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2026-05-29 11:03:42 UTC

AIPAC’s Most Hated 2028 Democratic Contenders, By the Numbers
*On this day in 2019, former FBI Director Robert Mueller spoke about his investigation of Russian election interference and links between Donald Trump and Moscow. Contrary to Trump’s claims of exoneration, Mueller said: “If we had had confidence that the president did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”*
Good morning, friends. **Prem** here. Wishing you a wonderful Friday wherever you are, and Eid Mubarak to all who celebrate. Can you BELIEVE it’s almost June? How are you enjoying the weather? Let me know in the comments… :)
There is no paywall in this installment of **‘First Draft’** thanks to today’s sponsor, **[Ground News][1]**!
In today’s **‘First Draft,’** an analysis of **AIPAC’s** Twitter account gives a better understanding of which Democrats *actually* challenge the U.S.-Israel relationship, a top CBS reporter departs with a warning, and Maine Senate hopeful **Graham Platner** lures **Susan Collins** into offering an open goal.
Let’s dig in!
[Subscribe now][2]
# **Itchy Twitter Fingers**
*A visitor holds an AIPAC folder in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 12, 2024, on Capitol Hill. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.*
You can tell a lot about someone by the enemies they attract. When you look at Democrats floated as possible contenders for the 2028 presidential nomination, very few have attracted the ire of the Israel lobby.
As the public has grown increasingly outraged by the genocide Israel has committed in Gaza with U.S. tax dollars, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, has scrambled to shore up support. It’s an effort that has involved dumping millions into elections across the U.S., using opaque super PACs to disguise such spending, and lobbying to curtail free speech. It has also fueled a very active presence on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Since the start of 2025, AIPAC has fired off hundreds of tweets attacking U.S. politicians. But among the crowded field of Democrats floated as potential presidential picks, only three have been particular targets for AIPAC: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ro Khanna, and Senator Chris Van Hollen.
[Subscribe now][3]
Since 2025, according to a **Zeteo** analysis, AIPAC has gone after Khanna by name at least 147 times; Ocasio-Cortez at least 116 times; and Van Hollen at least 105 times.
In a December 2025 post, AIPAC [slammed][4] Van Hollen for… holding all actors to equal standards, whether adversary or foe.
In a February 2026 post, AIPAC mocked Ocasio-Cortez on foreign policy, [saying][5]: **“If @AOC spent less time obsessively lying about Israel, she’d have more time to find Venezuela and learn about Taiwan.”**
And in April, when Khanna said **“Team America”** should cut tax dollars to Israel, keep the Israeli prime minister out of the Situation Room, and move away from obsession over war in the Middle East, the pro-Israel lobby [responded][6] that Khanna wasn’t Team America, but rather **“Team Ro.”**
Of course, those three Democrats are not alone in being AIPAC targets. Attacks often feature names including Reps. Ilhan Omar, Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib, Summer Lee, Delia Ramirez, and Mark Pocan, as well as Senators Bernie Sanders, Tina Smith, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, and Peter Welch.
As U.S. support for Israel has plummeted, particularly among Democrats and independents, Democratic politicians have changed their rhetoric, distancing themselves from AIPAC specifically or making relatively safe condemnations of the **“Netanyahu government.”** A sparse few, listed above, have gone further, criticizing the Israeli apartheid regime more broadly, and condemning pro-Israel interests beyond AIPAC.
You can’t necessarily tell who is sincere in such criticisms and who may be doing the bare minimum, perhaps with permission from the pro-Israel lobby, with an understanding that when push comes to shove, they’ll have Israel’s back.
But by looking at who AIPAC is explicitly attacking, you can get a better sense of who, among possible 2028 picks, the pro-Israel lobby is afraid of, and who may pose less of a threat.
In contrast to its attacks on Ocasio-Cortez, Khanna, and Van Hollen, AIPAC has thanked Senators [Cory Booker][7] and [Mark Kelly][8] once each since 2025, and Pennsylvania Governor [Josh Shapiro][9] twice (and Democratic leaders [Chuck Schumer][10] and [Hakeem Jeffries][11] repeatedly).
Other possible candidates have not attracted attacks. They include former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (who [said][12] Thursday she would not run).
Of course, this isn’t conclusive. Ultimately, it’s just a survey of a social feed. And some of the politicians listed above have flashed signs that they could meaningfully stand up to the pro-Israel lobby and enforce U.S. and international law.
But that cuts both ways. It’s easy to vote to limit *some* weapons to Israel (as Ossoff and Gallego have) if you know the measure won’t pass. The pro-Israel lobby may not like it, but ultimately, it can swallow an action if it does not prompt actual change. Votes can be release valves for political pressure. You’re only a risk if you’re leading the charge, pushing the envelope, asking fundamental questions about the U.S.-Israel relationship, and being the reason for so much public momentum against Israel.
Accordingly, AIPAC evidently sees many possible 2028 Democratic contenders as persuadable - or at least possible to *discipline*.
Two-and-a-half years into Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinians, amid its genocidal campaign in Lebanon, and its horrific joint war on Iran, if you are a Democrat *still* considered “gettable” by AIPAC… you have work to do with your base.
Given that the overwhelming opinion among grassroots Democrats is opposition to U.S. aid to Israel’s genocidal regime, Ocasio-Cortez, Khanna, and Van Hollen should all be counted as serious presidential contenders.
[Share][13]
*We used Ground News to find related stories focusing on AIPAC’s impact in elections. Take this feature on the Kentucky primary race and the influence of the pro-Israel lobby on critical seats.*
*Ground News is a news app and website that scans 50,000+ articles while offering built-in bias comparisons, fact checks, and funding transparency for every source.*
*For this story, we see that there is a split in the coverage with 43% left, 19% right, and 38% center**.** Many of the headlines are the same, but the coverage couldn’t be more different. Ground News makes it easy to see the difference in how both sides are covering the same story.*
*The built-in factuality and ownership features also highlight the hidden angles behind every article. With Ground News’ Vantage Plan, information becomes your superpower. Learn more at [ground.news/zeteox][14] and get 40% off the unlimited Vantage Plan.*
*(This portion of the post was sponsored content.) *
[Subscribe now][15]
## **🇮🇷 **Iran War Updates
* **Waiting on Trump:** The U.S. and Iran [reportedly][16] [agreed][17] to extend the ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and prepare a path to talks over issues including Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. JD Vance said, “I can’t guarantee that we’re going to get there, but right now I feel pretty good about it.” But his boss hasn’t made up his mind. Axios [said][18] Donald Trump “wants a couple days to think about it.”
* **Markets react:** Oil prices [fell][19] on news of a possible deal, with Brent below $90 a barrel after passing $109 last week.
* **New sanctions:** Nonetheless, the U.S. Treasury [imposed][20] new restrictions on Iran’s military oil trade and on entities trading with Tehran.
* **Lebanon latest:** Lebanese authorities [said][21] at least 19 people were killed and 58 injured in continuing Israeli strikes, as Israel confirmed it had hit the capital, Beirut, for the first time in weeks. Continuing to ignore that deal in the south, Israel forced thousands to flee in Tyre and other regions, as it continued to target civilian areas.
* **Deadly cost:** The Lebanese Health Ministry [said][22] the death toll from the Israeli onslaught since March 2 had reached at least 3,324, with 10,027 injured.
## ‘Let’s Call This What It Is: Censorship’
*Cecilia Vega attends the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, 2026, in Washington, DC. Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images.*
Fired from ‘60 Minutes’ by CBS News editor-in-chief-cum-Trump-shill Bari Weiss, veteran correspondent Cecilia Vega issued a powerful statement about the beloved but besieged news show.
“I very much fear what comes next,” she said.
Weiss jettisoned serious talent on Thursday, also firing correspondent Sharyn Afonsi and executive producer Tanya Simon. Nick Bilton was named as the new EP – a move backed by prominent [Trump supporters][23].
Vega did not hold back about Weiss’s impact on CBS News, since the founder of The Free Press was installed by Trump ally David Ellison, the [new owner of][24] parent company Paramount.
“In recent months,” Vega said, “my producing teams and I have experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories. Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions.
“Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven. It is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy.
“I held the line and refused to incorporate suggestions that offend the conscience… I know… that many producing teams and correspondents working on the show today have had to fight to maintain editorial independence with regularity. I am far from the only 60 Minutes correspondent who has asked herself, ‘What is my personal red line? How much can I push back before I pay the price?’”
Noting that “this season alone I was part of teams that won… a George Polk award and a duPont-Columbia award for our coverage of Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration to El Salvador’s Cecot prison,” Vega said she had “an honor no one can take from me: I was the first Latina correspondent to ever be on ‘60 Minutes.’”
Telling former colleagues to “hold the line,” her sign-off was “La lucha sigue.”
In English, it means “the struggle continues.”
[Subscribe now][25]
## **🗞️ **What You Need to Know
* **Duly noted:** Trump officials have pressed the Treasury for a $250 bill featuring Trump’s portrait, the *Washington Post* [reported][26]. Likenesses of living persons have been legally barred from U.S. banknotes since 1866. A top printing official who resigned over the issue told colleagues on leaving: “The buck stopped here.”
* **Corruption watch:** Staggering stories of Trump corruption kept pouring out. A White House aide [hurried through][27] a $620 million deal for a company tied to Donald Trump Jr. Dell signed a $9.7 billion Pentagon deal after Trump Sr. [acquired stock and praised the company][28]. It goes on and on and on.
* **Weaponization watch:** The DOJ is probing a nonprofit that helped pay legal bills for E. Jean Carroll, who won millions after Trump was found liable for her sexual abuse and defamation, the *Washington Post* [said][29]. Carroll is also a [target][30].
* **License to kill: **The Trump administration’s murderous Pacific and Caribbean boat strikes face two legal deadlines on Friday, NOTUS [said][31], citing suits brought by advocacy groups and relatives of two Trinidadian men killed in one such strike.
* **License to chill:** Trump’s DOJ is seeking names, addresses, and banking details of Twitter and Reddit users who criticized ICE, Bloomberg [reported][32].
* **Recuse me? **Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s son works in a political role at the Treasury, NOTUS [scooped][33]. The Treasury said Philip Alito “does not counsel on any matters reasonably expected” to be placed before his dad.
* **Maine claims:** Senator Susan Collins [attacked][34] Democrat Graham Platner for saying she voted to send him to Iraq, saying, “That was Platner’s decision to serve. He was not drafted.” Platner [responded][35], “There’s nothing more Orwellian than voting to send 18-year-olds to die in a forever war – and then blaming them for it.”
[Subscribe now][36]
## 🧠 Pop Quiz!
***When Justice Samuel Alito joined the Supreme Court in 2006, which Major League Baseball icon attended his welcome dinner – and what did Alito say he smelled like?***
Keep your eyes out for the answer below!
## 🌏 Anywhere But America
* **🇵🇸 Don’t forget Gaza: **Benjamin Netanyahu [directed][37] Israeli forces to occupy 70% of Gaza, having already ignored a US-brokered truce by extending its footprint in the territory and continuing strikes, killing more than 920 Palestinians. Gaza officials said a strike on Wednesday night killed at least 10 people, including five children.
* 🇮🇱 **Early protest:** UN ambassador Danny Danon [said][38] Israel would cut ties to UN Secretary General António Guterres after the UN “added Israel to the blacklist of sexual violence in conflict zones.” The UN’s annual report on such violence is presented to relevant states before publication.
* **🇨🇺 Cuba latest: **Axios [described][39] how the Trump administration is trying to force the Cuban government to collapse, a source saying the U.S. expects summer unrest as its blockade cuts electricity for cooling and food storage.
* 🇧🇷 **Brazil bans:** The U.S. [labeled][40] two Brazilian criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, a move President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said he regards as interference favoring Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, his rival in October’s election.
* 🇨🇩 **Aid arrives:** European Union supplies [reached][41] Bunia in north-eastern Congo, at the center of the outbreak of a rare form of Ebola. More such aid is expected.
[Share][42]
## **😳** WTF?!
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is [threatening][43] to withdraw Customs officers from airports serving “sanctuary cities,” e.g., places that reject Donald Trump’s fascistic deportation policies. Among appalled reactions, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, [said][44] such a move “would cause enormous economic damage and disrupt air travel nationwide.”
“That he’s even contemplating this publicly is a sign of madness.”
#### 🧠 Trivia answer: The Philly Phanatic. Alito [said][45] he “smelled like a flower.”
## 📖 Weekend Reads
**[A Hell of a Secretary of War][46]**
From Tom Dispatch, a look at the strange career of the Fox News host who became Donald Trump’s defense secretary, a man way out of his depth but nonetheless profoundly disturbing U.S. military culture. “Hegseth’s fusion of strength, religion, and violence was encapsulated in a poster allegedly displayed at a U.S. military installation in recent days,” Jasper Craven writes. “It featured Jesus Christ firing a mortar round.”
**[‘Seriously the Best Boss Ever’: Inside the World of Jeffrey Epstein’s Assistant][47]**
Jeffrey Epstein called his executive assistants “an extension of my brain” and a “social prosthesis.” Lesley Groff was one of the best. For *The* *Guardian*, Sophie Elmhirst provides a hugely detailed read on the world Groff entered, what she did regarding Epstein and his “girls,“ and what it might yet mean for Groff: on June 9, she will be interviewed in Congress.
**[How Venture Capital Benefits From Zombie Bankruptcies][48]**
Laptop nomads in Washington, Chicago, and Texas knew Foxtrot, a chain that offered lattés, wine, and a spot to work. One day in April 2024, it suddenly went bankrupt, costing hundreds of jobs. Now it’s back, propped up by venture capital, private equity, and laws that allow it to skirt huge debts. And as Hannah Harris Green notes at *Mother Jones*, cautionary tale of modern capitalism or no, the laptop hordes are back.
## ICYMI From Zeteo
*Zeteo’s Martin Pengelly contributed to this newsletter.*
[Share][49]
*Still want to get **Zeteo **content, but not this newsletter? You can unsubscribe directly from ‘**First Draft**’ by going to ‘[manage subscription][50]’ in Substack, scrolling down, and toggling the button for ‘First Draft’ off. *
[1]: https://ground.news/
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://x.com/aipac/status/1996561314370486649?s=46&t=F-u914q8nK6dJmjHHvnlIw
[5]: https://x.com/aipac/status/2023749478038335667?s=46&t=F-u914q8nK6dJmjHHvnlIw
[6]: https://x.com/aipac/status/2045899114085339576?s=46&t=F-u914q8nK6dJmjHHvnlIw
[7]: https://x.com/aipac/status/1975576560129167367?s=46&t=F-u914q8nK6dJmjHHvnlIw
[8]: https://x.com/aipac/status/1975597058976354388?s=46&t=F-u914q8nK6dJmjHHvnlIw
[9]: https://x.com/aipac/status/1975646585041158310?s=46&t=F-u914q8nK6dJmjHHvnlIw
[10]: https://x.com/aipac/status/1933582763229127128?s=46&t=F-u914q8nK6dJmjHHvnlIw
[11]: https://x.com/aipac/status/1894832920646357449?s=46&t=F-u914q8nK6dJmjHHvnlIw
[12]: https://x.com/rooprajfox2/status/2059981838240645333
[13]: https://zeteo.com/p/aipacs-most-hated-2028-democratic?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[14]: http://ground.news/zeteox
[15]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[16]: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/28/world/iran-war-us-trump-deal
[17]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-us-trade-air-strikes-after-trump-dismisses-report-hormuz-deal-2026-05-28/
[18]: https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/iran-peace-deal-trump-approval
[19]: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-falls-slightly-reports-potential-us-iran-ceasefire-deal-2026-05-29/
[20]: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-imposes-fresh-sanctions-irans-military-oil-sales-treasury-says-2026-05-28/
[21]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/28/israel-intensifies-attacks-on-southern-lebanon-killing-at-least-16-people
[22]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/5/28/iran-war-live-israel-orders-mass-forced-displacement-for-all-south-lebanon?update=4609001
[23]: https://x.com/benshapiro/status/2060071953826771193?s=46
[24]: https://www.npr.org/2025/09/12/nx-s1-5537152/cbs-news-ellison-steps-appease-trump
[25]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[26]: https://x.com/washingtonpost/status/2059957879180824873?s=46
[27]: https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-vulcan-deal-white-house
[28]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/28/dell-inks-97-billion-pentagon-contract-after-trump-acquires-stock-praises-company/
[29]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/05/28/doj-probes-reid-hoffmans-nonprofit-funding-e-jean-carrolls-legal-bills/
[30]: https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/27/politics/exclusive-justice-department-launched-e-jean-carroll-investigation
[31]: https://www.notus.org/trump-white-house/boat-strike-justification-lawsuits-investigation
[32]: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/immigration/doj-wants-to-know-who-on-reddit-x-is-criticizing-ices-tactics?taid=6a18437216ca9c00012da595&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
[33]: https://www.notus.org/us-news/samuel-philip-alito-trump-treasury-department
[34]: https://x.com/TheMaineWire/status/2060030001542561999
[35]: https://x.com/grahamformaine/status/2060096715496071593
[36]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[37]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-directs-israeli-forces-expand-gaza-control-70-percent-2026-05-28/
[38]: https://x.com/dannydanon/status/2059984342147850393
[39]: https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/trump-cuba-squeeze-regime-change
[40]: https://apnews.com/article/brazil-pcc-comando-vermelho-foreign-terrorist-organizations-trump-68fe261fa5ab6980864405345970f68f
[41]: https://apnews.com/article/congo-ebola-aid-bunia-who-tedros-acac5c8afc134cf1d6c81e680247ff6b
[42]: https://zeteo.com/p/aipacs-most-hated-2028-democratic?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[43]: https://x.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/2059974782964097330
[44]: https://x.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/2059974782964097330
[45]: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/sports/phillies/20100413_Alito_is_one_Phillies_fan_whose_opinions_really_matter.html
[46]: https://tomdispatch.com/pete-hegseths-desperate-crusade-for-masculine-validation/
[47]: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/may/28/inside-the-world-of-jeffrey-epstein-assistant-lesley-groff
[48]: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/foxtrot-venture-capital-chapter-7-bankruptcy-private-equity/
[49]: https://zeteo.com/p/aipacs-most-hated-2028-democratic?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[50]: https://zeteo.com/account?utm_source=user-menu
https://zeteo.com/p/aipacs-most-hated-2028-democratic

