{"id":94441,"date":"2026-03-31T06:28:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94441"},"modified":"2026-03-31T06:28:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:28:56","slug":"news-and-analysis-3-31-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94441","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis 3\/31\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<span data-schema=\"smart-brevity\">President Trump&#8217;s threat to <a class=\"gtmContentClick\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/03\/30\/trump-threaten-iran-oil-energy-obliterate\" target=\"_self\" data-vars-link-text=\"bomb Iran's water supply\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/03\/30\/trump-threaten-iran-oil-energy-obliterate\" data-vars-content-id=\"9c183e96-79d2-4820-bef3-711bcddb9de3\" data-vars-headline=\"Trump pursues era of unshackled warfare\" data-vars-event-category=\"story\" data-vars-sub-category=\"story\" data-vars-item=\"in_content_link\">bomb Iran&#8217;s water supply<\/a> would constitute his most dramatic breach of the laws and norms designed to protect civilians in wartime&#8221;<\/span>\u00a0&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/03\/31\/trump-iran-war-crimes-desalination-water\">Trump Pursues Era of Unshackled Warfare<\/a> (Axios)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; but Iran remains publicly defiant, calling U.S. demands unrealistic and continuing its attacks on Israel and the region &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/show\/iran-hits-israeli-oil-refinery-as-trump-escalates-threats-in-widening-regional-war\">Iran Hits Israeli Oil Refinery as Trump Escalates Threats in Widening Regional War <\/a>(PBS)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; and &#8220;Iran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai on early on Tuesday (Mar 31), after President Donald Trump warned the US would obliterate Iran\u2019s energy plants and oil wells if it does not open the Strait of Hormuz&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesstimes.com.sg\/international\/global\/giant-oil-tanker-dubai-hit-iranian-strike-after-trumps-latest-threats\">Giant Oil Tanker off Dubai Hit by Iranian Strike After Trump\u2019s Latest Threats<\/a> (Business Times)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; yet White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says that &#8220;[e]nsuring safe passage for oil tankers through the <a title=\"undefined\" href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/03\/17\/what-is-the-strait-of-hormuz-global-trade-oil-flow-iran-war\/\" target=\"_self\">Strait of Hormuz<\/a> is not one of the &#8216;core objectives&#8217; President Donald Trump has set for <a title=\"undefined\" href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/03\/29\/iran-war-pakistan-talks-trump\/\" target=\"_self\">ending his military operation against Iran<\/a>&#8220;&#8221;\u00a0 &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/03\/30\/white-house-signals-trump-doesn-t-require-strait-of-hormuz-reopend-to-ready-to-end-iran-war\/\">White House Signals Willingness to End Iran War Without Reopening Strait of Hormuz<\/a> (Tiime)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; &#8220;The attacks were testament to the <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/photo-gallery\/iran-war-global-energy-crisis-0e48cb06f3e04e18bc7c80444fff7664\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">intensity of the war<\/a><\/span> more than a month after the U.S. and Israel launched their first strikes&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-us-israel-trump-lebanon-march-31-2026-07fcd5216ceae44965de79a60a4623da\">US Strikes a City Home to an Iranian Nuclear Site While Tehran Hits Oil Tanker off Dubai Coast<\/a> (AP)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The bill effectively establishes the death penalty as a punishment exclusively for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic crimes, while excluding nationalistic murders carried out by Jewish Israelis against Palestinians&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/03\/30\/middleeast\/israel-knesset-vote-death-penalty-palestinians-latam-intl\">Israel\u2019s Parliament Votes to Expand Death Penalty for Palestinians<\/a> (CNN)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The report is the most comprehensive account yet on sexual violence in Sudan&#8217;s nearly three-year war&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5ywgn2n3nqo\">Sexual Violence Part of &#8216;Everyday Life&#8217; in Parts of Sudan, Charity Says<\/a> (BBC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The U.S. &#8220;has left Israel to hunt and kill Iranian leaders ruthlessly, using an intelligence apparatus built up to assassinate with lethal proficiency&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2026\/03\/30\/iran-israel-war-killings\/\">Israel Targets Iran\u2019s Leaders with Lethal Expertise Using New AI Platform<\/a> (Washington Post)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">&#8220;The Israeli Ministry of Education has written to school principals in Jerusalem stating that, from September, no work permits will be granted to Christian Palestinian teachers living in the West Bank&#8221;:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/IhabHassane\/status\/2037167391092720053\">The Israeli Government Has Launched a Campaign Targeting Christian Schools in Jerusalem<\/a> (Ihab Hassan \/ X)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Iranian universities and scientific research centers have come under a series of attacks in recent days, raising concerns that academic institutions are becoming a new frontline in the widening war&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/03\/31\/middleeast\/iran-university-campus-attacks-intl\">Universities Become New Frontline as the US-Israel War Against Iran Escalates<\/a> (CNN)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;President Trump&#8217;s threat to bomb Iran&#8217;s water supply would constitute his most dramatic breach of the laws and norms designed to protect civilians in wartime&#8221;\u00a0&#8230; Trump Pursues Era of Unshackled Warfare (Axios) &#8230; but Iran remains publicly defiant, calling U.S. demands unrealistic and continuing its attacks on Israel and the region &#8230; Iran Hits Israeli [&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-94441","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\/94441","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=94441"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94447,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94441\/revisions\/94447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}