{"id":94077,"date":"2026-02-20T07:16:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94077"},"modified":"2026-02-20T07:16:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:16:48","slug":"news-and-analysis-2-20-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94077","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis 2\/20\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The resolution directs the president to &#8216;terminate the use of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or any part of its government or military, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force'&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/5745037-khanna-massie-war-powers-iran\/\">Khanna, Massie Plan to Force War Powers Vote on Iran<\/a> (The Hill)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; but passage seems unlikely as long as &#8220;<span class=\"gated-content\" data-nosnippet=\"\">Republicans are afraid of the president<\/span>&#8220;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/02\/20\/congress-war-powers-act-trump-iran\">Congress Risks Major Loss to Trump over War Powers Vote on Iran<\/a> (Axios)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Israel is behaving like it&#8217;s part of the plans: not a secondary player that might be affected by the regional exchange of blows, but one taking an active part in the war from the outset&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/2026-02-20\/ty-article\/.premium\/as-war-with-iran-looms-israel-is-not-watching-the-u-s-from-the-bleachers\/0000019c-77cf-d618-a19d-77efe7c80000\">As War with Iran Looms, Israel Is Not Watching the U.S. from the Bleachers<\/a> (Haaretz)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; but other American allies are not happy with the prospects of war &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/politics\/article\/trump-chagos-islands-deal-iran-attack-british-bases-kcj0gzbr8?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqcrMzExMmKpKo5NGXijSVDqogEFNGt0qYdN-vedwWo5noGygD6JAFaSEzv40Ow%3D&amp;gaa_ts=69973788&amp;gaa_sig=f7ipmqYX6HNM-xkNSBCMb7-Xi4vq9s98FDQJDRw3GXVTgr0u8nGjJMackO7zdn6tyOu1Q4FI3WhZTyVYF2ji7Q%3D%3D\">UK Blocking Trump from Using RAF Bases for Strikes on Iran<\/a> (The Times)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chathamhouse.org\/2026\/02\/why-are-middle-eastern-governments-lobbying-against-us-attack-iran\">Why Are Middle Eastern Governments Lobbying Against a US Attack on Iran?<\/a> (Chatham House)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; nor are the oil markets &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/oil-steadies-near-six-month-015913998.html\">Oil Holds Near Six-Month High as US Warns Iran Has Days for Deal<\/a> (Bloomberg \/ Yahoo Finance)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; and a former <span data-contrast=\"auto\">Cybersecurity &amp; Infrastructure Security Agency<\/span> employee warns &#8220;<span data-contrast=\"auto\"> potential spillover effects must be factored into domestic security planning and operations<\/span>&#8220;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hstoday.us\/featured\/column-potential-iran-conflict-means-homeland-security-must-go-shields-up\/\">COLUMN: Potential Iran Conflict Means Homeland Security Must Go \u2018Shields Up\u2019<\/a> (Homeland Security Today)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Israeli war crimes continue:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurist.org\/news\/2026\/02\/first-hand-reports-detail-torture-of-palestine-journalists-in-israel-prisons\/\">First-hand Reports Detail Torture of Palestine Journalists in Israel Prisons<\/a> (Jurist)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrmea.org\/2026-march-april\/severed-limbs-futures-in-limbo-the-crisis-of-amputation-in-palestine.html\">Severed Limbs, Futures in Limbo: The Crisis of Amputation in Palestine<\/a> (WRMEA)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/20\/israel-blocks-palestinians-from-first-friday-prayers-of-ramadan-at-al-aqsa\">Israel Heavily Curbs Palestinians from Ramadan Friday Prayers at Al-Aqsa<\/a> (Aljazeera)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Trump &#8220;told tall tales. Cracked old jokes. Got people to pay money into something he\u2019s named after himself. Hyped up his wife\u2019s movie. Trashed his enemies. Aired familiar grievances. Congratulated himself. Brought along top members of his government and then kicked back while they congratulated him&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/19\/us\/politics\/trump-board-of-peace-meeting.html\">With a Golden Gavel and a Threat to Iran, Trump Launches His Board of Peace<\/a> (NY Times)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;At this moment, there\u2019s no clarity on whether the United States will strike, what in Iran it would strike, or what might follow&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/dispatches\/before-striking-iran-trump-should-answer-these-six-questions\/\">Before Striking Iran, Trump Should Answer These Six Questions<\/a> (Atlantic Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The indictment identified the defendants as Iranian nationals&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/02\/20\/three-engineers-charged-stealing-google-trade-secrets-data-iran-soc-snapdragon.html\">Three Silicon Valley Engineers Charged with Stealing Google Trade Secrets and Sending Data to Iran<\/a> (CNBC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The spending comes as AIPAC is using innocuous-sounding shell organizations to fund its chosen candidates, with names like &#8216;Elect Chicago Women&#8217; or &#8216;Affordable Chicago Now,'&#8221; to pour <em>&#8220;<\/em>millions into pro-Israel candidates&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/02\/20\/pro-palestine-super-pac-midterm-elections-aipac-israel-gaza\/\">Pro-Palestine Super PAC Brings Multimillion-Dollar War Chest to Midterms<\/a> (American Prospect)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The resolution directs the president to &#8216;terminate the use of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or any part of its government or military, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force&#8217;&#8221; &#8230; Khanna, Massie Plan to Force War Powers Vote [&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-94077","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\/94077","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=94077"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94083,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94077\/revisions\/94083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}