{"id":94818,"date":"2026-05-16T04:29:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T09:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94818"},"modified":"2026-05-16T04:29:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T09:29:57","slug":"news-and-analysis-5-15-26-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=94818","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis 5\/15\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other Gulf leaders rebuffed Mohamed bin Zayed\u2019s request for a coordinated Gulf attack on Iran&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/news\/uae-made-failed-attempt-get-saudi-arabia-qatar-jointly-attack-iran-report\">UAE Made Failed Attempt to Get Saudi Arabia, Qatar to Jointly Attack Iran: Report<\/a> (Middle East Eye)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; providing more evidence that the &#8220;newest divide in the Middle East is between Israel\u2019s allies and the growing number of states that view it as a threat&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/zeteo.com\/p\/why-saudi-arabia-uae-bombed-iran-divide-trump-israel\">Saudi Arabia and the UAE Bombed Iran for Totally Different Reasons<\/a> (Zeteo)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; with Oman &#8220;caught in geopolitical crossfire&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/may\/15\/iran-oman-coordinating-management-strait-of-hormuz-tolls-ships\">Oman Caught Between US and Iran After Tehran\u2019s Claims of Joint Strait of Hormuz Plan<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Israeli war crimes continue:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.krgv.com\/news\/palestinians-in-gaza-mark-anniversary-of-1948-mass-expulsion-and-say-today-s-catastrophe-is-worse\/\">Palestinians in Gaza Mark Anniversary of 1948 Mass Expulsion and Say Today&#8217;s Catastrophe Is Worse\u00a0<\/a> (KRGV)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/may\/16\/palestinians-demolish-family-homes-jerusalem-kings-garden-theme-park\">Palestinians Forced to Demolish Own Homes to Make Way for Israeli Theme Park<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Reporting isn\u2019t treason&#8221; &#8212; NY Times spokesman Charlie Stadtlander &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/5880111-air-force-trump-china-iran-war\/\">Trump Calls New York Times Reporter \u2018Fake Guy\u2019: \u2018It\u2019s Sort of Treasonous What You Write\u2019<\/a> (The Hill)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; but spying for Iran is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/US\/2026\/05\/15\/fbi-reward-spy-iran\/6221778879806\/\">FBI: $200k Reward for American Spy Who Defected to Iran in 2013<\/a> (UPI)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Zionist war on free speech &#8212; and the resistance &#8212; continues:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2026\/may\/16\/british-palestinians-feel-unable-speak-out-sara-husseini\">British Palestinians Feel \u2018Gaslit\u2019 and Unable to Speak Out, Says Leading Activist<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/15\/mahmoud-khalil-calls-for-deportation-to-be-halted-in-light-of-new-evidence\">Mahmoud Khalil Calls for Deportation to Be Halted in Light of New Evidence<\/a> (Aljazeera)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Victims include both celebrities and ordinary Iranians:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kuow.org\/stories\/iran-has-been-confiscating-property-from-critics-of-the-regime\">Iran Has Been Confiscating Property from Critics of the Regime<\/a> (NPR \/ KUOW)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;Armed drones have now become by far and away the leading cause of civilian deaths,&#8217; or over 80% of conflict-related deaths&#8221;\u00a0 &#8212; United Nations human rights chief Volker T\u00fcrk:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wral.com\/news\/ap\/1c030-drones-are-making-sudans-war-even-deadlier-for-civilians\/\">Drones Are Making Sudan&#8217;s War Even Deadlier for Civilians<\/a> (AP \/ WRAL)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;A criminal complaint unsealed on Friday in a Manhattan federal court accuses Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, of involvement in at least 18 attacks and attempted attacks spanning the US, Canada, and Europe&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/16\/us-charges-alleged-iran-backed-%E2%81%A0kataib-hezbollah-suspect-what-we-know\">US Charges Alleged Iran-backed ?Kataib Hezbollah Suspect \u2013 What We Know<\/a> (Aljazeera)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;We have put ourselves in a situation where every bit of that war will be directly attributable&#8217; to the president, and a Republican majority who, &#8216;in a roundabout way, has allowed for it to happen'&#8221; &#8212; Senator Lisa Murkowski &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/15\/us\/politics\/iran-war-powers-congress.html\">Republicans Waited to Challenge Trump on the Iran War. Now It May Be Too Late<\/a> (NY Times)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; but voters for one Republican critic of the war &#8220;sounded quite optimistic&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/15\/us\/politics\/thomas-massie-kentucky-iran.html\">Will the Iran War Backlash Save an Anti-Trump Republican?<\/a> (NY Times)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;[G]aining access to an ATG could, in theory, allow a hacker to make a gas leak go undetected&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/05\/15\/politics\/iran-hackers-tank-readers-gas-stations\">Exclusive: Hackers Have Breached Tank Readers at US Gas Stations; Officials Suspect Iran Is Responsible<\/a> (CNN)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other Gulf leaders rebuffed Mohamed bin Zayed\u2019s request for a coordinated Gulf attack on Iran&#8221; &#8230; UAE Made Failed Attempt to Get Saudi Arabia, Qatar to Jointly Attack Iran: Report (Middle East Eye) &#8230; providing more evidence that the &#8220;newest divide in the Middle East is between Israel\u2019s allies [&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-94818","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\/94818","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=94818"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94828,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94818\/revisions\/94828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}