2026-03-27 00:03:28 UTC

Here Are Trump’s Many Contradictions on His War in Iran
*Donald Trump at the White House on March 26, 2026. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.*
“I can change my mind in seconds.”
That’s what Donald Trump [told][1] Fox’s Brian Kilmeade during a March 13 interview about the US-Israeli war in Iran.
Over the past four weeks, the president has failed to articulate a coherent basis for launching his illegal war. He can’t present a consistent message when it comes to the threat Iran supposedly posed, whether the war is “very complete” or just beginning, and if he’s going to “obliterate” Iran or make a deal with its leadership.
We combed through Trump’s interviews, press conference transcripts, and Truth Social posts to spotlight some of the many contradictions that this erratic president has made since the start of the war. Here’s what we found:
[Subscribe now][2]
### **What Was the Alleged Threat?**
**Saturday, Feb. 28**
“I think there was a threat. Had we not done Midnight Hammer, which was one of the greatest things country has ever done, we would’ve been faced with a nuclear weapon within a month – we would have been faced with a very powerful nuclear weapon within a month.”
“And then they were trying to build back… They would’ve had in a fairly short period of time some very fairly big nuclear capacity and we were not going to put up with that.”
- Trump to Rachel Scott, [ABC News][3]
**Sunday, March 1**
“If we didn’t do that, they would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks. And then all of this would not have been possible.”
- Trump to [Fox
][4]**Monday, March 9**
“If we waited three days, I believe we would have been attacked.”
- Trump to [Fox][5]
### **
### Is It a War? **
[ Read more ][6]
[1]: https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-interview-brian-kilmeade-fox-news-radio-march-13-2026/
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://x.com/rachelvscott/status/2027872407440986394
[4]: https://x.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/2028127909093798201
[5]: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-hes-not-happy-irans-choice-new-supreme-leader
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/here-are-trumps-many-contradictions
https://zeteo.com/p/here-are-trumps-many-contradictions

2026-03-26 17:26:07 UTC

EXCLUSIVE: Mehdi Interviews Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman on the War
You’ll see US and Israeli officials all over cable news and the mainstream media in the West, discussing their illegal war on Iran. But what is the position of the Iranian government on escalating conflict? What is Iran’s approach to negotiations and diplomacy?
In this exclusive and wide-ranging **Zeteo** interview, **Mehdi **presses a senior Iranian official – Foreign Ministry Spokesman **Esmaeil Baghaei**, who was involved in last month’s nuclear meetings in Geneva – on the state of the war, the future of negotiations, Iran’s human rights record, and more.
The half-hour interview was conducted via Zoom, with Baghaei in Tehran, and is both revealing and challenging, with Mehdi and the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman discussing:
* Trump claiming that Iranian negotiators are now [“begging”][1] for a deal **(“Insane.”)**
* Last month’s negotiations in Geneva** (“The deal was within reach.”)**
* Iran’s new supreme leader, [Mojtaba Khamenei][2] **(“How is your country not a dictatorship?” **Mehdi asks, as well as **“Is he even alive?”**)
* Iran’s attacks on its [Gulf neighbors][3] **(“We just defend ourselves.”)**
* Why Iran reportedly had a stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, which is just steps away from weapons-grade enrichment (**“To reciprocate the US’s withdrawal from [the nuclear deal].”**)
* The Iranian government’s brutal crackdown on protesters earlier this year (**“These are eyewitness accounts,” **Mehdi says.)
Mehdi also presses the spokesman on Iran’s illegal use of cluster munitions in this war, including an Iranian missile [attack][4] that killed three Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank last week. The Foreign Ministry spokesman was also asked about [reports][5] that the US’s lead negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were regarded as “Israeli assets” during the negotiations, and whether Iran prefers to deal with Vice President JD Vance going forward.
**Paid subscribers** can watch the full 34-minute interview. **Free subscribers** can watch a 7-minute preview. Do please consider becoming a[ paid subscriber][6] today, or [donating][7] to **Zeteo**, to support independent journalism in a time of war, misinformation, and propaganda.
*NOTE: Baghaei conducted this interview via Zoom from Tehran, which has been experiencing [internet issues][8] due to the war. There may be audio issues as you watch the interview.*
***Check out Zeteo’s other recent stories:***
[ Read more ][9]
[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/26/iran-war-live-updates-trump-deal-us-military-strikes-israel-lebanon-hezbollah?page=with:block-69c509858f089a55d361b15d
[2]: https://www.npr.org/2026/03/09/nx-s1-5742375/mojtaba-khamenei-iran-supreme-leader
[3]: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/26/gulf-states-ready-for-self-defense-against-iran-as-war-stance-shifts.html
[4]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0ljl23plpzo
[5]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/17/uk-security-adviser-attended-us-iran-talks-and-judged-deal-was-within-reach
[6]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/donate-to-zeteo
[8]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/5/iranians-get-by-as-us-israeli-bombs-rain-down-internet-blocked
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/esmaeil-baghaei-iran-war-israel
https://zeteo.com/p/esmaeil-baghaei-iran-war-israel

2026-03-26 14:15:10 UTC

The Anger of a Stumbling Presidency
## **NOTE**
Join Zeteo’s **John Harwood** in a live conversation with **Pod Save America’s Tommy Vietor at 4:30pm ET / 8:30pm GMT on Substack.** They’ll discuss Trump’s war in Iran and Democrats’ prospects in the midterm elections.
[Watch it here][1]
*Donald Trump speaks outside the White House on March 20, 2026. Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images.*
Donald Trump didn’t surprise anyone by [welcoming the death][2] of Robert Mueller, an American hero who exemplified all the admirable qualities he does not possess.
But the president’s fresh demonstration of depravity underscored a defining characteristic of his presidency. I do not mean corruption, or dishonesty, or ignorance, though Trump is thoroughly corrupt, dishonest, and ignorant.
I mean his anger. For all the wealth, fame, and power he has accumulated, Trump is an angry man directing an angry administration.
[Subscribe now][3]
He was angry at Mueller, a decorated combat veteran and former FBI director, for obvious reasons. As Justice Department special counsel, Mueller documented the extensive interactions between Trump’s Russian benefactors and his 2016 campaign, and prosecuted some of his closest aides and allies.
But Trump seethes at anyone who spotlights his failures, investigates his crimes, or interferes with his self-aggrandizement. That includes partisan opponents ([“radical left lunatics”][4]), Supreme Court justices ([“unpatriotic and disloyal”][5]), journalists (“fake news”), and television comedians ([“late night morons”][6]).
All expose facets of his life as a con man, so he uses his influence to menace them legally, politically, financially, or physically.
[ Read more ][7]
[1]: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/145705?r=95c1q&utm_medium=ios#:~:text=talking%20with%20Pod,Add%20to%20calendar
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-robert-mueller-death-celebrates
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/11/trump-says-we-have-to-beat-the-hell-out-of-radical-left-lunatics-after-kirk-killing-00559170
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/time-for-trump-to-go
[6]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116235861005528220
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-anger-stumbling-presidency
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-anger-stumbling-presidency

2026-03-26 11:24:15 UTC

The Thug of War
*On this day in 1945, US forces secured the island of Iwo Jima, at the cost of nearly 7,000 American lives and more than 18,000 Japanese killed. Now, GOP hawk Lindsey Graham gleefully cites the battle, one of the costliest of World War II in the Pacific, as proof that the US will easily take Kharg Island from Iran.*
Hi, all. It’s **Swin** and **Andrew**, again. Swin is heading to Minnesota at the end of this week to cover, among other things, what is expected to be a huge “No Kings” rally in St. Paul. **Bruce Springsteen** says he [will be there too,][1] because he wants “to meet the moment.” Good for him. If you’re in the Twin Cities area this week, feel free to drop him a line at [asawin@zeteonews.com][2]. 🙂
Now let’s get started… In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ **Pete Hegseth** has a new nickname inside the Pentagon, **ICE misled about immigration court arrests**, and **Antony Blinken** admitted he “could have done better,” even as he defended giving Israel weapons to carry out its genocide.
[Subscribe now][3]
# ‘Dumb McNamara’
*Hegseth in the Oval Office on March 24, 2026. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.*
Donald Trump’s so-called “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth has earned himself a new nickname, current and former US officials tell us. Among various staffers and officials working within the august confines of the Pentagon and Department of Defense, the former [‘Fox & Friends’ co-host][4] and “[death and destruction][5]”-obsessed Trump acolyte is known as “**Dumb McNamara**.”
This is, of course, a reference to former Defense Secretary [Robert McNamara][6], an architect of American military escalation in Vietnam who, despite his disastrous record, maintained a reputation as a brilliant, shrewd thinker. It is exceedingly hard to find anyone in the corridors of Washington power – or anywhere on the planet – who would label Hegseth a brilliant mind.
However, the nickname **“Dumb McNamara”** has spread within the US government due to Hegseth’s cheerleading of the war and bombing blitzes – overzealous bloodlust and enthusiasm for military fiasco that reminds American officials of, well, a very stupid version of Robert McNamara. **“We negotiate with bombs,”** Hegseth said Tuesday. **“You have a choice, as we loiter over the top of Tehran.”**
Oh, it was over the top, alright…
Trump has seemed eager to shift some credit (or blame, depending on who you ask) for his disastrous war in Iran to Hegseth. Earlier this week, the president [said][7], **“Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up. You said, ‘Let’s do it.’” **
It’s Trump’s war, to be sure, but as things continue to go south, it’s easy to see the president’s Iran bloodbath getting framed as **“Hegseth’s war,”** in the way Vietnam famously became **“McNamara’s war.” **
[ Read more ][8]
[1]: https://www.startribune.com/bruce-springsteen-no-kings-rally-streets-of-minneapolis-joan-baez-jane-fonda-bernie-sanders/601631211
[2]: mailto:asawin@zeteonews.com
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-and-friends-host-pete-hegseth-privately-lobbied-trump-to-pardon-accused-war-criminals/
[5]: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1JDfamDVHjY
[6]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU1bzm-BW0o
[7]: https://x.com/atrupar/status/2036125189172244962
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/the-thug-of-war
https://zeteo.com/p/the-thug-of-war

2026-03-26 01:04:54 UTC

3 Things Trump Needs to Do to End the Iran War
***A note from our Editor-in-Chief:***
*I am delighted to re-introduce Harrison Mann to **Zeteo**. A former Middle East analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and a former US Army major, he has written for **Zeteo** before but now, thanks to your support and paid subscriptions, he’s officially a **Zeteo** contributor. As the US gets closer to a ground war in Iran, Harrison will be bringing his expertise and experiences to **Zeteo** readers. If you’re not already a **paid** subscriber, please become one today to avoid the paywall and to support independent journalism in a time of war. *
[Subscribe now][1]
***-Mehdi ***
*Trump and Rubio speak to reporters on March 20, 0226. Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images*
This week, President Donald Trump launched a one-man diplomacy blitz to end his war with Iran – maybe literally “one-man,” because it’s unclear if Trump was negotiating with anyone[ but himself][2].
On Monday morning, just two days after he threatened to bomb Iranian power plants – a likely [war crime][3] – Trump[ posted][4] about “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES,” between unnamed American and Iranian negotiators. On Tuesday, he both tacked on the puzzling[ claim][5] that Iran had given him a “very big present,” and[reportedly][6] sent Iran a 15-point ceasefire plan similar to US demands already rejected *before* the war.
Pakistani intermediaries confirmed they had[ delivered][7] Trump’s messages to Tehran. Iranian officials denied talks had taken place – and made [their own demands][8].
Whether or not Tehran has opened Trump’s DMs, the sad truth is that Trump’s own actions have made negotiating a peace nearly impossible in the immediate term. The good news is there’s still a lot he can do to speed up the end of his war. But let's start with what he can't do:
[ Read more ][9]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/25/us-talking-to-itself-says-iran-as-trump-claims-wheels-of-diplomacy-turning
[3]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/us/politics/trump-iran-power-stations.html
[4]: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/23/trump-iran-war-power-plants-energy-infrastructure-middle-east.html
[5]: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-touts-significant-iran-present-linked-strait-hormuz-deal-talks-heat-up
[6]: https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-trump-lebanon-march-24-2026-8bb5e79a98ea72fccc5c50b4931ad778
[7]: https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-trump-lebanon-march-25-2026-be07c54139bcc70672bb33f0773ede6a
[8]: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-us-israel-news-updates/card/iran-sets-high-bar-in-cease-fire-talks-here-s-what-tehran-is-asking-for-zBFbHUSXni4wrMT1AKqY
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/3-things-trump-needs-to-do-to-end
https://zeteo.com/p/3-things-trump-needs-to-do-to-end

2026-03-25 20:44:58 UTC

Bari Weiss Is ‘Rolling Out the Red Carpet’ for Pete Hegseth
Hello, and welcome to this week’s** ‘Ragebait’!**
**Justin Baragona **here, bringing you the latest dispatches from Bari World and the right-wing industrial outrage complex. In today’s edition, I cover how** Pete Hegseth** has a new favorite network – and it’s not his old stomping grounds, the influence Fox has had on the growing acceptance of a neo-Nazi conspiracy theory, an “idiot” trying to stop the latest Serial podcast, and independent journalism stepping up to the plate on long-form reporting.
[Subscribe now][1]
# Hegseth’s New Favorite Channel
*Screenshot via Dokoupil’s ‘CBS Evening News’ interview with Hegseth in January 2026 on [YouTube][2]*
Ever since news outlets – including Fox and Newsmax – were [nearly unanimous in rejecting the Pentagon’s loyalty pledge last fall][3], which prompted dozens of journalists to walk out en masse, these organizations have refused to bring on Defense Secretary **Pete Hegseth **for interviews.
All but one, that is.
[ Read more ][4]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLqM0UjDcls
[3]: https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-press-access-hegseth-trump-restrictions-5d9c2a63e4e03b91fc1546bb09ffbf12
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/bari-weiss-cbs-news-hegseth
https://zeteo.com/p/bari-weiss-cbs-news-hegseth

2026-03-25 17:03:47 UTC

Dems Prepare for Trump to Seize Ballots and Interfere in the Midterms
*Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office on March 24, 2026. Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images.*
When FBI agents showed up at a warehouse in the Atlanta area in late January, local officials were surprised, to say the least. The agents seized hundreds of thousands of ballots and other material from the 2020 election as part of Donald Trump’s never-ending quest to prove a stolen election that never was.
Now, Trump’s Justice Department is fighting to hold on to the ballots and other records seized by the FBI as Fulton County, Georgia, fights in court to retrieve the materials. In the process, Justice Department lawyers have made legal arguments asserting extraordinary powers over election records like those seized in late January – prompting concerns that the Trump administration could try to seize ballots, voting machines, or other equipment as votes are being counted in the November midterms.
After all, Trump did try to steal the 2020 election, and he has [already said][1] he “should have” directed his administration to seize voting machines after he lost. With Trump now explicitly using ICE to deal with a political problem – long lines at airports – concerns over armed federal agents at the polls in November have been renewed.
[Subscribe now][2]
Trumpworld provocateur and Jeffery Epstein pal Steve Bannon on Monday [called][3] ICE’s presence at the nation’s airports a “test run” and “perfect training” for November, arguing federal agents should “check IDs” at polling locations.
Following the Fulton County raid, election officials across the country are wargaming scenarios in preparation for unprecedented federal government interference in November’s midterms. Secretaries of state, attorneys general, county attorneys, and local election officials have all taken the raid as a stark warning.
“Our highest risk in 2026 and potentially in 2028 is the federal government trying to disrupt and undermine our elections,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold tells **Zeteo**. “It’s not Russia, it’s not China, it’s Donald Trump.”
[ Read more ][4]
[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/trump-voting-machines-2020-election.html
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/steve-bannon-calls-ice-agents-at-airports-part-of-a-test-run-for-the-midterm-elections
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-dems-midterms-interfere-ice-polls-ballots
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-dems-midterms-interfere-ice-polls-ballots

2026-03-25 14:14:48 UTC

UNRWA Chief Warns of ‘De-Facto’ Annexation of the West Bank
After two consecutive terms as the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, better known as [UNRWA][1], **Philippe Lazzarini’s** tenure at the agency is coming to an end. The outgoing Commissioner-General joins **Mehdi **to reflect on the organization he leaves behind, the current reality in Palestine as it’s overshadowed by the war in [Iran][2], and the ways in which [Israel][3] has attacked UNRWA and how it can survive.
[Subscribe now][4]
From [settler violence][5] in the occupied West Bank to what Lazzarini describes as a **“cease-fire by name” **in occupied Gaza, the UNRWA official remarks on the headlines not making the front page because of the war on Iran. **“Life there is still extraordinarily miserable,” **he tells Mehdi.
This important and wide-ranging discussion includes:
* How US Ambassador to Israel [Mike Huckabee][6] is **“endorsing” **the vision for a ‘greater Israel.’
* The **“de facto annexation” **of the occupied West Bank.
* How Trump’s ‘[Board of Peace][7]’ is a **“bad copy of what the United Nations has been all about.”**
* Funding, and what Lazzarini’s successor must do to guarantee the organization’s survival.
* What a reformed UN looks like and the path to making it more effective.
[Share][8]
**Paid subscribers** can watch the full video above. **Free subscribers** can watch a 3-minute preview. Consider [becoming a paid subscriber][9] to unlock content like this and a lot more from **Zeteo**.
**Catch the latest stories from Zeteo:**
[ Read more ][10]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/debunked-seven-israeli-myths-about?utm_source=publication-search
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/i-wargamed-iran-for-obama-this-is
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/cbs-owner-paramount-pushed-pro-israel
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-palestine-israeli-settlers
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/11-lies-mike-huckabee-israel-carlson-debunk?utm_source=publication-search
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/tony-blair-should-be-on-trial-for?utm_source=publication-search
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/unrwa-chief-warns-of-de-facto-annexation-israel-trump-gaza-occupation?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[9]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23234856710&gbraid=0AAAAA-F9BazexDKE8DZfrLzh4CXXMQ9fn&gclid=CjwKCAiA2PrMBhA4EiwAwpHyC2IegxZtZP36gmzZ73GExvPfwxqiDiV4yqd6ZxaWjUqalj4PBDbmRxoCbb0QAvD_BwE
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/unrwa-chief-warns-of-de-facto-annexation-israel-trump-gaza-occupation
https://zeteo.com/p/unrwa-chief-warns-of-de-facto-annexation-israel-trump-gaza-occupation

