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While analysts doubt the Russian and Chinese presence at the site of the pending conflict necessarily means BRICS will take part in the conflict, it is an ominous consideration:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.twz.com\/news-features\/what-irans-naval-exercise-with-china-and-russia-in-the-strait-of-hormuz-actually-means\">What Iran\u2019s Naval Exercise with China and Russia in the Strait of Hormuz Actually Means<\/a> (The War Zone)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.trtworld.com\/article\/a78d67adba99\">&#8216;Playing with Fire&#8217; \u2014 Russia&#8217;s Lavrov Warns Against US Strike on Iran<\/a> (TRT World)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;In a report released on Thursday, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said the evidence establishes that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2026\/02\/1166997\">Sudan: \u2018Hallmarks of Genocide\u2019 Found in El Fasher, UN Investigators Detail Mass Killings and Ethnic TGargeting<\/a> (United Nations)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Israeli pressure, oil, American military presence, and the regime&#8217;s weakness are reasons beyond the nuclear dispute and the crackdown on protestors behind the pending war:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/02\/18\/trump-iran-war-reasons-military-strikes\">6 Reasons the U.S. and Iran Are on the Brink of War<\/a> (Axios)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"sc-9cd5bb24-0 lmzibM\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"sc-cd6075cf-0 DQtHs\">\n<div class=\"sc-82b3c53b-0 IAFLu\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A &#8220;senior White House official &#8230; said the Syrian government has agreed to take the lead combatting terrorism within its borders and US military presence &#8220;at scale&#8221; is no longer required&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c875pey8vy2o\">US to Withdraw Troops from Syria as Tensions Mount with Iran<\/a> (BBC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Their son, &#8230; has said the couple&#8217;s lawyers in Iran made it clear there was no legal basis for a case against them, but that their bail applications had been ignored. At a court hearing in October, they were not allowed to defend themselves&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c747nqply93o\">Detained Briton Describes Life in Iran Jail to BBC Hours Before Sentencing<\/a> (BBC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;[I]t remains unclear which leaders, or how many, will show up for the meeting to be held at the recently renamed Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2026\/02\/18\/trump-board-of-peace-gaza\/\">Trump\u2019s Board of Peace to Meet as Gaza Stability Plan Languishes<\/a> (BBC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Iran-U.S. war could erupt as early as this weekend: US Military Ready for Iran Strike from Saturday, Reports Claim (Euronews) The 6 Signs Trump\u2019s Iran War Is Imminent (Newsweeek) Jeffries&#8217; protestations are toothless as he has done nothing to hold Trump accountable for last June&#8217;s unauthorized military strikes on Iran: WATCH: Congress Must Approve [&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-94069","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\/94069","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=94069"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94076,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94069\/revisions\/94076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}