{"id":94085,"date":"2026-02-21T07:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T12:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94085"},"modified":"2026-02-21T07:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T12:50:18","slug":"news-and-analysis-2-21-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94085","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis 2\/21\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The administration has provided no clear <em>casus belli<\/em>, instead grafting shifting narratives onto a largely predetermined course of action as war advocates steer Washington toward military action despite the lack of a discernible endgame&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/blog\/iran-persistence-us-failure-middle-east\">Iran and the Persistence of US Failure in the Middle East<\/a> (CATO Institute)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;With no viable armed opposition on the ground, and no U.S. troops in the region to physically take territory, it\u2019s unclear how an air campaign against a country of 93 million will achieve objectives that have yet to be laid out&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americansecurityproject.org\/the-u-s-is-unprepared-for-a-significant-war-with-iran\/\">The U.S. Is Unprepared for a Significant War with Iran<\/a> (American Security Project)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Trita Parsi gives three reasons why &#8220;this won&#8217;t work&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/trump-iran-small-attack\/?mc_cid=b19073d250&amp;mc_eid=4841da88e5\">No, Even a &#8216;Small Attack&#8217; on Iran Will Lead to War<\/a> (Responsible Statecraft)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Zionist war on free speech &#8212; and the resistance&#8211; continues:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newarab.com\/news\/censorship-palestine-overshadows-berlin-film-festival-finale\">Censorship of Palestine Overshadows Berlin Film Festival Finale<\/a> (New Arab)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;They (the Pentagon) have something for every scenario. One scenario takes out the ayatollah and his son and the mullahs&#8221; &#8212; a Trump advisor:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/world-news\/khamenei-assassination-to-token-nuke-enrichment-trump-weighs-iran-options-11117352\">Kill Orders Against Khamenei, His Son: Report Flags Trump&#8217;s Iran Options<\/a> (NDTV)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The release of the activists comes after the British High Court ruled that the government\u2019s ban on Palestine Action as a &#8216;terror group&#8217; was unlawful and disproportionate&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/20\/heads-held-high-12-palestine-action-action-prisoners-granted-bail\">Twelve Palestine Action Activists Granted Bail<\/a> (Aljazeera)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An film about a motorcycle riding social\/political activist lesbian midwife and political candidate\u00a0 who insists she is comfortable with her gender is the first Iranian documentary nominated for an Oscar:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cn0ewenyg22o\"> Iran&#8217;s Motorcycling Midwife and Rights Campaigner Is Star of Oscar-tipped Film<\/a> (BBC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The internet is, by design, a decentralised and deeply inter-dependent network. But Iran\u2019s recent example indicates that it is becoming far more plausible&#8221; to splinter:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/feb\/21\/splinternet-online-shutdowns-are-getting-cheaper-and-easier-to-impose-iran-blackout\">The Splinternet: How Online Shutdowns Are Getting Cheaper and Easier to Impose<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The administration has provided no clear casus belli, instead grafting shifting narratives onto a largely predetermined course of action as war advocates steer Washington toward military action despite the lack of a discernible endgame&#8221;: Iran and the Persistence of US Failure in the Middle East (CATO Institute) &#8220;With no viable armed opposition on the ground, [&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-94085","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\/94085","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=94085"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94092,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94085\/revisions\/94092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}