2026-03-25 11:23:59 UTC

America Is Broken
*On this day in 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 protesters to the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, the culmination of a five-day march for voting rights reform. Sixty-one years later, Donald Trump is pushing his anti-voting rights SAVE America Act, while organizers of “No Kings” anti-Trump protests on Saturday expect millions to turn out.*
Good Morning! **Andrew** here. What happens when a Mad King gains total control over a government built for dysfunction? Today’s answer: US air travelers have a very bad time.
In today’s **‘First Draft,’** we review one of the many ways **Donald Trump** and **MAGA** are breaking America, likely Democratic presidential candidate **Gavin Newsom** has changed his mind about Israel being an “apartheid state,” and the Supreme Court could help Trump mistreat more immigrants.
[Subscribe now][1]
# Has Trump Made the US a ‘Shithole Country’?
* ICE agents look on as travelers stand in long lines at the Atlanta airport on March 23, 2026. Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images.*
Donald Trump likes to make racist [complaints][2] about immigrants from **“shithole countries.”** He recently described Somalia as a **“fourth-world”** nation, claiming: **“They don’t have government … They shoot each other all over the place.”**
The United States, the exceptional nation that it is, has a [higher][3] gun mortality rate than Somalia. And in Trump’s second term, our already dysfunctional government is operating according to the whims, edicts, and tantrums of America’s first Mad King. It is absolutely breaking our country.
Take a look at US airports, where travelers have been waiting in three- and four-hour TSA security lines, with many missing their flights, because of a partial government shutdown. At several major airports, security lines [have][4] [stretched][5] to parking garages outside.
Republicans have repeatedly rejected offers from Democrats to end the partial shutdown. Democrats have refused to provide new money to ICE without reforms, after Trump turned the agency into a masked secret-police force that racially profiles and kidnaps people off the streets, kills US citizens on camera, and acts as his personal militia.
[Subscribe now][6]
Now consider this: When an Air Canada jet collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night, killing two pilots and injuring dozens of people, federal safety investigators were significantly [delayed][7] in responding to the accident due to the excessively long security lines.
National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy [said][8] Monday that an** “air traffic control specialist”** had been stuck in a TSA line in Houston for three hours until her team called **“to beg, to see if we can get her through.”**
Insane, right? The incident occurred after the president [forbade][9] Republicans from reaching a deal with Democrats to fund the Department of Homeland Security, and start paying TSA workers again. Trump has demanded Republicans pass his sprawling, dangerous [voter-suppression bill][10] as part of a shutdown deal.
Instead of accepting a bipartisan deal on Sunday, Trump made the personal, political, partisan decision to send ICE agents to major airports – underscoring just one reason why Democrats aren’t comfortable giving ICE more money without reforms.
On Tuesday, Trump said Republicans and Democrats may be **“fairly close”** to a funding deal – but added that he is **“not happy”** about it. He said Democrats had **“hurt our country”** by refusing to fund ICE, and had done so **“at a very difficult time because, we are at, they would say, a war.” **
[ Read more ][11]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/10/politics/donald-trump-shithole-countries-phrase
[3]: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/2024/oct/comparing-deaths-gun-violence-us-other-countries
[4]: https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/orleans/tsa-lines-at-louis-armstrong-airport-stretch-into-parking-garage-for-third-week-amid-shutdown-new-orleans/289-6e367db3-c9e4-4565-8af6-bc0420d7f63b
[5]: https://pix11.com/news/local-news/massive-tsa-lines-stretch-to-parking-lot-at-laguardia/
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[7]: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/23/nyregion/laguardia-airport-plane-crash-truck
[8]: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/investigation-into-deadly-laguardia-crash-delayed-by-3-hours-for-truly-ridiculous-reason_n_69c2b0b0e4b0810704c24aae
[9]: https://punchbowl.news/article/senate/trump-thune-dhs/
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-save-america-elections
[11]: https://zeteo.com/p/america-is-broken-trump-dhs-tsa-first-draft
https://zeteo.com/p/america-is-broken-trump-dhs-tsa-first-draft

2026-03-25 00:47:36 UTC

He Worked For US Intelligence. Now He’s Writing for Zeteo
*Dear Friends,*
At a moment when war is being sold and marketed as inevitable and unavoidable - and when much of the mainstream media is falling into familiar patterns of deference, distortion, or outright silence in the face of numerous Israeli and American war crimes, I am pleased to announce that we’re expanding **Zeteo’s **Iran** **coverage with voices that cut through all of the noise.
We are proud to have teamed up with the **[Egab][1]** platform so as to be able to bring you voices from freelance journalists working inside of Iran, on the ground, as well as to announce **Harrison Mann** as **Zeteo’s **newest contributor.
Mann isn’t just another pundit parachuting into war commentary. He spent over a decade inside the US military and intelligence system, including at the Defense Intelligence Agency, working directly on Middle East policy. He later made the rare - and consequential - decision to resign from the Biden administration in protest over US policy on Gaza, citing what he described as a profound moral and strategic failure at the highest levels of government.
[Subscribe now][2]
Since then, he has emerged as one of the clearest voices on US foreign policy and national security - particularly when it comes to this escalating war with Iran, and is currently the Associate Director for Campaigns and Policy at [Win Without War][3]. His writing cuts through official narratives to expose how wars are sold, how intelligence is shaped, and how the public is misled. Check out [his viral piece][4] for **Zeteo **- from earlier this month.
At **Zeteo**, he’ll be writing regularly on the war in Iran and the consequences for the wider region, breaking down military strategy, interrogating the claims coming out of Washington and Tel Aviv, and helping readers understand what’s actually happening behind the scenes.
And, via **Egab**, we hope to also amplify local Iranian voices and bring you more original reporting from the ground in Iran too.
Because if there’s one thing we know, truth is the first casualty of every war - and **Zeteo** is committed to bringing you truth, facts, the *real* story.
So, I want to ask again for your support - if you’re a free subscriber, please consider becoming a *[paid][5]*[ subscriber][6] today.
[Subscribe now][7]
And if you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you so much for your immense support. If you’d like to help **Zeteo **even further, and have the means to do so, you can [upgrade ][8]to become a Founding member and you can also [donate][9] to **Zeteo**.
I appreciate you all. Let’s keep fighting the good fight together!
*Best,*
***Mehdi***
Founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of **Zeteo**
[Share][10]
[1]: https://www.egab.co/about
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://winwithoutwar.org/
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-ground-invasion-plans-forever-war
[5]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[7]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[8]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/donate-to-zeteo
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/he-worked-for-us-intelligence-now?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/he-worked-for-us-intelligence-now

2026-03-24 21:55:45 UTC

The 5 Most Islamophobic Tweets From Republicans Since the Iran War Began
American wars in the Middle East have always relied on Islamophobic tropes and dehumanization to manufacture consent at home, but the vile, anti-Muslim rhetoric we’re seeing coming from congressional Republicans has reached new levels since Donald Trump launched his illegal war on Iran.
There are five Republicans in particular who, since the Iran war began, have somehow become even more Islamophobic and vicious than they already were. Democrats and civil rights groups have denounced many of them, but Republicans have largely remained silent.
[Subscribe now][1]
Here are five of the most Islamophobic tweets from Republicans since the Iran war began less than a month ago:
#### **1. Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles: ‘Muslims don’t belong in American society’**
This March 9 [tweet][2] from Rep. Andy Ogles was rightly condemned by Democrats and civil rights groups. Guess who [refused][3] to condemn it? House Speaker Mike Johnson.
#### **2. Florida Rep. Randy Fine: ‘We need more Islamophobia’**
Like Ogles, Rep. [Randy Fine][4] has made *so* many Islamophobic comments in the last three weeks (and his entire congressional career) that it was difficult to choose the worst. But bluntly [calling][5] for *more *Islamophobia, as he did on March 12, certainly meets the bar.
[Subscribe now][6]
#### **3. Texas Rep. Brandon Gill: ‘Islam is a problem’**
Rep. Brandon Gill has long been an open racist, so it should come as no surprise that the Texas congressman hasn’t held back in spewing hateful rhetoric toward Muslims as he did in this March 1 [tweet][7], calling an entire faith, practiced by 2 billion people worldwide, including 4.5 million in the US, “a problem” – while turning “God is Great” in Arabic into a violent reference.
#### **4. Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden: ‘Radical Muslim sleeper cells’**
Then there’s Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who [revived][8] an old favorite dog whistle: radical Muslim sleeper cells.
#### **5. Texas Rep. Keith Self: ‘Radical Islam is on the offensive in America’**
Rep. Keith Self has [focused][9] on another one of the favorite go-to tropes for Islamophobes – creeping Sharia!
[Share][10]
### **The Sharia-Free America Caucus and Its Leaders**
These Republicans, of course, are not the only Islamophobic members of Congress – they’re just perhaps among the worst.
The rapidly growing Sharia-Free America Caucus has now [reached][11] 59 members who come from 24 states, Self, the group’s co-chair, announced today. This group’s mission is to “save Western Civilization and fight back against the threat of Sharia.”
At its core, this group is pushing for a Muslim ban. “Our immigration system must be prepared to confront this challenge and defend our Judeo-Christian values,” said Congressman Roy.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) [designated][12] the caucus an anti-Muslim hate group, the first time the civil rights group has made the designation for a caucus in its 32-year history.
[Share][13]
*Zeteo’s Ninar Taha contributed to this piece.*
***Check out more from Zeteo:***** **
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2031002097135599717
[3]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/10/mike-johnson-anti-muslim-comments
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/meet-randy-fine-america-most-racist-congressman
[5]: https://x.com/RepFine/status/2032230398009200896
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[7]: https://x.com/RepBrandonGill/status/2028296028642820307?s=20
[8]: https://x.com/derrickvanorden/status/2032294871633981766?s=20
[9]: https://x.com/RepKeithSelf/status/2022000789250879783?s=20
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/the-5-most-islamophobic-tweets-from?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[11]: https://www.instagram.com/p/DWRxdqXCVbE/?img_index=1
[12]: https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-designates-houses-sharia-free-caucus-an-anti-muslim-hate-group/
[13]: https://zeteo.com/p/the-5-most-islamophobic-tweets-from?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/the-5-most-islamophobic-tweets-from

2026-03-24 19:05:24 UTC

Israel Plans to Occupy Large Parts of Southern Lebanon
*Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike targets the Qasmiya Bridge, one of the key transit points connecting the southern and northern parts of the country, linking the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon to Sidon, on March 22, 2026. Photo by Ahmad Kaddoura/Anadolu via Getty Images*
The Israeli government said on Tuesday that it will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, marking a major escalation in the far-right government’s expansionist goals under the guise of self-defense.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces will control all remaining bridges and establish a so-called “security zone” up to the Litani River, which would amount to Israel [occupying][1] nearly 10% of Lebanon.
Katz said that the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese residents who fled north of the river will not be allowed to return to their homes “until security for the residents of the north is ensured.”
[Subscribe now][2]
He also said Israeli forces will continue to destroy homes and buildings in southern Lebanon as they did in Gaza by implementing “[the Rafah and Beit Hanoun models][3],” referring to two towns in the Strip that Israel completely decimated.
Hezbollah [slammed][4] the planned occupation as an “existential threat” to the Lebanese state and vowed to fight back.
Since March 2, when Israel ramped up its offensive in Lebanon, it has [displaced][5] more than 1.16 million people – over a quarter of the population – according to Lebanese officials. Israeli forces have [killed][6] at least 1,072 people, including more than 120 children, in Lebanon, per the country’s Health Ministry.
*First aid responders arrive to the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 24, 2026. Photo by Kawnat Haju/AFP via Getty Images*
## ‘Greater Israel’
Tuesday’s escalation reflects a long-held aspiration endorsed by Benjamin Netanyahu known as [“Greater Israel,”][7] a plan to take over much of the region, including not only historic Palestine but also parts of Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Ultranationalist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday [said][8] that Israel should move its border to the Litani River.
“The Litani must be our new border with the state of Lebanon, just like the ‘Yellow Line’ in Gaza and like the buffer zone and peak of the Hermon in Syria,” he said.
In late February, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid [said][9] he would support “anything that will allow the Jews a large, broad, strong land and a safe haven for us.”
“[T]he biblical borders of the land of Israel are clear,” Lapid said. “Therefore, the borders are the borders of the Bible.”
In an interview with alt-right commentator Tucker Carlson, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said, “It would be fine if they took it all,” referring to Israel conquering much of the Middle East.
Huckabee’s comments spurred international outrage, and several governments in the Middle East released a [joint statement][10] that condemned his remarks as “a flagrant violation of the principles of international law.”
[Share][11]
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***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-military-occupy-swathe-southern-lebanon-defence-chief-says-2026-03-24/
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/less-than-1-of-public-bomb-shelters
[4]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-military-occupy-swathe-southern-lebanon-defence-chief-says-2026-03-24/
[5]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2036217058631807396
[6]: https://www.moph.gov.lb/en/Media/view/83171/1/daily-report-on-the-aggression-death-toll-rises-to-850#/en/Media/view/83356/daily-report-on-the-aggression-1-039-martyrs
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/greater-israel-syria-occupation
[8]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/smotrich-says-litani-river-should-be-israels-new-border-with-lebanon/
[9]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/26/what-is-greater-israel-and-how-popular-is-it-among-israelis
[10]: https://www.mofa.gov.ae/en/MediaHub/News/2026/2/22/UAE-Arab-countries-US
[11]: https://zeteo.com/p/israel-plans-occupy-parts-lebanon?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/israel-plans-occupy-parts-lebanon

2026-03-24 15:50:25 UTC

US Troops Are Being Told to ‘Get Ready’ to Invade Iran
Donald Trump’s administration is moving thousands of US service members to the Middle East East, amid the disastrous US-Israeli war on Iran. And, just as with the historic public opposition to the war, there is unprecedented dissent brewing inside the military – with some troops *currently on their way to the Middle East seeking to refuse fighting.*
Mike Prysner of the [Center on Conscience and War][1] joins Prem to discuss the remarkable levels of dissent inside the military, the fear and intimidation US service members are facing, and how the Trump administration and Israel are to blame for US troops now aiming to leave their posts.
Apparently, soldiers are being told to prepare for the worst. Prysner said directives coming from command to the rank-and-file are stark: “**They’re saying a ground war is inevitable, like this is happening, you better get ready.”**
High-profile alleged war crimes, including the strike on the Minab girls’ school, as well as the US attack of the Iranian Naval ship returning from an Indian training exercise, have disturbed many US soldiers, Prysner said. He told Prem his organization has seen a **“1,000% increase”** in new conscientious-objector clients since the start of the war in Iran.
Watch the interview above to hear more details about the dissent brewing inside the military, the rank-and-file disrespect of Trump and Pete Hegseth, and how many more troops may join the “dozens” who already left because of the genocide on Gaza.
The media is either loudly banging the drum for war, or completely disregarding the historic public and military dissent to it. **We at** **Zeteo are reporting on the war like it is. **Please subscribe to support us in our mission to build a media fit for the moment.
[Subscribe now][2]
We are giving you a 5-minute preview of this interview. Become a paid subscriber to watch the whole conversation – and to make sure you have full access to all our content. Thank you!
If you have any tips or information on the war, you can text Prem on Signal @ premthakker.35. You can remain anonymous.
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[ Read more ][3]
[1]: https://centeronconscience.org/
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-troops-iran-get-ready-invade
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-troops-iran-get-ready-invade

2026-03-24 11:32:56 UTC

So Now WE Are Using Human Shields?
*On this day in 1942, the US government began moving Americans of Japanese ancestry into internment camps. Some 84 years later, the Department of Homeland Security is keeping thousands of people in disturbingly parallel conditions, despite increasing public disgust. *
Good morning! **Prem** here. Thinking about contingency. Would the Iraq War have unfolded how it did if the [chads weren’t hanging][1] in Florida in 2000? Where would we be if Kamala Harris had said literally *anything* other* *than “not a thing comes to mind” when asked if she’d do anything differently than Joe Biden? What would the *world* look like if someone had given Donald Trump a reality show he stuck with, instead of a political Napoleon complex? And what coin-flips will we look back on with horror, if we don’t see them now?
In today’s ‘**First Draft**’, I pose to you: are Israeli and US forces using human shields? Plus, Trump is sending ICE agents to airports to “help” the TSA agents he is refusing to pay (a dry run of sending them to the polls in seven months) – and *speaking of*, the Supreme Court is considering a decision that would *stop* certain mail-in ballots from being counted.
Here we go…
[Subscribe now][2]
# Human Shield of Lies
*A view of US military refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport on March 22, 2026. Photo by Nir Keidar/Anadolu via Getty Images*
For two and a half years, the US and Israeli governments and their media allies all justified the Israeli military’s horrific bombing of hospitals, schools, and homes in Gaza on the grounds that Hamas was hiding its fighters and military infrastructure in civilian areas and, therefore, using Palestinians as “human shields.”
Now, as the US and Israel continue their illegal war on Iran, one could question who is actually using “human shields.”
Months before the war, the US evacuated hundreds of troops from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, moving some to [hotels][3] in the region. A US official and another source familiar told NBC News this was in order to keep them out of harm’s way. If Palestinian fighters or Iranian soldiers had been moved in such a fashion, you could imagine the US or Israel contending that civilians had actually been put in* *harm’s way.
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In the days leading up to the war, the US was [placing][5] refueling tanker airplanes at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport – the country’s busiest, serving thousands of civilians every day. During the war, it has [been used][6] for refueling.
Iranian airstrikes have killed US service members in a [“makeshift operations center”][7] at a civilian port in Kuwait and [injured][8] US personnel at a hotel in Bahrain. Inside Israel, apartment buildings were [destroyed][9] when Iran targeted an Israeli nuclear research center in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.
It’s unclear why Israeli officials placed nuclear infrastructure near residential homes, or why US officials have positioned US military assets in and around civilian infrastructure.
**“We started by attacking their military bases. They have evacuated their military bases and gone to the hotels and made human shields for themselves,”** Iranian Foreign Minister **Abbas Aragchi** [said][10], shortly after the US and Israel began the war.
In Israel’s case, it’s structural. As CNN’s **Jim Sciutto** [described][11] two years ago, the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s international intelligence agency, is in **“a densely-populated area”** within Tel Aviv, **“with civilians around it.”**
[ Read more ][12]
[1]: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/hanging-chad-or-not-2000-presidential-election
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/trump-iran-protest-execution-death-toll-crackdown-us-military-rcna253952
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://x.com/manniefabian/status/2027385226503090520?s=20
[6]: https://x.com/evanhill/status/2029980097638236558?s=20
[7]: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/02/politics/six-soldiers-killed-in-iranian-strike-kuwait
[8]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/03/02/us-israel-iran-hezbollah-military-strikes-live-updates/
[9]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/dozens-injured-in-israel-after-iranian-missile-strikes-target-two-areas-near-main-nuclear-research-center
[10]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2028170118690402498?s=20
[11]: https://x.com/adamjohnsonCHI/status/1841167259391160660?s=20
[12]: https://zeteo.com/p/israel-us-human-shields-iran-first-draft
https://zeteo.com/p/israel-us-human-shields-iran-first-draft

