{"id":94370,"date":"2026-03-23T06:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94370"},"modified":"2026-03-23T06:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:50:07","slug":"news-and-analysis-3-23-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94370","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis 3\/23\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leaders of NATO countries expressed their &#8220;readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait,&#8221; but &#8220;that did not stop Trump from <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/5793172-trump-nato-paper-tiger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">again lashing out at NATO<\/a>&#8220;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/international\/5795659-nato-allies-hesitancy-iran\/\">Rutte Asks for Trump\u2019s \u2018Understanding\u2019 on NATO Countries\u2019 Hesitancy on Supporting Iran War<\/a> (The Hill)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The US and Israel have attacked &#8220;housing complexes, medical facilities, shops, courthouses, Unesco world heritage sites, energy installations and about 500 schools&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/mar\/22\/iran-war-timeline-civilians-bear-brunt-of-us-and-israels-month-long-campaign\">Iran War Timeline: Civilians Bear Brunt of US and Israel\u2019s Weeks-long Campaign<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mossad overlooked the fact that a population under foreign bombardment has a more urgent concern than domestic oppression:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/netanyahu-said-frustrated-that-mossad-promises-of-iran-uprising-have-fallen-short\/\">Netanyahu Said Frustrated that Mossad Promise It Could Instigate Iran Uprising Has Fallen Short<\/a> (Times of Israel)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;[A]fter being attacked, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain believe Iran\u2019s military must be cut down before a ceasefire can be called, with some considering joining the offensive&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/gulf-states-opposed-war-with-iran-some-are-now-pushing-to-keep-the-fight-going\/\">Gulf States Opposed War with Iran. Most Are Now Pushing to Keep the Fight Going<\/a> (Times of Israel)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Settler violence and Israeli war crimes continue:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/israel-palestinians-west-bank-settlers-9ded87da79b032cff60ddd8797846f0e\">Israeli Settlers Smash Cars and Set Fires in the West Bank as 4 Palestinians Killed in Gaza<\/a> (AP)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;What happens when those who document human rights violations become the targets of those violations themselves?&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/2026\/03\/23\/when-human-rights-advocacy-becomes-a-crime.html\">When Human Rights Advocacy Becomes a Crime<\/a> (KMS News)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The &#8220;retired Special Operations soldier whose military career included 11 combat deployments &#8230; is making his case to fellow conservatives through a series of interviews with podcasters popular among Trump\u2019s political base&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2026\/03\/22\/joe-kent-iran-war-trump\/\">Joe Kent Says He Wants Trump to Hear MAGA Opposition to Iran War<\/a> (Washington Post)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Strait of Hormuz is not closed. Ships hesitate because insurers fear the war of choice you initiated\u2014not Iran&#8221; &#8212; Iran&#8217;s FM Abbas Araghchi &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com.tr\/en\/middle-east\/iran-says-strait-of-hormuz-open-but-ships-fear-passage\/3875160\">Iran Says Strait of Hormuz \u2018Open,\u2019 but Ships Fear Passage<\/a> (Andalou Ajansi)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; but that could change:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-us-israel-trump-lebanon-march-22-2026-16cc60862529b873666ce4c1f6529d78\">Iran Threatens to \u2018Completely\u2019 Close Strait of Hormuz and Hit Power Plants After Trump Ultimatum<\/a> (AP)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2026\/mar\/23\/stock-markets-donald-trump-iran-gold-oil-prices\">Stock Markets Plunge After Trump\u2019s Ultimatum on Iran<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/iran-war-world-economy-facing-major-threat-iea-head-says\/live-76478747\">Iran War: World Economy Facing &#8216;Major Threat,&#8217; IEA Head Says<\/a> (Deutsche Welle)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Sudan\u2019s conflict &#8230; is now tied not only to the struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but also to the security of Red Sea routes and the search for alternative maritime corridors&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/hornreview.org\/2026\/03\/23\/how-the-israel-iran-war-is-reshaping-sudans-conflict\/\">How the Israel\u2013Iran War Is Reshaping Sudan\u2019s Conflict<\/a> (Horn Review)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leaders of NATO countries expressed their &#8220;readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait,&#8221; but &#8220;that did not stop Trump from again lashing out at NATO&#8220;: Rutte Asks for Trump\u2019s \u2018Understanding\u2019 on NATO Countries\u2019 Hesitancy on Supporting Iran War (The Hill) The US and Israel have attacked &#8220;housing complexes, medical [&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-94370","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\/94370","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=94370"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94376,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94370\/revisions\/94376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}