2026-03-24 00:03:45 UTC

Less Than 1% of Public Bomb Shelters in Israel Are in Palestinian Communities
*First responders inspect a home hit by an Iranian missile in the Arab-Israeli town of Zarzir in northern Israel on March 13, 2026. Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images*
In response to Israel’s (now usual) bombing of foreign countries like Lebanon and Iran, there is usually some sort of (expected and natural) response. Two questions are immediately posed inside Israel: 1) Do you support Israel’s bombing of Country X or Y, and 2) Do you feel “safe”? It is in response to these two questions that you can see just how different Israeli and Palestinian lives are, as well as their perceptions of the world.
[Subscribe now][1]
For Jewish Israelis, an overwhelming (and by overwhelming, I mean overwhelming) majority support Israel’s latest strikes on Iran, just as they support every Israeli attack on every country and on Palestinians, always. In a survey by the [Israel Democracy Institute][2], a whopping 92.5% of Jewish Israelis support the attack on Iran, including 68% of those who self-identify as “left wing” in Israel. By contrast, Palestinian citizens of Israel largely do *not* support this or any other Israeli military attack, with roughly 25% saying they support Israel’s strikes on Iran. This same survey asked whether people in Israel feel protected from Iranian attacks: 79% of Jewish Israelis surveyed feel protected compared to 15% of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Why the differences? Simple. Because Palestinians in Israel have never been part of Israeli society, yet we pay the price for Israel’s wars. (Incidentally, no one ever bothers to poll Palestinians in the occupied West Bank – including Jerusalem – or in the Gaza Strip, and they too [pay a price][3] for Israel’s assaults.)
### **Only 37 Shelters**
Let’s begin by looking at the issue of “safety” and feeling “protected.”
[ Read more ][4]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://en.idi.org.il/articles/63704
[3]: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/18/world/iran-war-news-trump-oil
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/less-than-1-of-public-bomb-shelters
https://zeteo.com/p/less-than-1-of-public-bomb-shelters

2026-03-23 19:15:49 UTC

Trump Sends ICE to Airports to ‘Help’ the TSA Agents He Won’t Pay
*ICE agents stand around as passengers wait in long lines at the Atlanta airport on March 23, 2026. Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images.*
Donald Trump deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to major airports across the US on Monday after the president reportedly rejected a deal from Republicans to pay TSA officers – because the plan would not immediately give the administration extra money for its domestic war on immigrants.
ICE agents descended on over a dozen airports, purportedly to “help” the TSA agents Trump is refusing to pay, including major hubs in New York, Atlanta, and Chicago. TSA agents have been working without pay for over a month since Congress deadlocked over funding the Department of Homeland Security, after Trump’s masked, violent federal agents were videotaped murdering two US citizens in Minneapolis.
Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, told CNN on Sunday that ICE would assist airport security “in areas that don’t need [TSA’s] specialized expertise,” such as guarding exit doors. But on Monday morning, Trump [declared][1] that ICE would make immigration arrests at airports, calling the locales “very fertile territory,” while also claiming the agents are “really there to help.” He also [threatened][2] to deploy the National Guard to airports if ICE is “not enough.”
Congress already gave ICE tens of billions of dollars in new funding last year. Placing highly paid ICE agents at airports to, in the best of scenarios, [stand around][3] [watching][4] unpaid TSA employees carry out essential duties is an insult to those workers, and a visual reminder to American travelers how their tax dollars are being wasted. There is also the risk that these ICE agents start violently kidnapping people.
[Subscribe now][5]
Even congressional Republicans are losing patience with Trump’s prolonged fight for more ICE funding.
Over the weekend, GOP Senate Majority Leader John Thune [offered][6] a solution to fund DHS without ICE, then later fund the controversial agency in a separate budget package. Trump rejected the plan, which Democrats have been pushing for weeks, effectively denying thousands of federal workers their paychecks for no reason other than it would mean admitting defeat.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to his dangerous voter-suppression bill.
Trump allies followed suit.
“I’m glad the president put ICE in airports. That’ll drive the Democrats crazy,” [said][7] Republican House Oversight chair James Comer, while sidestepping Trump’s refusal to pay public servants.
Others in the party dissented. Senator Lisa Murkowski [said][8] deploying ICE to airports was a “bad idea.”
“Do you really want to have even additional tensions on top of what we are already facing?” the Alaska Republican said.
On Sunday, over 11% of the 50,000 TSA workers called out sick, setting a new record in this shutdown, and over 400 officers have [quit][9].
Democrats have offered several bills to [fund][10] key parts of the Department of Homeland Security, including airport security officers, but Republicans have rejected all of them.
[Share][11]
Sending ICE to airports will, of course, put more Americans and immigrants at risk of violent encounters – while also ensuring such incidents are widely shared on the internet.
Viral bystander videos [captured][12] [on Sunday][13] at San Francisco International Airport show plainclothes agents violently grabbing and arresting a woman as she cries out in distress, [reportedly][14] as her daughter watches. An airport spokesperson [confirmed][15] to NBC Bay Area that ICE detained a woman at the San Francisco airport Sunday night but said it was unrelated to Trump’s deployment of officers on Monday.
The ICE deployment comes as the agency and Trump’s immigration agenda bleed public support.
In a recent Economist/YouGov [poll][16] published March 3, half of Americans said they supported abolishing ICE entirely, the highest figure since YouGov began polling on that question.
“The last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or in some instances kill them,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries [said][17] Sunday. “We have already seen how ICE conducts itself.”
[Share][18]
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://x.com/atrupar/status/2036083777164775452
[2]: https://x.com/atrupar/status/2036082865759309940?s=46&t=uXB-axTQSod3D2EIebJYlQ
[3]: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/immigration-and-customs-enforcement-agents-are-seen-working-news-photo/2267588948?adppopup=true
[4]: https://x.com/swd2/status/2036082071777525956
[5]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[6]: https://punchbowl.news/article/senate/trump-thune-dhs/
[7]: https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/2036080976997106037
[8]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/federal-immigration-agents-sent-to-u-s-airports-to-support-security-during-budget-impasse
[9]: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/400-tsa-officers-quit-shutdown-rcna264581
[10]: https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/in-24-hours-senate-republicans-block-five-separate-bills-to-fund-tsa-fema-cisa-coast-guard-and-other-dhs-functions
[11]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-ice-agents-airports-tsa?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[12]: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8bxJ6HF/
[13]: https://x.com/longtimehistory/status/2036091012687274411?s=46
[14]: https://x.com/Scott_Wiener/status/2036100245688553477
[15]: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/sfo-ice-agents-immigration-enforcement/4056414/
[16]: https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/54225-support-for-abolishing-ice-reaches-50-percent-february-27-march-2-2026-economist-yougov-poll
[17]: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/22/politics/video/jeffries-slams-plan-ice-agents-airports-vrtc
[18]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-ice-agents-airports-tsa?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-ice-agents-airports-tsa

2026-03-23 14:04:26 UTC

Meet the Democratic Congresswoman Donald Trump Is Trying to Imprison
When Donald Trump vowed to go after his political enemies if he returned to the White House, he wasn’t joking.
One of the people on his list of targets is none other than **LaMonica McIver**, the New Jersey Democratic Congresswoman who has been [charged by the Department of Justice][1] for allegedly “assaulting, impeding, and interfering with law enforcement” during a routine oversight visit to an ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey last May, that [devolved into all-out chaos][2].
[Subscribe now][3]
**“They tried to stop us from going in to have oversight,”** McIver tells Mehdi.
She was never arrested on the day of the oversight visit, and is now the only lawmaker facing charges – which could land her up to 17 years in prison. **“If they [the Trump administration] can do what they can to me and other members of Congress that we’ve seen happen, imagine what they’re doing in the dark,”** she says of the Trump administration.
Nevertheless, Rep. McIver continues to speak out against ICE’s lawlessness: **“I think a lot of people have to be prosecuted and held accountable, including Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi... I think they’ve committed crimes and I think that they have to be held responsible for those.”**
In this wide-ranging interview, Rep. McIver also talks to Mehdi about:
* The White House’s smear campaign against her
* Whether Democratic Party leadership is fit for this moment
* The ongoing [DHS shutdown][4]
* Trump’s war in Iran
* The effort to censure Reps. Randy Fine and Andy Ogles over their [Islamophobic statements][5].
**Paid subscribers** can watch the full conversation above, while **free subscribers** can watch a four-minute preview. Consider upgrading your subscription to unlock full access to all of **Zeteo’s** offerings.
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***Catch up on some of Zeteo’s latest stories:***
[ Read more ][7]
[1]: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/congresswoman-charged-forcibly-impeding-and-interfering-federal-officers
[2]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/newark-mayor-ras-baraka-arrested-ice-detention-facility-new-jersey-rcna205949
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/dhs-funding-bill-senate-hurdles-killed-minneapolis-rcna255769
[5]: https://www.axios.com/2026/03/13/censure-ogles-fine-muslims-democrats-republicans
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/meet-the-democratic-congresswoman-trump-trying-to-imprison?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/meet-the-democratic-congresswoman-trump-trying-to-imprison
https://zeteo.com/p/meet-the-democratic-congresswoman-trump-trying-to-imprison

2026-03-23 11:54:12 UTC

🇮🇷 The Kharg Island Bloodbath?
*On this day in 2022, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken formally declared that members of Russia’s armed forces had committed war crimes in Ukraine. Four years on, Donald Trump initially said Iran had until Monday evening to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, or he would “obliterate” power plants – an act generally considered a war crime itself. He said this morning he was postponing any strikes on Iran’s power plants for five days.*
Good morning! **Swin** and **Andrew** here, with an update on **Donald Trump’s** illegal, pointless, disastrous, and *expanding* war in Iran. Our idiot president has, for decades, wanted to “go in and take” Kharg Island and seize Iran’s oil infrastructure – and because he’s surrounded himself with cultists and sycophants in his second term, he’ll get to carry out his fantasy, if that’s what he chooses.
The only problem? Well, many Americans would likely die pointlessly.
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ the Trump administration knows many Americans will die if he invades **Kharg Island**, Trump and Iran exchange dire threats to** life-sustaining infrastructure**, and **ICE** is heading to America’s airports.
[Subscribe now][1]
# A ‘Considerable’ Body Count
*Kharg Island is located in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran. Photo by Orbital Horizon/Gallo Images via Getty Images.*
Senior Trump administration officials have been briefed on US casualty estimates – prepared by military and intelligence personnel – for a variety of possible ground invasion scenarios in their illegal Iran war, two sources familiar with the situation and another person briefed on it tell us.
In multiple scenarios, if Donald Trump were to invade and try to occupy Kharg Island for an extended period of time, American casualties would very likely be **“considerable,”** one of the people familiar with the matter says. Some estimates, the first two sources tell us, are easily in the dozens for an initial phase of occupation, with numbers likely to rise sharply if President Trump wished to hold the island for an extended duration.
Some of the internal Kharg analysis has been shared directly with Trump in recent weeks, sources stress.
Trump has long been fascinated with Kharg Island, which holds the bulk of Iran’s oil exports. During his *Art of the Deal* book tour in 1988, [Trump said][2] he would **“go in and take it.” **
[Subscribe now][3]
Harrison Mann, a former US intelligence analyst, has [written for ][4]**[Zeteo][5]** about why a Kharg Island invasion is a bad idea. He [writes][6] further for the Quincy Institute’s Responsible Statecraft blog: **“For the troops unlucky enough to receive orders to take Kharg, the operation would land somewhere between a suicide mission and a self-imposed hostage crisis.”**
As he explains, it’s not clear what the point of the Kharg mission would be, because securing Iran’s oil infrastructure might not necessarily create much leverage for Trump. **“The opportunity to inflict a mass casualty event that could sap limited US public support for the war, or to hold entire battalions as de facto hostages, may well appear more valuable to Tehran than oil revenue,” **Mann adds.
Joe Kent, Trump’s former director of counterterrorism, [who just resigned][7] over Trump’s Iran war, [told][8] the *Washington Post *that a Kharg invasion **“would be a disaster.” **
**“It would essentially be giving Iran a bunch of hostages on an island that they could barrage with drones and missiles,” **he said.
One thing was obvious to us lately: A good number of **Zeteo**’s well-placed sources, in and close to the US government, are leaking things like this to us (and, we’re sure, others in the media and elsewhere) because they *do not want* the president to pull the trigger on this. They say they think a ground invasion, whether protracted or not, would be an inevitable bloodbath and political disaster for the American side.
We will be straight with you: We do not think their efforts to spook President Trump out of this are going to work. We really hope we are wrong.
[ Read more ][9]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://www.newsweek.com/trump-kharg-island-iran-hormuz-strait-11678474
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-ground-invasion-plans-forever-war
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-ground-invasion-plans-forever-war
[6]: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/kharg-island-iran/
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-war-iran-maga-elite-joe-kent
[8]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/22/joe-kent-iran-war-trump/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/the-kharg-island-bloodbath
https://zeteo.com/p/the-kharg-island-bloodbath

2026-03-22 22:05:04 UTC

7 Things You Need to Know About the Strait of Hormuz – That Trump Didn’t!
*A navy vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on March 1, 2026 and Donald Trump. Photos by Sahar Al Attar/AFP via Getty Images and Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images*
Donald Trump is digging himself deeper and deeper into a war he [seems][1] to know nothing about. So when Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz – a threat the US has known about for years – Trump was, of course, unprepared. But it was a predictable move to the officials who [briefed][2] him… or to anyone who has looked at history, or at a map, ever.
Now, the tiny waterway is at the very center of this war, has spiked oil and gas prices globally, and is sending both developed and developing worlds into an economic crisis.
So, here are 7 things you should know about the Strait of Hormuz (that Trump probably didn’t!)...
[Subscribe now][3]
### **1. Where it is on a map…**
Bordered by Iran to the north and Oman and the UAE to the south, the Strait of Hormuz connects the oil-rich Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. It’s only 24 miles wide at its narrowest point. Shipping is restricted to a pair of two-mile-wide lanes: one outgoing, one incoming. It’s the *only* passage out of the Gulf to the rest of the ocean.
### **2. It’s the world’s most important waterway**
The strait facilitates over one fifth of the world’s oil shipments. In fact, this war is causing the world’s [largest][4] oil supply disruption in history. Thanks to geography and political tension, there’s no real alternative to the strait. Try as they might, Saudi and UAE pipelines can only carry a small fraction of the energy, and even then, are vulnerable to attacks from insurgent groups like the Yemeni Houthis.
Besides the US, China, India, and Japan also heavily depend on the oil that passes through the strait. Even if this block on oil tankers is only temporary, it will raise global energy prices, spike shipping costs, cause major supply delays, and could even lead to a worldwide [food shortage][5] – Hormuz is a crucial shipping route for fertilizers needed now for planting season.
### **3. “Opening the Strait of Hormuz” is virtually impossible**
[ Read more ][6]
[1]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2033606083038875863?s=20
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-grand-theft-auto-memes
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/world-faces-largest-ever-oil-supply-disruption-middle-east-war-iea-says-2026-03-12/
[5]: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/3/18/not-just-energy-how-the-iran-war-could-trigger-a-global-food-crisis
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-the
https://zeteo.com/p/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-the

2026-03-22 16:15:14 UTC

This Week in Palestine: Israel Kills 4 Members of One Family and Attacks Muslim Worshippers on Eid
*Palestinians pray over the bodies of four members, two children and their parents, of the Bani Odeh family who were killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank's northern town of Tammun this week. Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images*
As the US-Israeli war rages in Iran and Israel escalates its bombardment of Lebanon, Israel’s genocide in Palestine continues.
Just this week, Israeli forces shot dead four members of one family whose only crime was being Palestinian while driving home at night after dinner in the occupied West Bank. Israel also killed [more than a dozen Palestinians][1] across [Gaza][2]; we learned just how dangerous the US-Israeli war on Iran can be for Palestinians in the West Bank; and Israeli settlers carried out a night of violence, setting fires to cars and homes and beating Palestinians.
The Iran war, high oil prices, and Donald Trump’s idiocy have turned away what little attention there was on the ongoing genocide in Palestine, but as we promised, **Zeteo **will not become distracted. That’s why we started **‘[This Week in Palestine][3]’** – bringing some of the biggest and most underreported stories from across the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
A quick note before we jump into this week: For now, we’re sending **‘This Week in Palestine**’ to all **Zeteo **subscribers, but that won’t always be the case. To ensure you get the newsletter every week, go to ‘[manage subscription][4]’ in your Substack account, scroll down, and toggle **on** the button for ‘**This Week in Palestine**’. Please make sure you’re a **[paid Zeteo subscriber][5]** so you can read past the paywall.
[Subscribe now][6]
Now, here’s **‘This Week in Palestine’**:
#### **Saturday, March 14 – Israeli Forces Kill 4 Members of Palestinian Family**
Israeli forces [shot dead][7] Ali Bani Odeh, his wife, Waad, their blind 6-year-old son, Othman, and their youngest son, Muhammad, in their car as they returned home from dinner in the occupied West Bank late Saturday night. The couple’s two eldest sons, Khaled, 11, and Mustafa, 8, survived the attack, with Khaled [telling reporters][8]: “My mother let out a cry and then she went silent and I did not hear my brothers.” He added that Israeli soldiers beat him and his brother and said, “We killed dogs” when they reached the car.
As it often does, Israel attempted to paint the family as a threat to justify the shooting, but its comments were quickly dispelled by the accounts of the two surviving brothers and [other witnesses][9].
#### **Sunday, March 15** – 93% of Gaza’s Cemeteries Destroyed
[ Read more ][10]
[1]: https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-war-hamas-6b085df37d118091c442e29e481f0d91
[2]: https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/168396
[3]: https://zeteo.com/s/this-week-in-palestine
[4]: https://zeteo.com/account?utm_source=user-menu
[5]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[7]: https://www.dci-palestine.org/two_brothers_killed_as_israeli_forces_open_fire_on_palestinian_family_s_car
[8]: https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/3/15/two-brothers-survive-after-israeli-troops-kill-family-in-occupied-west-bank#flips-6390982893112:0
[9]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/world/middleeast/palestinian-family-killed-west-bank.html
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-palestine-israel-kills
https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-palestine-israel-kills

2026-03-22 13:05:40 UTC

Civil War in Iran Would Be ‘Tenfold as Deadly’ as Syria, Journalist Explains
15 months ago, Syria finally saw an end to the nearly 14 years of civil war after the [ousting][1] of Syrian Dictator Bashar Al-Assad.
Now, as the US and Israel’s war on neighboring Iran only escalates while they continue calls for Iranian civilians to [“take over”][2] their government, the question remains: could a Western-backed, civilian-led uprising come to fruition in Iran? And how much more difficult would regime change be there versus a country like Syria?
Who better to ask than Middle East journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist **Anand Gopal **– whose newest book, *Days of Love and Rage*, reports in-depth on Syria’s civil war. His former book, *No Good Men Among the Living*, was nominated for a Pulitzer and provides detailed coverage of the US’s failure at regime change in Afghanistan.
[Subscribe now][3]
**“However deadly and disastrous the civil war in Syria is, it would be tenfold in Iran,” **Gopal says to Mehdi.
In this ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ interview, Gopal explains to **Mehdi** which lessons from Syria’s civil war are relevant for Iran today.
Gopal also reveals why he believes the US continues to launch disastrous interventions in the Middle East, despite the lessons of Afghanistan and the Iraq war.
**“The political media elites in our country… tend to believe the propaganda of the US,” **Gopal says to Mehdi.
Click [here][4] to buy a copy of Gopal’s book, *Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution.*
[Share][5]
*Editor’s Note: This interview is being shared without a paywall. If you’re a **free subscriber**, consider [upgrading][6] to **paid** to help us continue doing more unfiltered journalism and stand up to corporate media bias. You can also [donate][7] to **Zeteo** to help us grow.*
***Check out Zeteo’s other recent stories:***
[1]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-rebels-celebrate-captured-homs-set-sights-damascus-2024-12-07/
[2]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/read-trumps-full-statement-on-iran-attack
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/days-of-love-and-rage-a-story-of-ordinary-people-forging-a-revolution-anand-gopal/9aa94926a56f13b0
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/anand-gopal-iran-syria?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[6]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/donate-to-zeteo
https://zeteo.com/p/anand-gopal-iran-syria

2026-03-21 19:03:42 UTC

‘I’m Glad He’s Dead’: Trump Spits on Robert Mueller’s Grave
*Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House on March 20, 2026. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.*
On Saturday afternoon, President Donald Trump took a break from [weighing a ground invasion of Iran][1], so that he could dance on the grave of former FBI Director and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” he wrote on his social media site, before [signing his post][2], “President DONALD J. TRUMP,” so that nobody could be confused about the official nature of the proclamation. One of the White House’s verified Twitter accounts dutifully [shared][3] Trump’s post.
[Subscribe now][4]
Trump and the GOP have been furious with the late special counsel, who was a registered Republican, ever since the president’s first term, when Mueller led the federal investigation into Trump and his associates over Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.
**Zeteo** emailed the White House to ask whether it would be appropriate for other politicians to react this way if they were to hear news of Trump’s passing. (We all know how the Trump-Vance administration responded [after Charlie Kirk’s assassination][5].)
The White House did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
This type of conduct is a frequent occurrence from the supposed leader of the free world. In December, for example, President Trump [giddily mocked][6] filmmaker Rob Reiner, upon news of his brutal killing, and naturally made it all about himself.
[Share][7]
“Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS,” Trump posted on social media.
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-latest-first-draft
[2]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116268334535345382
[3]: https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2035415101809803744
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mFm3mOkP_g
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/breaking-trump-dances-on-rob-reiners
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-robert-mueller-death-celebrates?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-robert-mueller-death-celebrates

2026-03-21 13:03:14 UTC

How US Imperialism Shaped the Iran We See Today
On February 28, the political landscape of the Middle East shifted dramatically following a reported US airstrike that killed Ayatollah Khamenei. But 2026 is far from the first time the US has been involved in Iranian politics.
[Subscribe now][1]
Many of the sentiments and strategies we see today echo actions from over 70 years ago in 1953, when a democratically elected leader was overthrown after attempting to nationalize Iran’s oil. For many Iranians, this moment feels like part of a much longer pattern of Western intervention shaping the country’s trajectory. If you think you know the story, let’s take a closer look at how the past and present are deeply connected.
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
https://zeteo.com/p/how-us-imperialism-shaped-the-iran

2026-03-20 23:21:42 UTC

First Draft: American Idiot Holds World Hostage
*On this day in 2003, the Bush administration launched a ground invasion of Iraq. The US is supposed to finally fully withdraw from Iraq later this year, over two decades later, which might make you wonder: Why would Donald Trump launch a war in Iran?*
Good morning! **Andrew** here to discuss what was a pretty normal day in **Donald Trump’s** second term: The president of the United States joked about Pearl Harbor with Japan’s prime minister and also made a not-so-subtle nuke threat, as his illegal war in Iran inches closer and closer to spiraling fully out of control.
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ Trump embarrasses the US again, as his war gets more expensive for everyone; the Department of Homeland Security keeps trying to steal employees from the Pentagon; and muted Eid and Nowruz celebrations are held across the Middle East as the US-Israeli war on Iran rages.
[Subscribe now][1]
# Our Mad King, Global Edition
*Donald Trump meets with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office on March 19, 2026. Photo by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images.*
**“Why didn’t you tell US allies in Europe and Asia, like Japan, about the war before attacking Iran?”** a reporter asked Donald Trump on Thursday, as the president sat in the Oval Office with Japan’s prime minister.
Trump, the man with no filters, no restraint, no sense of decorum, responded by joking about… wait for it… Pearl Harbor. **“We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise,”** he said. **“Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor? … You believe in surprise, I think much more so than us.”**
[Subscribe now][2]
The comments made Japan’s right-wing leader, Sanae Takaichi, visibly uncomfortable – while also confirming that Trump’s administration didn’t inform our allies before launching his illegal war in Iran, a conflict with disastrous implications for the global economy.
Moments like this, in the Oval Office, have become routine under America’s first Mad King. Last summer, Trump joked to Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, that D-Day was **“not a pleasant day for you.” **Merz quickly corrected him, explaining: **“In the long run, Mr. President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship.”**
But Trump isn’t just embarrassing the US on the global stage, or mocking key allies on camera. He’s spent the past 14 months attacking, threatening, and alienating them with his tariffs.
And with the US-Israeli attack on Iran, Trump has taken our allies along for the ride as he wages what is already [the worst-run war in US history][3], and as the conflict generates blowback of all kinds, both around the Middle East and throughout the world.
And the blowback was entirely predictable.
[ Read more ][4]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/is-this-the-worst-run-war-in-us-history
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/american-idiot-holds-world-hostage
https://zeteo.com/p/american-idiot-holds-world-hostage

2026-03-20 23:21:37 UTC

Who'll Win the ‘MAGA Podcast Wars’? Krystal Ball and Mehdi on Ben Shapiro vs. Tucker Carlson, AIPAC, and Iran
If you’re as terminally online as the rest of us at **Zeteo, **you may have noticed that conservative podcasters are at war with each other. Ben Shapiro is attacking Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson is attacking Ben Shapiro, and everyone is attacking Mark Levin. So for this week’s ‘We’re Not Kidding’, **Mehdi **is joined by **Krystal Ball**, co-host of the massively popular online news show ‘[Breaking Points][1]’, to unpack all of the MAGA drama.
**“What are the right-wing MAGA podcast wars? What is going on right now?” **Mehdi asks.
**“It would take a long time for me to give you all of the subplots. But the major fissure is around Israel,” **Krystal says.
[Subscribe now][2]
The two also get into how Donald Trump’s disastrous war with Iran is creating even MORE rifts within the Republican party, Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in instigating the war, and why we shouldn’t totally trust defectors like Trump’s now former counterterrorism chief Joe Kent. **“They are very comfortable saying, ‘Israel, Israel, Israel. It’s all Israel’s fault,’”** Krystal says. **“But at the end of the day, this is Donald Trump’s war. He’s not a baby. He’s the most powerful man on the planet.”**
The two also discuss:
* Krystal’s famous [hardball interview][3] with Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
* How AIPAC’s brand has become **“completely toxic” **with Democratic voters.
* Why podcasts will be important for 2028 presidential candidates.
* And whether Gavin Newsom will be brave enough to appear on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ or ‘Breaking Points’...
***Free subscribers get a 5-minute preview of the video above while Zeteo’s paid subscribers can watch it in full. As always, you can also listen wherever you get your podcasts.***
[Spotify][4]
[Apple Podcasts][5]
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[ Read more ][6]
[1]: https://breakingpoints.locals.com/support
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFrEJTFbSTc
[4]: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ogT7ZvKhH04CInjNQbbdp
[5]: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/were-not-kidding-with-mehdi-friends/id1743028415
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/maga-podcast-wars-krystal-ball
https://zeteo.com/p/maga-podcast-wars-krystal-ball

2026-03-20 23:21:32 UTC

This Week in Democracy – Week 61: Trump Shushes Woman Reporter, Goes on Another Racist Rant, and Threatens Media Licenses
*Trump speaks to reporters on board Air Force One and berates ABC News journalist Mariam Khan on March 15, 2026. Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images*
Threats. Tirades. And tantrums. King Trump’s America on repeat.
As thousands die and oil prices soar in the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran, Donald Trump and his cronies at home are busy berating and threatening the free press, going on racist rants, and joking about…[Pearl Harbor][1]?!
Needless to say, Trump and his allies are still undermining the Constitution, hurting democracy, and harming free societies in the US and worldwide. Here’s ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 61’:
#### **Saturday, March 14 – Brendan Carr’s Newest Threat**
After Trump complained about Iran war coverage, FCC chair Brendan Carr [warned][2] broadcasters that they could have their licenses revoked, baselessly accusing them of “running hoaxes and news distortions.”
Broadcasters “have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” he said in a tweet.
[Subscribe now][3]
In [response][4], Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called Carr’s threat “straight out of the authoritarian playbook.”
#### **Sunday, March 15 – Trump Tries to Shush Woman Reporter**
Trump shushed ABC News’s Mariam Khan during a gaggle on Air Force One and called her a “very obnoxious person” after she asked why his administration was sending thousands of marines and sailors to the Middle East.
Earlier in the gaggle, he called ABC News “one of the worst, most fake, most corrupt … news organizations on the planet,” and said he wouldn’t take any more questions from the network after she asked about whether it was “appropriate” to include a photo of the president attending a dignified transfer in a recent fundraising email by his Never Surrender PAC.
#### **Monday, March 16 – Another Racist Tirade Against Ilhan Omar**
In the Oval Office, Trump went on his latest [racist tirade][5] against Somalia, calling the country “maybe a fourth-world nation” where they “shoot people all over the place” and accused Somalis of coming to the US to “steal” billions of dollars.
He also continued to peddle ridiculous claims about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a US citizen, being in the country illegally and encouraged his new White House anti-fraud task force to look into Omar, whom he baselessly called a “ringleader.”
#### **Tuesday, March 17 – Bondi Subpoenaed Over Epstein Files**
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee [issued][6] a subpoena for Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates, as well as the DOJ’s compliance (or lack thereof) with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Later, Democrats on the committee [walked out][7] of a private briefing with Bondi about the Epstein files after she refused to commit to a deposition in accordance with the subpoena.
[Subscribe now][8]
#### **Wednesday, March 18 – The FBI Is Buying Your Location Data**
During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel admitted under oath that his agency is [buying][9] Americans’ location data.
His comments drew ire from even Republican lawmakers, with Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) [calling][10] the practice “a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment” and pushing for the passage of the Government Surveillance Reform Act “to close the data broker loophole that allows intelligence agencies to buy Americans’ private data.”
#### **Thursday, March 19 – DHS Wrongfully Deported Over 100 Asylum Seekers**
During a court hearing, a US Citizenship and Immigration Services asylum officer [revealed][11] that the Trump administration has wrongfully deported more than 100 asylum seekers, violating a court-ordered settlement agreement prohibiting their removals.
#### **Friday, March 20 – Prosectors Investigate Colombian President Gustavo Petro**
The *New York Times* [reported][12] that two US attorney’s offices are conducting criminal investigations into Colombian President Gustavo Petro, led by prosecutors focused on international narcotics trafficking.
The investigations have been probing whether Petro and drug traffickers had any meetings, as well as whether his presidential campaign sought donations from traffickers. The *Times* says there is no indication that the White House was involved in launching either of the investigations. Trump has attacked Petro in the past, [calling][13] him a “sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
Don’t forget, it was less than four months ago, that Trump [pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández][14], who was *convicted* on drug trafficking charges.
[Share][15]
***Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up [here][16]. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:***
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/american-idiot-holds-world-hostage
[2]: https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/2032855414233047172
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://x.com/SenWarren/status/2032924552452292856
[5]: https://x.com/atrupar/status/2033639066332184922?s=46
[6]: https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/03.17.2026-Subpoena-Cover-Letter-Bondi-FINAL.pdf
[7]: https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2034417157010845819
[8]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[9]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/18/fbi-buying-data-track-people-patel-00834080
[10]: https://x.com/Rep_Davidson/status/2034303103344783775
[11]: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/exclusive-trump-admin-wrongfully-deported-more-than-100-asylum-seekers
[12]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/nyregion/colombia-president-petro-investigation-drugs.html
[13]: https://abcnews.com/International/trump-implies-target-colombias-president-cuba-appears-ready/story?id=128904574
[14]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-hernandez-pardon-honduras-election-drugs
[15]: https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-democracy-week-60-hegseths?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyMjQ3MDM3NDYsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE5MDY3MDA0NSwiaWF0IjoxNzczOTQ3ODg1LCJleHAiOjE3NzY1Mzk4ODUsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0yMzI1NTExIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.HnjKF46BTvks3KIDTtxBnVCAqYEWA_4yQ8w0QdczdEQ
[16]: https://zeteo.com/s/this-week-in-democracy
https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-democracy-week-61-trump

2026-03-20 23:21:23 UTC

Trump’s White House Is Screaming at Me That Americans Love His Awful War
*Donald Trump speaks to the press before departing the White House on March 20, 2026. Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images.*
Here at **Zeteo**, we thought we could *perhaps* get through one work week without Donald Trump’s White House – [once again][1]! – calling me a “moron” for publicly stating objectively true things.
We were wrong. What was my crime this time?
On Thursday, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, took to social media to claim that “Americans Agree that Operation Epic Fury Is an Overwhelming Success” – meaning the president’s disastrous war in Iran.
I [pointed out][2] that the senior Trump apparatchik was lying, and had in fact shared “an article showing only MAGA Republicans support the war.”
[Subscribe now][3]
In response to this, “@RapidResponse47,” a Trump White House propaganda account on Twitter blasted me as a “[moron][4]” and suggested I was “trembling too much at the idea that Americans support killing terrorists.”
Of course, that’s not what’s happening – civilians are suffering as a result of Trump’s regional bloodbath, and poll after poll shows this war is uniquely unpopular at home.
And the White House made clear how unpopular the war is with its own [press release][5]. In it, the administration pointed people to a relatively rosy *Washington Post* [article][6] that still notes more people “would prefer that the strikes stop than continue,” and that the paper’s average of recent polls show “Americans opposing US strikes 50% to 38%.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement!
The Iran war – started by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – is now entering its fourth week. It has been an unmitigated disaster from the beginning, and it’s strangling the global economy. The president appears to be preparing to deploy US ground troops to Iran, for a mission that looks like [sheer suicide][7].
As we’ve reported at **Zeteo**, the war is starting to [tear apart the MAGA elite][8], and is already a political catastrophe at home for Trump and the Republican Party – [and they][9] [know it][10]. And America’s allies [have decided][11] not to join us on this [so-called “excursion.”][12]
The president and his party want to [silence anyone in the media][13] willing to admit what a colossal shitshow this all is. We refuse to be silent.
[Subscribe now][14]
In recent months, the Trump White House [has called][15] **Zeteo** “a fake news blogsite run by left-wing hacks that no one should take seriously.”
The White House [issued a statement][16] calling one of our political correspondents “a deranged hack who couldn’t even hold a job at Rolling Stone and is now writing for a Greta Thunberg blog.”
And the Trump administration routinely comes after me, and tries to smear me as a terrorist-loving “moron.”
Clearly, **Zeteo** is getting under their skin.
But the only way we can fight back is together.
So if you’re able, please consider[ becoming][17] a***[paid][18]*****[ subscriber][19]** to **Zeteo** today to support us and help grow independent media. If you’re already a paid subscriber (*thank you kindly!*), you can also consider making a[ donation][20] to **Zeteo**.
Every paid subscription, every donation, every financial contribution, big or small, sends a message to this authoritarian, warmongering administration and this country’s ruling party and its enablers that we won’t be bullied, we won’t be silenced, and we won’t stop telling the truth about fascism, genocide, illegal wars, and other moral and literal atrocities.
[Donate to Zeteo][21]
The Trump administration wants to wear out everyone – in the media, in the opposition, in the electorate. They aren’t getting tired yet. Neither are we.
Thank you for standing with **Zeteo. **
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-white-house-attacks-mehdi-zeteo-support
[2]: https://x.com/mehdirhasan/status/2034855527834849657
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2035033818160120101
[5]: https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2026/03/americans-agree-that-operation-epic-fury-is-an-overwhelming-success/
[6]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2026/iran-war-strikes-poll/
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-ground-invasion-plans-forever-war
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-war-iran-maga-elite-joe-kent
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/us-intel-trump-iran-regime-first-draft
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-grand-theft-auto-memes
[11]: https://zeteo.com/p/insufferable-bully-demands-friends
[12]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-excursion-incursion
[13]: https://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/18/free_press
[14]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[15]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-threatens-election-2020-replay
[16]: https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-democracy-week-40-the
[17]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[18]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[19]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[20]: https://zeteo.com/p/donate-to-zeteo
[21]: https://zeteo.com/p/donate-to-zeteo
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-white-house-attack-zeteo-iran-war

2026-03-16 23:01:45 UTC

‘Greater Israel’: Mehdi Unpacks Israel’s Goals in Iran and Lebanon
Donald Trump is losing the war *he* started. But he’s doubling down… Why?
Well, there’s Epstein, and there’s the midterm elections, and there’s the fact that Israel isn’t backing down. And when it comes to Israel, what exactly is Benjamin Netanyahu’s aim here?
**“I think his goal is ‘Greater Israel,’”** says **Mehdi** to **Prem** on ‘Ask the Editor,’ Zeteo’s live show where the two answer subscriber questions on [Substack][1] and [Youtube][2] every Monday. **“This is what he thinks his legacy will be, giving Israel new and further and secure borders in places like Lebanon, in places like Syria.”**
[Subscribe now][3]
Watch the full video above to hear **Zeteo’s** editor-in-chief break down…
* How Trump is **“gaslighting”** and **“bullying”** us about the Iran war – and how this is the one time **“it’s not working”**
* What’s happening on the ground in Lebanon
* How Trump could be planning to avoid the midterm elections (!)
* The long-term impact on US relations with the Gulf
* The difference between Israel, the Israeli public, and the Jewish community
* …and much more.
Let us know what you think in the comments, and [subscribe][4] to catch our next episode of **Ask the Editor** every **Monday at 11am ET **on [Zeteo.com][5], [YouTube][6], or on the Substack app.
[Share][7]
*If you believe in the work we do and want to see more of it, do consider [becoming a paid subscriber][8]. A [donation][9] to Zeteo also goes a long way.*
***Catch up on more from Zeteo:***
Get more from Mehdi Hasan in the Substack app
Available for iOS and Android
[Get the app][10]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/
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[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/greater-israel-mehdi-unpacks-israels?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[8]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
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https://zeteo.com/p/greater-israel-mehdi-unpacks-israels

2026-03-16 18:05:54 UTC

Zeteo’s (Fake) Democratic Consultant Is Back — And Already Working on 2028!
The 2028 presidential primary in the US is only two years away, which means it’s basically already started. From the slew of [political][1] [memoirs][2] hitting the bookshelves to the myriad [podcast][3] [appearances][4], most of the Democratic hopefuls are already throwing their hats in the ring.
So who better to weigh in on the top contenders than **Zeteo’s** very own (fake) Democratic consultant? In this new and hilarious parody video, **Zeteo’s** **Frank Cappello** imagines what members of the consultant class *really* think of each candidate — and who will offer the biggest payday.
[Subscribe now][5]
Will it be California Governor and **“movie president”** Gavin Newsom? What about Pete Buttigieg, who in just 15 years of public service has shown almost as much backbone as Bernie Sanders’ cardboard standee? Or perhaps Kamala **“Third Time’s the Charm”** Harris will give it another go.
After all, with the 2024 election costing upwards of[ $5 billion][6], the consultants are the real winners anyway.
*Zeteo’s Frank Cappello and Liam Mann contributed to this video.*
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646296/young-man-in-a-hurry-by-gavin-newsom/
[2]: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/where-we-keep-the-light-josh-shapiro?variant=44415011684386
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jraRu00p5mc
[4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgx7GvYSq64
[5]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[6]: https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/cost-of-election
https://zeteo.com/p/zeteos-fake-democratic-consultant

2026-03-16 14:04:59 UTC

Meet Spain’s Anti-War, Anti-Trump, Pro-Palestine Prime Minister
*Pedro Sanchez in May 2025. Photo by Carlos Lujan/Europa Press via Getty Images*
For those wondering if there are any Western leaders upholding the minimum values of a democracy and basic human rights, the answer is just the one: Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain. Sánchez has been an outlier, a voice of dissent in a time of genocide and endless warmongering. In the aftermath of the United States and Israel’s reckless attacks on Iran, Spain was amongst the few Western states to reject yet another illegal war on a Muslim state. “Twenty-three years ago, another US administration dragged us into war in the Middle East,” Sánchez declared in a speech. “No to violations of international law. No to the illusion that we can solve the world’s problems with bombs. No to repeating the mistake of the past. No to war,” he later added in a [tweet][1].
It’s a position long in the making.
[ Read more ][2]
[1]: https://x.com/sanchezcastejon/status/2029147260324389279
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/spain-israel-iran-palestine-pedro-sanchez
https://zeteo.com/p/spain-israel-iran-palestine-pedro-sanchez

2026-03-16 11:38:30 UTC

🤦🏽‍♀️ Insufferable Bully Demands Friends
*On this day in 1882, the US Senate ratified the Geneva Convention of 1864, legitimizing the International Red Cross and the American Red Cross. The current administration can be succinctly defined as [proudly][1] [anti-the-Geneva-Conventions][2].*
Good morning! **Swin** here. The Oscars aired last night. I’ll admit I didn’t watch all of it, but host **Conan O’Brien** had this to say: “Welcome back, we’re coming to you live from the ‘Has a Small Penis Theatre.’ Let’s see [Donald Trump] [put his name in front of that][3]!” Around 10pm ET Sunday, I emailed the White House for comment, given how much Trump and his senior staff like to [respond to such celebrity ongoings][4], or to [jabs at his manhood][5]. I’ll let you know if or when I hear back. 🙂
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ Trump would really, *really* like some other countries’ assistance in fixing the global crisis he started, the US president’s economic adviser thinks you’ll believe ANYTHING, and **Javier Bardem** uses his moment at the Oscars to say, “Free Palestine.”
[Subscribe now][6]
# Where Did All Our Friends Go?
*Trump on March 13, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images.*
Over the weekend, Donald Trump and top US officials spent much of their time begging American allies (and also Trump’s [good pal Xi][7] in China) to bail him out of the economic fiasco he created with his illegal war.
The amount of begging was jarring and unbecoming, [even for them][8].
Since the start of the US-Israeli war late last month, the Iranian government has been firing on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and reportedly laying [mines][9], shutting down the narrow and crucial waterway. As a result, an oil, gas, and fertilizer crisis is rapidly unfolding.
[Subscribe now][10]
This was all entirely predictable. President Trump [was warned in advance][11] that Iran would likely [respond this way][12]. He went ahead with his war. Trump’s escalations haven’t led Iran to back down, so he and his team have decided to plead with other countries to help the US clear the strait.
Trump [claimed][13] Saturday that **“many countries”** would be sending **“War Ships**” to reopen the Strait, before adding with less certainty: **“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area.”**
On Sunday, Trump’s energy secretary, Chris Wright, went on ‘Meet the Press’ to [feign][14] solidarity with all nations – and to implore China to fix everything. **“We care first about Americans, but Americans live in a globalized world, so we care about all the nations,”** he said, adding, **“I do expect China will be a constructive partner in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.”**
Trump’s UN ambassador Mike Waltz [told][15] CNN on Sunday the president and his lieutenants **“welcome, encourage, and even demand [other nations’] participation to help their own economies.”**
Like any common schoolyard bully, Trump is now vacillating between self-pitying and threatening to take his ball and go home.
[ Read more ][16]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-hegseth-admin-lawyers-warn-boat-strike-illegal
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/kill-them-all-sums-up-trumps-policies
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3_h2uRk3bjI
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-white-house-sabrina-carpenter
[5]: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/stephanie-grisham-book-trump-defends-penis-cats-show-tunes-1233647/
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[7]: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-couldnt-give-a-shit-about-china-rounding-up-millions-of-uighur-muslims/
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-white-house-address-speech-primetime
[9]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/world/middleeast/iran-mines-strait-of-hormuz-us.html
[10]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[11]: https://zeteo.com/p/us-intel-trump-iran-regime-first-draft
[12]: https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/iran-oil-hormuz-blockade-trump-f96bdd53
[13]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116227904143399817
[14]: https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mh43pdyxrs2q
[15]: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/state-of-the-union-with-jake-tapper/episodes/f733a2dc-b5a8-11f0-968c-7fb04db2f210
[16]: https://zeteo.com/p/insufferable-bully-demands-friends
https://zeteo.com/p/insufferable-bully-demands-friends

2026-03-16 02:10:12 UTC

Is Trump Losing This War? *LIVE Q&A* With Mehdi
Bring your best questions for this episode of ‘Ask the Editor!’
Join **Mehdi** and **Prem** for a live Q&A on **Monday** at **11am ET, 8am PT, or 3pm GMT** to break down the latest stories. Subscribers can join the conversation on [Zeteo.com][1], the Substack app, or [YouTube][2].
[Subscribe now][3]
There’s no shortage of news for **Zeteo’s** editor-in-chief to unpack from Donald Trump’s war on Iran, the latest developments – and much more. And he’ll answer your questions too.
Don’t miss it. **Tune into ‘Ask the Editor’ below:**
[Join here!][4]
*P.S., the best way to get your question answered is to become [a paid subscriber][5] on Substack. If you support the work we do, a [donation][6] would also go a long way in supporting our brand of independent, accountability journalism.*
***Catch up on more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/131917?utm_source=post-publish
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6YI2QStXF0
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6YI2QStXF0
[5]: https://substack.com/redirect/87804755-6b5b-4164-ad33-8dc58a67bb24?j=eyJ1IjoiNG4xMWJiIn0.VdqxNfiAjWMuJ0INyIr1sjJ74hlF9jPSY_30l39faNc
[6]: https://substack.com/redirect/20ac81a5-7391-4986-aed0-cf4649d94472?j=eyJ1IjoiNG4xMWJiIn0.VdqxNfiAjWMuJ0INyIr1sjJ74hlF9jPSY_30l39faNc
https://zeteo.com/p/is-trump-losing-this-war-live-q-and

2026-03-15 17:33:07 UTC

Zeteo Launches WhatsApp Channel!
Do you get too many emails? It is hard to find stories from **Zeteo** in your inbox? Are you missing our best content?
Well, now you can get notifications when our pieces go out ***directly on WhatsApp*****!** Follow the **[Zeteo][1]****[channel][2]** and anytime you open the app, you’ll see links to our pieces right there. (It’ll make it really easy to share content too.)
*NOTE: You will still need to be a paid subscriber to read all of our premium content.*
[JOIN ZETEO'S WHATSAPP CHANNEL][3]
The weather might be changing, but **Zeteo** is as reliable as always to keep you covered — literally. Our [merch store][4] is fully stocked with hoodies, t-shirts, quarter zips, sweatpants, hats, and everything in between. So, as you put the heavy coats and sweaters away, consider filling the space with a new **Zeteo** fit or two.
[Shop here][5]
Wearing your support for **Zeteo** not only spreads the word about the work we do, but directly supports our mission of delivering **bold and unfiltered journalism**, from groundbreaking documentaries like [‘Gaza: Doctors Under Attack’][6] to our latest coverage from inside the US and Israel’s [war on Iran][7]. And, of course, our [shows][8], award-winning [podcasts][9], and op-eds and essays from your favorite [authors][10].
A **20% off discount **code to use on all merch purchases** **is** **available to **paid subscribers** [here][11].
[Subscribe now][12]
*Please note that everything in our store is made on demand, only when you order it, so we don’t accept returns unless there is something wrong with the product. Delivery is available only to the US, the UK, and Canada, and is free only for orders placed within the United States.*
[1]: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAwshj0LKZ8q6Nxk61u
[2]: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAwshj0LKZ8q6Nxk61u
[3]: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAwshj0LKZ8q6Nxk61u
[4]: https://shop.zeteo.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooiYSYgioHmJ7ZXjMsG2bqN9loKJQ20jTNsCc1waJdntvMPNAmz
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[6]: https://zeteo.com/s/gaza-doctors-under-attack
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/iran-war-2026-latest-coverage
[8]: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfiltered
[9]: https://zeteo.com/s/were-not-kidding-with-mehdi-and-friends
[10]: https://zeteo.com/
[11]: https://zeteo.com/p/new-merch-wear-your-support-for-zeteo?utm_source=publication-search
[12]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
https://zeteo.com/p/zeteo-launches-whatsapp-channel

2026-03-15 11:05:50 UTC

Here’s What Trump’s Iran War Money Could Fund Instead
*Smoke rises after airstrikes in Tehran, Iran, on March 13, 2026. Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images.*
Donald Trump is burning through US taxpayer dollars to fund his illegal war abroad after he slashed funding for American public services in [every zip code][1].
According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, Trump’s war on Iran will [directly cost][2] American taxpayers an estimated $65 billion – more if it continues for longer than two months – for military operations and replacement of equipment, munitions, and other supplies. The estimated economic loss on top of direct costs ranges from $50 billion to $210 billion, according to the budget model.
The first six days of the war alone already cost over $11 billion, Pentagon officials [told][3] Congress in a closed-door briefing Tuesday (though [according][4] to Senator Chris Coons, who sits on the appropriations and foreign relations committees, the full toll is even higher.) That’s about how much the federal government [spent][5] per week on Medicaid before Trump’s cuts to the program, which insures low-income and disabled Americans.
And the White House is [reportedly][6] [expected][7] to request $50 billion in supplemental funding to bankroll the war, on top of the Pentagon’s $1.4 trillion* *[budget][8].
[Subscribe now][9]
Yet pundits and politicians in Washington who often gripe about the price tag of public service projects have little to say about the costs of Trump’s illegal war in Iran.
Here’s how the federal government could spend $65 billion instead of to bomb Iran:
# Ending Homelessness
The Iran war chest could end homelessness in the US for two to six years, [according][10] to Scioto Analysis, a public policy analysis firm, which estimates an annual cost of $11-$30 billion.
Homelessness affected 771,480 Americans in 2024, up 18% from the previous year, [according][11] to federal data. The National Alliance to End Homelessness says the surge is driven by the affordability crisis – which Trump in December [called][12] a Democratic “hoax” after he ran on lowering prices in 2024.
# Healthcare for Millions
[ Read more ][13]
[1]: https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/weeks-away-end-fiscal-year-trump-blocking-410-billion-funding-owed-communities-nationwide
[2]: https://fortune.com/2026/03/02/how-much-trump-iran-war-operation-epic-fury-cost-taxpayers/
[3]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/world/middleeast/iran-war-costs-pentagon.html?smid=url-share
[4]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/first-6-days-iran-war-cost-11-billion-pentagon-tells-senators-rcna263060
[5]: https://www.kff.org/medicaid/medicaid-financing-the-basics/#870ed126-45c3-4465-8b9a-ae0eea487dcf
[6]: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/defense-executives-plan-meet-white-house-strikes-iran-diminish-stockpiles-2026-03-04/
[7]: https://www.ft.com/content/14713f6f-a1a6-4477-bd10-d3780fbc8ab5
[8]: https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-defense?fy=2026
[9]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[10]: https://www.sciotoanalysis.com/news/2024/1/16/what-would-it-cost-to-end-homelessness-in-america
[11]: https://endhomelessness.org/state-of-homelessness/
[12]: https://www.npr.org/2025/12/11/nx-s1-5639957/trump-affordability-hoax-economy-midterms
[13]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-money-healthcare-gaza
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-money-healthcare-gaza

2026-03-14 21:45:16 UTC

WATCH: How Trump is Turning DC into Pyongyang
World peace? Curing cancer? Unimaginably fast trains? Nay. Donald Trump’s final frontier appears to be one thing, and one thing only: Washington DC (aka Donald City).
As Trump carries out a historically unpopular and violent war in Iran, and maintains a militarized domestic security force disappearing and terrorizing Americans at home, the president is laser-focused on creating the illusion that people in this country actually revere him.
To see what Trump has already slapped his face and name onto – and a preview of his other ambitions – **watch the video above, where Prem takes you on a tour of Donald Trump’s “Pyongyang.”**
[Subscribe now][1]
For decades, Trump has been obsessed with how other nations – including ones run by extraordinarily repressive regimes – honor their leaders with lavish, expensive public celebrations. In private conversations, per sources who’ve been in the room with him, he can go on and on about how much (in Trump’s words) “respect” and “love” these countries shower on their rulers, and how supposedly great it is for the people’s national morale. He does not seem to understand or care that many of these societies he cites – whether in North Korea or in certain Arab monarchies – do those things under the constant threat of arrest, torture, or execution.
Since the start of his new presidency, Trump has privately asked multiple times about how to get his face up there on Mt. Rushmore, crowing to close allies how he is a more accomplished president than some of those faces on the memorial, according to people familiar with the matter. Sources close to the president have told **Zeteo** that on separate occasions over the past year, Trump has talked to longtime advisers about what it would take to officially make his birthday a national, federal holiday. Similarly, he has already repeatedly inquired about getting a Donald Trump-shaped monument built in our nation’s capital, and mentioned that he wants final approval on the size, look, location, content, and design of the statue and memorial.
It’s tax season – so if you want to know where your hard-earned money is going, here’s one thing to keep in mind. At **Zeteo**, we ran the numbers, and during his first few months back in office, the Trump administration and the Republican Party marshaled upwards of $1 billion in public funds towards projects and initiatives specifically designed to make Donald Trump feel good about himself. That’s right: that’s a Billion with a “B” – in US tax dollars.
And if he and his party get their way, Trump’s “Pyongyang-ification” of Washington is just the beginning.
[Subscribe now][2]
Sources inside and close to the Trump-Vance administration tell **Zeteo** that the president repeatedly asks about myriad different things in and outside of DC that his allies could work to get his name or face on. Buildings, parks, airports, military bases, US battleships, highways, and city streets and squares – you name it, President Trump has likely schemed to slap his face and name all over it. He does this often enough that in some corners of the federal government, it has become a running “joke” in private conversations to just start adding his name to, well, everything: The Donald J. Trump National Portrait Gallery. The Donald Trump Washington Union Station. The Donald Trump Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. *I’m headed down to the Donald J. Trump Whole Foods Market*, they’d quip.
[Share][3]
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[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/donald-trump-pyongyang?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/donald-trump-pyongyang

2026-03-14 16:57:12 UTC

This Week in Palestine: Israeli Settlers Kill With Impunity, Israeli Solders Rape With Impunity
***A note from our Editor-in-Chief: ***
*Donald Trump claims the war in Gaza “is over.” The media is moving on, as the war in Iran grabs all the attention. More and more people seem to have “Gaza fatigue.” So how do we ensure Gaza, where the genocide is far from over, isn’t displaced from the news headlines? How do we combat the “fatigue”? Welcome to **Zeteo’s **newest segment, **‘This Week in Palestine.’** Every Saturday, we will round up stories, on a day-by-day basis, that you may have missed from Israel and the Occupied Territories. We here at **Zeteo** won’t be moving on. *
*For the next few weeks, we’ll be sending ‘**This Week in Palestine’ **to all **Zeteo **subscribers.** **But to ensure you get the newsletter every week, go to ‘[manage subscription][1]’ in your Substack account, scroll down, and toggle **on** the button for ‘**This Week in Palestine**’.* *Oh, and please make sure you’re a **[paid Zeteo subscriber][2]** so you can read past the paywall and support independent journalism!*
***-Mehdi***
[Subscribe now][3]
#### **Saturday, March 7 – Settler Kills 28-Year-Old Palestinian**
An Israeli settler [shot][4] dead ‌28-year-old Palestinian Amir Muhammad Shanaran in Masafer Yatta, an area near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, where settlers routinely harass and violently threaten villagers. Shanaran’s killing came after settlers [killed][5] two Palestinian brothers in the West Bank village of Qaryut the previous week.
#### **Sunday, March 8 – **Settlers Kill 2 More Palestinians in West Bank, as Israel Kills Journalist, Paramedic, and Children in Gaza
[ Read more ][6]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/account?utm_source=user-menu
[2]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: http://btselem.org/press_releases/20260309_under_cover_of_the_war_settler_militias_increas_lethal_shooting_of_Palestinians_as_part_of_wb_ethnic_cleansing
[5]: https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20260309_under_cover_of_the_war_settler_militias_increas_lethal_shooting_of_palestinians_as_part_of_wb_ethnic_cleansing
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-palestine-israeli-settlers
https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-palestine-israeli-settlers

2026-03-13 22:49:15 UTC

This Week in Democracy – Week 60: Hegseth’s Insane Press Conference, and Trump Pushes Voter Suppression Bill
*Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon on March 2, 2026, in Arlington, Virginia. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images*
Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 60.’ We wish we could tell you things were looking better than last week, but alas… Donald Trump and his cronies are still at it: bombing the hell out of Iran, lying to the American public, and destroying democracy.
From pushing a voter suppression bill in Congress to banning press photographers over “unflattering” photos, here’s just a taste of what Trump and his allies did this week that hurt free societies around the world, harm US democracy, and undermine the Constitution:
#### **Saturday, March 7 – DOJ Pressures Federal Prosecutors**
An [investigation][1] by the *Wall Street Journal* painted a frightening picture of the Trump administration’s targeting of US citizens as part of its mass immigration crackdown.
Federal prosecutors in cities where large immigration operations are taking place say they’ve faced pressure from top Justice Department officials to pursue charges against citizens for allegedly assaulting federal officers, pulling them away from cases related to public corruption, as well as drug and gun-related crimes. None of the 181 citizens accused of assault by government officials on Twitter have been convicted at trial.
[Subscribe now][2]
#### **Sunday, March 8 – Trump Pushes for Voter Suppression **
On Truth Social, Trump [continued][3] his push to get the Republican-controlled Congress to pass the [Save America Act][4], which could disenfranchise tens of millions of voters.
He warned that he won’t sign any other bills until it passes, and supported using a “talking filibuster” to get the bill through the Senate – a move that’s [drawn skepticism][5] from Republican senators.
#### **Monday, March 9 – Another Pointless 2020 Election Probe**
The Trump administration [expanded][6] its pointless investigation of the 2020 presidential election, with the Republican leader of Arizona’s state Senate confirming he turned over records to the FBI related to an audit of Maricopa County – which concluded that Trump lost the state – as part of a “federal grand jury subpoena.”
Later, *The* *Atlantic* [reported][7] that the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative branch of ICE is conducting its own investigation into Arizona’s 2020 election results.
#### **Tuesday, March 10 – Ed Martin Faces Disciplinary Proceedings**
Multiple news outlets [reported][8] that the DC Bar filed an ethics complaint against DOJ Pardon Attorney Ed Martin over threats he made to the Georgetown University Law Center in February 2025, when he was Trump’s interim US attorney for DC.
According to the complaint, Martin “used coercion to punish or suppress… the teaching and promotion of DEI” by warning the dean that his office wouldn’t hire anyone associated with the school if it didn’t change its apparent policies.
[Subscribe now][9]
#### **Wednesday, March 11 – Hegseth Bans Photographers Over ‘Unflattering’ Photos**
The *Washington Post* [reported][10] that the Defense Department banned press photographers from attending briefings on the war in Iran after photos were published of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that his staff considered “unflattering.”
In a statement, the Pentagon’s press secretary suggested that if the move “hurts the business model for certain news outlets,” they should apply for the [highly restrictive][11] Pentagon press credential.
#### **Thursday, March 12 – More Efforts to Suppress the Vote**
CBS News [reported][12] that the Trump administration is considering cutting federal funding for a civil rights election program authorized under the Voting Rights Act to protect the right to vote and prevent discrimination at the polls.
#### **Friday, March 13 – ’This Is What Authoritarianism Looks Like’**
Attacking CNN for its Iran reporting, Hegseth said, “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.” He was referring to the Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO, whose company is on track to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN.
As Mehdi [put it][13]:
[Share][14]
***Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up [here][15]. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:***
[1]: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/immigration-protests-noem-minneapolis-0b8bd496
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116193527873859174
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-save-america-elections
[5]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/top-senate-republicans-skeptical-talking-filibuster-save-america-act-rcna260834
[6]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/09/trump-arizona-election-subpoena/
[7]: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/03/arizona-election-investigations/686310/
[8]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/us/politics/dc-bar-ed-martin-disciplinary-hearing.html
[9]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[10]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/03/11/hegseth-press-briefings-photos-iran/
[11]: https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-press-access-hegseth-trump-restrictions-5d9c2a63e4e03b91fc1546bb09ffbf12
[12]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-doj-civil-rights-election-observer-program-minority-voting-rights/
[13]: https://x.com/mehdirhasan/status/2032455369637687350
[14]: https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-democracy-week-60-hegseths?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[15]: https://zeteo.com/s/this-week-in-democracy
https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-democracy-week-60-hegseths

2026-03-13 20:11:51 UTC

The Dumb Reason Trump Keeps Calling His Iran War a ‘Little Excursion’
*Donald Trump at the White House on March 12, 2026. Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images.*
In recent days, President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to his illegal war on Iran – in which American troops are dying – as an “excursion,” a term generally reserved for describing pleasant little family sojourns or brief, fun vacations.
This is, according to sources in and close to the administration, because the president is confusing the term “military incursion” with a “military excursion,” a phrase typically used only to ridicule foreign adventurism and warmongering. Some of these sources say that they or their colleagues have used the term “incursion” in front of Trump lately, but then the president just… did his own thing.
“We took a little excursion because we felt we had to, to get rid of some evil, and I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion,” Trump said Tuesday, as he addressed Republican lawmakers at an event in Florida. Speaking at a business in Ohio on Wednesday, Trump said, “We did a little excursion, we had to take this couple weeks, few weeks of excursion.”
One way you can tell, even without asking any of Trump’s own appointees about it, that the president is botching this is that “military incursion” is a common term that a lot of people and media outlets have used to describe the president’s war in Iran. Furthermore, the Trump White House team definitely knows the term “incursion” because they use it [in official documents][1] to rant about immigrants.
[Subscribe now][2]
Some of Trump’s aides are afraid to correct him, or think doing so would be a complete waste of time. They are almost certainly right.
“I’m not telling him,” one administration official tells **Zeteo**. Other Trump advisers and people close to this president say that it would be a fool’s errand to privately fact-check Trump here and doing so would likely get them yelled at.
“We say ‘incursion,’ the boss says ‘excursion.’ It’s not a big deal,” another Trump official says.
[ Read more ][3]
[1]: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/invocation-of-the-alien-enemies-act-regarding-the-invasion-of-the-united-states-by-tren-de-aragua/
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-excursion-incursion
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-excursion-incursion

2026-03-13 14:03:50 UTC

Israel ‘Wants a Failed State’ in Iran: Ex-Obama Official Slams the War and the Dems’ Weak Response to It
**Ben Rhodes** served as deputy national security adviser in Barack Obama’s White House for eight years. He was working with President Obama as Benjamin Netanyahu continued to pressure the US, time and time again, to attack Iran. Obama, says Rhodes, resisted the Israeli prime minister’s pressure campaign, but now under President Donald Trump’s second term, it’s clear that **“Netanyahu essentially bullied him [Trump] into this war.”**
**“Trump’s the first president who couldn’t say no to Netanyahu,” **Rhodes, now co-host of ‘[Pod Save the World][1],’ tells Mehdi.
[Subscribe now][2]
In this wide-ranging interview, **Mehdi** and Rhodes discuss Israel’s role in provoking this war with Iran, the Democratic Party leadership’s weak response to the conflict, and the events that led up to this disaster during the Obama and Biden presidencies, with Mehdi pressing Rhodes on the following topics:
* What Israel’s ultimate objective for Iran is **(“They want a failed state.”)**
* The accusation that calling this “Israel’s war” is antisemitic **(“It’s asking us to not see what we’re seeing with our own eyes.”)**
* Former President Joe Biden’s [failure][3] to restore a nuclear deal with Iran** (“That was incredibly short-sighted.”)**
* Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s refusal to align with voters on foreign policy **(“90% of the Democratic Party doesn’t want to go along with this anymore.”)**
* The Obama administration’s disastrous decision to do regime change in [Libya ][4]in 2011, without congressional approval **(“I acknowledge the mistakes made.”) **
[Share][5]
**Paid subscribers** can watch the whole interview. **Free subscribers **can watch a 3-minute preview. Consider [becoming a paid subscriber][6] to **Zeteo** to unlock this episode and the rest of our award-winning content.
***Check out Zeteo’s other recent stories:***
[ Read more ][7]
[1]: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-the-world/
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/iran-accord-biden-2025/
[4]: https://jacobin.com/2021/03/nato-libya-war-uk-us-france-regime-change
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/ben-rhodes-iran-netanyahu-obama?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/ben-rhodes-iran-netanyahu-obama
https://zeteo.com/p/ben-rhodes-iran-netanyahu-obama

2026-03-13 11:46:03 UTC

Was This Iran War Planned 30 Years Ago?
*🚨 Breaking: At least four of the six crew members on board a US KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting operations against Iran were killed yesterday when the plane crashed over Iraq, US Central Command [confirmed][1] today. The US military insisted the crash was “not due to hostile or friendly fire.” *
Good morning! **Mehdi** here, sending solidarity in this month of Ramadan to my Jewish cousins in Michigan, where a Muslim man from Lebanon, a naturalized US citizen, attacked a synagogue in the city of West Bloomfield, near Detroit, and was killed in the process. Thankfully, there were no casualties inside the synagogue, and, of course, it goes without saying that there is never, *ever*, any justification for attacking a synagogue or any house of worship. More details on this disturbing story below.
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ I lead with the story of the **‘Clean Break’ memo** that explains so much of what is going on in the Middle East today, especially Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s **war on Iran**. Plus, **Kash Patel’s FBI** is getting new training from the strangest, the *weirdest*, of places, and two new European countries sign onto South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ.
[Subscribe now][2]
# From ‘Clean Break’ to ‘Epic Fury’
*An Iranian flag is placed on the ruins of a building destroyed during the US-Israeli strikes on a residential area of Tehran on March 9, 2026. Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images*
If you want to understand the origins of the devastating and very illegal US-Israeli assault on Iran, you don’t have to start with **Donald Trump**. You don’t have to go back a year to the 12 Day War, or 11 years to the Iran nuclear deal, or even 25 years to 9/11. You have to go back to a little-known policy paper written almost exactly 30 years ago.
It was 1996. The Cold War was over. The United States was the world’s lone superpower. And a group of American neoconservatives drafted a strategy memo for Israel’s newly elected prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The document was called [“A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.”][3] Its authors included a who’s who of right-wing, hawkish, pro-Israel figures who would later dominate US foreign policy during the war-obsessed presidency of George W. Bush: **Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, David Wurmser,** among others. And their proposal was a radical one: Israel, they insisted, should abandon the old **“land for peace” **formula in the Middle East and instead reorder the region through military confrontations and even regime change operations.
They were explicit about their targets. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and, yes, *Iran*. The report talked about **“removing Saddam Hussein from power,”** **“striking”** targets in Syria, and pulling Lebanon away from Iran.
At the time, this seemed like the pipe dream of a handful of fringe ideologues. Today, however, it reads like a blueprint. Just look at what happened next.
[ Read more ][4]
[1]: https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2032389087491985700
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://web.archive.org/web/20140125123844/http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/was-this-iran-war-planned-30-years
https://zeteo.com/p/was-this-iran-war-planned-30-years

2026-03-13 02:04:43 UTC

Veteran Whose Arm Was Broken As He Protested the War on Iran Speaks Out
US veteran **Brian McGinnis** stood up in the middle of a Senate hearing, loudly declaring: **“America does not want to fight this war for Israel.”** What followed was a horrifying episode that went viral, netting hundreds of millions of views around the world: A Republican senator swooped in to get him out of the room, and helped break his arm in a gruesome fashion. There were horrified yells from attendees, and shocking silence from politicians in the room.
Recovering from his injury, McGinnis spoke with **Prem** about the incident, what propelled him to speak out against the war on Iran, and the propaganda machine he’s pushing against.
[Share][1]
McGinnis described the atmosphere inside the Senate hearing room as **“dystopian,”** saying members of Congress were behaving like **“robots”** as he was violently removed.
He argued that pro-war propaganda and **“shallow”** slogans like **“support your troops”** are **“made to just hypnotize us away from thinking critically.”**
**“Find empathy in your heart for other nations… I’ve met many people from the Middle East, and sadly, many of them have lost people in bombings and military incursions,”** he said. **“I don’t know how I would react if a foreign military was entering into my hometown in a violent way and my loved ones were there.”**
While US politicians may have ignored him, McGinnis said, he’s received massive public support, reflecting an imbalance between the government and the people.
[Subscribe now][2]
**“Life is about hugging your children and finding your partner and loving them and creating happiness and joy,”** he said. **“Our military is being used to provoke violence and to pad the pockets of billionaires and politicians who will never lead for the causes they are pushing. And we’re all waking up to it.”**
Listen to the whole conversation above, and do support our work, so we can continue interviews like these, Prem’s Capitol Hill reporting, and so much more.
*This video is being shared without a paywall. If you believe in the work we do and want to see more of it, do consider becoming [a paid subscriber][3]. And if you’re not ready for the commitment, then a [donation][4] would still go a long way.*
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***Don’t miss these other articles from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/veteran-arm-broken-speaks-out-israel-iran-senate?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[4]: https://donorbox.org/support-zeteo
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/veteran-arm-broken-speaks-out-israel-iran-senate?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/veteran-arm-broken-speaks-out-israel-iran-senate

2026-03-12 22:31:17 UTC

In Chile, Trump Finds Another Far-Right Friend
*Donald Trump and Jose Antonio Kast at the “Shield of the Americas” Summit at Trump National Doral, Florida, on March 7, 2026. Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images*
*SANTIAGO, Chile* — José Antonio Kast, Chile’s new president, is the country’s most far-right leader in decades. [Endorsed][1] by US President Donald Trump, Kast ran a parallel campaign rooted in nationalism, promising to quell [Chileans’ security fears][2] by targeting illegal migration and reversing four years of “[damage][3]” under former President Gabriel Boric’s leftist administration.
[Subscribe now][4]
Kast was sworn into office on Wednesday after capturing nearly 60% of the vote in a December runoff election against Jeannette Jara, a longtime member of Chile’s Communist Party.
“Chile needs an emergency government, and that is what we are going to have,” Kast [said][5] Wednesday in his inaugural address from the balcony of Palacio de La Moneda in Santiago. “An emergency government is not a slogan; it is the reality we are going to live: order where there is chaos, relief where there is pain, a firm hand where there is impunity, and real, concrete hope for those ignored for too long.”
For supporters, Kast’s presidency signals a harder line on migration, crime, and economic instability, issues many voters say have eroded the country’s sense of order. But for critics, his strongman rhetoric, Trump-style political playbook, and backing from hard-right coalitions revive fears of authoritarianism.
[ Read more ][6]
[1]: https://watch.australiachannel.com.au/playback/item/6386534248112
[2]: https://chile.activasite.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/252283_PULSO_CIUDADANO_OCTUBRE_Q1_1019_v3-MEDIOS-_compressed_compressed-1_compressed.pdf
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9BvxGStL-c
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH3hTWwBN6I&t=2s
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/chile-far-right-jose-kast-trump-pinochet
https://zeteo.com/p/chile-far-right-jose-kast-trump-pinochet

2026-03-12 18:26:42 UTC

In Beirut, Nowhere Is Safe From Israel's Bombing
*A man looks at the site of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 12, 2026.*
*BEIRUT, Lebanon – *Hajar Msheik tries to convince her 2-year-old son that the explosions are fireworks.
“He’s young, but he knows something is going on,” she tells me at a playground in the Beirut neighborhood of Hamra, where dozens of displaced families are gathered for a bit of reprieve from Israel’s relentless bombings. “When we hear bombings, he says he is scared.”
Msheik, who studied computer science and journalism, had to flee her family home in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh at 2am on the first day of the new escalation of Israel’s attacks. “Honestly, it’s the second war for me. The first time in 2024 was very hard and uncertain, but now I feel I know what to do,” she says. “But it’s sad my son only has lived war so far.”
*Hajar Msjeik’s two-year-old son eats sweets at the playground of Ahla Fawda in Hamra, Beirut. Photo by Maria Cosette Molijn*
Msheik and her son are among the approximately [800,000 people][1] who have been displaced since Israel declared the whole of southern Lebanon and entire parts of the capital’s southern suburbs “evacuation” (effectively ‘leave or risk death’) zones.
[Subscribe now][2]
In 11 days, Israel killed at least 687 people, including 98 children, and wounded nearly 1,800 others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Since Hezbollah fired rockets toward northern Israel to avenge the assassination of the Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 2, the Israeli army has pushed further into Lebanese territory in the southern border area.
In Beirut, Israel has escalated its bombardments and drone attacks, particularly in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh. But with the ongoing presence of low-flying drones and fighter jets across the city, it’s become clear that no place in the capital is safe.
[ Read more ][3]
[1]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-strike-hits-beirut-apartment-block-lebanese-media-reports-2026-03-11/
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/lebanon-israel-beirut-attacks-displacement-death-toll
https://zeteo.com/p/lebanon-israel-beirut-attacks-displacement-death-toll

2026-03-12 14:11:23 UTC

How Will the War in Iran End? Our Panel of Experts Answers Your Biggest Questions
There are a lot of contradictory statements around the US-Israeli [war on Iran][1]: [Trump][2] claims it’s a success, but billions of dollars later, Iranians still have a Khamenei as their supreme leader and show no signs of ratcheting down their retaliation against US interests across the region. [Israel][3] claims it significantly weakened Iran’s [attack capabilities][4], but Iran says it hasn’t even begun to use their more advanced arsenal. How can you tell the lie from the truth? By listening to a panel of experts that you will only find here at **Zeteo.**
[Subscribe now][5]
**Mehdi** gathers an A-team of renowned experts to speak on the developments in the Middle East for a **Zeteo Town Hall** with *paid* subscribers: **Jeremy Scahill, **co-founder of [Drop Site News][6], which has been reporting on Iran from the ground. **[Vali Nasr][7],** Iranian-American professor, acclaimed author, and former US State Department advisor. And **Rula Jebreal**, an award-winning Palestinian-Italian journalist, foreign policy analyst, and **Zeteo** contributor. When three minds of this caliber come on together, the conversation tends to cover a lot:
* Nasr discusses the new generation leading Iran, anger from Muslims across the region reevaluating their relationship with the US, and who this war is [actually being waged on][8], saying that after Iran’s leader was assassinated, **“it’s not the regime that is under threat… It is Iran.”**
* Scahill describes the **“utter bloodbath”** that would follow a possible [ground invasion][9] of Iran, the real damage from Iranian strikes that the US and Israel are trying to hide, and the potential for a [nuclear war][10], which he tells Mehdi is **“shocking to the soul.” **He also discusses media censorship in Israel and across the Gulf countries and how we aren’t getting the full picture of the damage caused by Iran’s strikes.
* Jebreal highlights the hypocrisy on steroids in launching a new war in the Gulf that will make the Iraq war **“look like a walk in the park.” **She discusses the [religious drivers][11] behind US and Israeli politicians, the possibility of retaliation on American soil, and how Gulf states are reacting to Trump’s actions.
[Share][12]
The panel took more than a dozen questions from the audience and also discussed how this war could end and the long-term consequences of what’s unfolded over the past 13 days. **It’s an in-depth conversation you won’t find *****anywhere***** in mainstream media - and especially on cable news!**
**Paid subscribers** can watch the full, almost-hour-long discussion above. **Free subscribers** can watch a five-minute preview. Consider [becoming a paid subscriber][13] to unlock the full discussion and check out our coverage on Iran that you won’t find [anywhere else][14]!
**Catch up on Zeteo’s latest stories:**
[ Read more ][15]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/new-poll-most-americans-believe-trump?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-grand-theft-auto-memes?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/netanyahu-trump-iran-war-israel?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/no-intel-imminent-attack?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[5]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/new-poll-most-americans-believe-trump?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/vali-nasr-iran-protests?utm_source=publication-search
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/ali-vaez-trump-iran?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-ground-invasion-plans-forever-war?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/iran-nuclear-weapons-fake-israel-trump-war-iaea-iraq?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[11]: https://zeteo.com/p/holy-war-against-iran-graham-hegseth-christian-nationalism?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[12]: https://zeteo.com/p/iran-war-end-israel-united-states-trump-nuclear-threat-experts?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[13]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23234856710&gbraid=0AAAAA-F9BazexDKE8DZfrLzh4CXXMQ9fn&gclid=CjwKCAiA2PrMBhA4EiwAwpHyC2IegxZtZP36gmzZ73GExvPfwxqiDiV4yqd6ZxaWjUqalj4PBDbmRxoCbb0QAvD_BwE
[14]: https://zeteo.com/p/how-media-manufactures-war-consent-iran-new-york-times-first-draft?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[15]: https://zeteo.com/p/iran-war-end-israel-united-states-trump-nuclear-threat-experts
https://zeteo.com/p/iran-war-end-israel-united-states-trump-nuclear-threat-experts

2026-03-12 11:33:56 UTC

💥 US Intel to Trump: Iran Isn’t Breaking
*On this day in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt conducted his first radio "fireside chat" as president. Our current president’s equivalent of that is a Truth Social post, calling actor Robert De Niro “demented” and “even sicker” than comedian Rosie O’Donnell.*
Hi! **Swin** here, with your daily dose of ‘**First Draft.**’ I keep trying to compare Donald Trump’s Iran war to another administration’s official act or policy, but it’s getting clearer by the hour that there is only *one* truly apt analogy, and it has nothing to do with past presidencies. Right now, the United States is [Thomas Jane’s character, Todd Parker][1], in the movie ‘Boogie Nights’ – we psyched ourselves up to execute the dumbest heist possible, went ahead with it after our buddies told us to abort, and now we’re paying for it.
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ US intelligence officials whisper to Trump that the **Iranian government** is still holding on tight, the president reportedly told his **top Capitol Hill ally** that “no one gives a shit about housing,” and another school in another country was hit by a drone strike, in a different horrifying war.
[Subscribe now][2]
# ‘We Won’?
*Donald Trump after landing at Joint Base Andrews on March 11, 2026. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.*
Since last month, we at **Zeteo** have reported that virtually no one in the Trump-Vance administration had a clear idea of what the mission would be going into this new, illegal war on Iran. [Trump did it anyway][3]. We told you about how Trump was repeatedly warned by his senior officials that Americans would **“very”** likely die if he started this fight. [He did it anyway][4].
We also told you about how, in the run-up to launching this regional bloodbath, Trump’s advisers **“fully briefed and prepped”** him on how Iran’s government would likely respond by acting to explode oil prices – and damage the markets and our economy – if he went ahead with the war. Trump privately [downplayed][5] those warnings. Then [he did it anyway][6].
In recent days, two Trump advisers and two other sources briefed on the situation tell me, US officials have delivered another dire warning to our batshit crazy president: They’ve informed Trump and his lieutenants that, based on American intel, the Iranian regime at this time isn’t breaking, isn’t ready to fold on the war or stop retaliating, and that there are signs the war is causing significant rally-around-the-flag effects on the ground in Iran, including among some groups that hate the government in Tehran.
And yet – you guessed it – Donald Trump is going to [keep doing it anyway][7], even in the face of mounting casualties on all sides of the conflict, the world economy on the brink, and gas [and fertilizer][8] [prices surging][9], and increasingly disastrous poll numbers at home for this president.
On Wednesday night, Reuters [first reported][10] that **“US intelligence sees no imminent collapse of Iran government.”**
At least for now, the American president intends to continue prosecuting his war, and most crucially for him, he’s going to continue lying about his supposed progress in the region and burying the wincing intel assessments. Publicly, President Trump claims he can end this war whenever he wants to end it, and that, [somehow][11], **“the war is very complete, pretty much.” **
[ Read more ][12]
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2kXCf5D1Q8
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/an-illegal-war-iran-trump-first-draft
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-was-told-americans-would-very
[5]: https://bsky.app/profile/swin24.bsky.social/post/3mgquqni4e22b
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-grand-theft-auto-memes
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/new-poll-most-americans-believe-trump
[8]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-11/fertilizer-prices-surge-due-to-war-in-iran-odd-lots
[9]: https://www.wired.com/story/trumps-war-on-iran-could-screw-over-us-farmers/
[10]: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-intelligence-says-iran-government-is-not-risk-collapse-say-sources-2026-03-11/
[11]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-iran-cbs-news-the-war-is-very-complete-strait-hormuz/
[12]: https://zeteo.com/p/us-intel-trump-iran-regime-first-draft
https://zeteo.com/p/us-intel-trump-iran-regime-first-draft

2026-03-11 22:39:13 UTC

How the 'Fox News Cabinet' Helped Jumpstart Trump's Iran War
Good evening, and welcome to this week’s ‘**Ragebait**.’
**Justin Baragona** here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we dig into how **Sean Hannity** and the “Fox News cabinet” helped push the United States into another Middle Eastern quagmire, whether **Jake Tapper **is already giving future CNN owners the Ellisons what they want, and **Bari Weiss** losing yet another high-profile journalist from CBS.
Before we hop in, I have one small request! Today is the last day we’re sending ‘**Ragebait**’ to all **Zeteo** subscribers. To ensure you get my media scoops every week, make sure you’re signed up to get ‘**Ragebait**’ by going to ‘[manage subscription][1]’ in your Substack account, scrolling down, and toggling the button for ‘**Ragebait**’ on. And ensure you’re a *[paid][2]*[ subscriber ][3]to get past the paywall!
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# **Hannity, Trump’s Shadow Chief of Staff, Gets His War**
*Screenshot of ‘Hannity’ on Feb. 27, 2026.*
Eight months after Donald Trump boasted that he had [“obliterated”][5] Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the president launched an illegal war of aggression to “ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.”
With much of the president’s “America First” base warning him against setting off another Middle Eastern conflict, who exactly convinced Trump to take action? Who did Trump turn to in order to justify jumping into this [deeply unpopular][6] decision?
Well, look no further than the president’s “Fox News cabinet” and his White House shadow chief of staff – **Sean Hannity**.
One of cable news’s [biggest Iraq War hawks][7], who has since spent the [past few years][8] cheerleading Israel’s war on Gaza, Hannity recently devoted much of his energy to laying the groundwork for a full-scale attack on Iran.
“It’s not surprising that Hannity, who was the network’s biggest cheerleader for the Iraq war, is bloodthirsty for another pointless, disastrous war,” one Fox insider told me. “This is a man who praised waterboarding and volunteered to do it for the troops, only to [never follow through on it][9].”
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A [longtime proponent][11] of military action against Iran, the shameless Trump sycophant began making the case for regime change weeks before the president ordered strikes on Iran – insisting it was necessary to stop the country’s nuclear program that Trump had supposedly already destroyed.
While Hannity had[ previously parroted Trump’s claims][12] that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “are officially dead” and that the regime “has been totally defanged” back in June, he told Iran’s leaders last month that the “clock is now ticking” because they refused to give up their nuclear program.
“I do have a little advice for the radical leaders in Iran,” Hannity declared on his Feb. 18 broadcast. “You may want to get on that plane to Russia sooner than you think – sooner than later. Now would be a good time.”
The full-court press that Hannity and his Fox cohorts were delivering on air obviously had its intended effect on our cable news-obsessed president, based on what **Zeteo’s** senior political correspondent **Asawin “Swin” Suebsaeng** has heard from his well-placed Trumpland sources. Let me turn it over to Swin real quick:
[ Read more ][13]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/account?utm_source=user-menu
[2]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[3]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
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[5]: https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/06/irans-nuclear-facilities-have-been-obliterated-and-suggestions-otherwise-are-fake-news/
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/new-poll-most-americans-believe-trump
[7]: https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-there-were-probably-weapons-mass-destruction-iraq-were-likely-moved-syria
[8]: https://www.foxnews.com/video/6339297668112
[9]: https://www.c-span.org/clip/public-affairs-event/user-clip-hannity-weasels-out-of-waterboarding-pledge/4825812
[10]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[11]: https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/hannity-proposes-bombing-oil-refineries-create-major-poverty-iranian-people
[12]: https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-demanding-regime-change-iran-stop-countrys-nuclear-program-which-hannity
[13]: https://zeteo.com/p/how-the-fox-news-cabinet-helped-jumpstart
https://zeteo.com/p/how-the-fox-news-cabinet-helped-jumpstart

2026-03-11 19:03:48 UTC

'Iran Is Not Gaza': Read Arundhati Roy's Scathing Speech on the US-Israeli War
***A note from our Editor-in-Chief:***
*My friend, the acclaimed novelist and activist **Arundhati Roy**, one of the bravest women I know, was in conversation in New Delhi on Monday about her recent book ‘Mother Mary Comes To Me.’ At the end of the event, Arundhati delivered impassioned remarks on the war in Iran, US imperialism, and India's own role in all of this. She has shared the text of those remarks exclusively with **Zeteo,** and you can read it below. If you aren’t already, please consider becoming a **[paid subscriber][1]** to **[Zeteo][2]**, or even a [donor][3], to support independent journalism, especially in a time of war and genocide. *
***-Mehdi***
*Author Arundhati Roy. Photo by Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images*
I know we are here today to talk about *Mother Mary Comes To Me*. But how can we end the day without talking about those beautiful cities – Tehran, Isfahan, and Beirut that are up in flames? In keeping with my *Mother Mary’s* spirit of candour and impoliteness, I would like to use this platform to say something about the unprovoked and illegal attack by the United States and Israel on Iran. It is, of course, a continuation of the US-Israeli genocide in Gaza. It’s the same old genocidaires using the same old playbook. Murdering women and children. Bombing hospitals. Carpet bombing cities. And then playing the victim.
But Iran is not Gaza. The theater of this new war could expand to consume the whole world. We are on the brink of nuclear calamity and economic collapse. The same country that bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki could be readying itself to bomb one of the most ancient civilizations in the world. There will be other occasions to speak of this in detail, so here, let me simply say that I stand with Iran. Unequivocally. Any regimes that need changing, including the US, Israel, and ours, need to be changed by the people, not by some bloated, lying, cheating, greedy, resource-grabbing, bomb-dropping imperial power and its allies who are trying to bully the whole world into submission.
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Iran is standing up to them, while India cowers. I am ashamed of how gutless, how spineless our government has been. Long ago, we were a poor country of very poor people. But we had pride. We had dignity. Today, we are a rich country with very poor, unemployed people who are fed on a diet of hatred, poison, and falsehoods instead of real food. We have lost pride. We have lost dignity. We have lost courage. Except in our movies.
What sort of people are we whose elected government cannot stand up and condemn the US when it kidnaps and assassinates heads of state of other countries? Would we like that done to us? For our prime minister to have traveled to Israel and embraced Benjamin Netanyahu just days before he attacked Iran – what does it mean? For our government to sign a groveling trade deal with the US that literally sells our farmers and textile industry down the river, only days before the US Supreme Court declared Trump’s tariffs illegal – what does it mean? For us to now be given ‘permission’ to buy oil from Russia – what does it mean? What else do we need permission for? To go to the bathroom? To take a day off work? To visit our mothers?
Every day, US politicians, including Donald Trump, mock and demean us publicly. And our prime minister laughs his famous, vacuous laugh. And hugs on. At the height of the genocide in Gaza, the government of India sent thousands of poor Indian workers to Israel to replace expelled Palestinian workers. Today, while Israelis take shelter in bunkers, it is being reported that those Indian workers are not allowed into those shelters. What the hell does all this mean? Who has put us into this absolutely humiliating, shameless, disgusting place in the world?
Some of you will remember how we used to joke about that florid, overblown Chinese communist term, “Running Dog of Imperialism.” But right now, I’d say, it describes us well. Except, of course, in our twisted, toxic movies in which our celluloid heroes strut on, winning phantom war after war, dumb and over-muscled. Fueling our insatiable bloodlust with their gratuitous violence and their shit for brains.
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***Arundhati Roy** is an award-winning Indian author. Her novel, ‘[The God of Small Things][6],’ won the Booker Prize in 1997. Her memoir, [Mother Mary Comes To Me][7], was published last year. *
***The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Zeteo.***
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[6]: https://r.search.yahoo.com/rdclks/dWU9NjhxdGVkNWtyMzhrYiZ1dD0xNzczMjQ5MTYzOTgzJnVvPTg1MDA2NTQ4OTUyNjU1Jmx0PTImcz0xJmVzPVRDeEZKTXFDSFBIb2hKdC4zSjN0SGpuZjJVSFNOVEY3RUh4TU1kZlpqSFpLVmtoNnJ4dTh0Z2ZObVI5UHpscVV2MEpnclgwbGtnZXRmN2pX/RV=2/RE=1775841164/RO=14/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.bing.com%2faclick%3fld%3de89rkltTWWIVSBB9wbjPVMLDVUCUwWQAZCDzhf_zFN4bikEWGQplcEE5tSwTdIxGTmTIp8eREpBeZsVqt9lrI3M8U4EbL4klvBPnOKpyaGvT0U8FYDyvGN7sU7RG9PrEuTXadNEbWY1soxIWwNQa5EPa1j6uT046MmqBFLLXPpn6f49ZtVPs8vbq4CzjHYn6Ro5UBZ2zSD5F98YYxwa-64thsYBqo%26u%3daHR0cHMlM2ElMmYlMmZ1ay5ib29rc2hvcC5vcmclMmZwJTJmYm9va3MlMmZ0aGUtZ29kLW9mLXNtYWxsLXRoaW5ncy1hcnVuZGhhdGktcm95JTJmZDQ5YjQ0MDA1YzIxN2E3OSUzZmVhbiUzZDk3ODAwMDg1NTYxNzQlMjZuZXh0JTNkdCUyNnV0bV9zb3VyY2UlM2RiaW5nJTI2dXRtX21lZGl1bSUzZHBhaWQlMjZtc2Nsa2lkJTNkMmE2MGNmOTUxODJhMTRjNWEwMWNhNjI0YmFhNjViNjM%26rlid%3d2a60cf95182a14c5a01ca624baa65b63/RK=2/RS=odB9orKcvtnDsrYzL7pgirRDqV0-;_ylt=AwrEa4.LorFpIKIEpUIPxQt.;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA292LXRvcA--;_ylc=X3IDMgRydAMw?
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[7]: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/mother-mary-comes-to-me-arundhati-roy/23824c690ce7c6f2?ean=9780241761717&next=t&aid=133&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=paid&msclkid=fae96bd00cc21163514d0261ae6a1679
https://zeteo.com/p/iran-is-not-gaza-read-arundhati-roys

2026-03-11 16:26:55 UTC

NEW POLL: Most Americans Believe Trump Launched Iran War to Cover Up Epstein Scandal
*Trump on March 9, 2026, in Doral, Florida. Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images*
A majority of likely American voters believe that Donald Trump launched the war on Iran at least in part to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal that had engulfed his presidency, according to a new survey.
The survey found that a solid 52-40 majority of voters agreed with the statement, with the other 8% saying they were unsure as to his motivations. The findings will come as little surprise to a public that has morphed Trump’s codename for the war, Operation Epic Fury, into “Operation Epstein Fury.”
The belief that Trump is trying to knock Epstein off the front pages by going to war with Iran is most strongly held, unsurprisingly, by Democrats, who agree with the statement by an 81-14 margin. For those under 45, it is approaching an article of faith, with a 66-26 majority agreeing with the idea. But even a quarter of Republicans told pollsters that Trump launched the war as a distraction from Epstein.
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The survey of 1,272 likely voters, using a national web panel of respondents, was conducted from March 6 to March 8 by Data for Progress, and paid for by Drop Site News and **Zeteo**. We put the survey into the field in order to be able to ask the American people the kind of questions mainstream news organizations shy away from. The precise wording of the questions can be found [here][2], with breakdowns among party, race, gender, and age.
The public’s belief that Trump waged the ongoing war to distract from the Epstein scandal was branded as antisemitic this week by the Anti-Defamation League and [the ][3]*[Washington Post][4]*, which said the viral claim owed its popularity to a “pro-Iran propaganda network.”
“Pretty quickly after the conflict began, this conspiratorial rebranding of Operation Epic Fury into ‘Operation Epstein Fury’ started circulating on social media platforms,” Oren Segal, the ADL’s “senior vice president of counter-extremism and intelligence,” told the *Post*. An ADL report said the phrase “Epstein Fury” has been mentioned more than 90,000 times by roughly 60,000 accounts. The *Post* did not explain why it was antisemitic to believe that Trump launched the war to distract from the Epstein scandal beyond noting that Epstein was Jewish.
The *Post* recently laid off its entire Middle East team. Nevertheless, according to the *Post*, Iranians are trying to undermine American support for the war by linking it to Epstein. “To erode public support for the joint U.S.-Israel military operation, Iranian state media has sought to portray those countries’ leaders as part of a corrupt and depraved ‘Epstein class’ or ‘Epstein regime,’” the paper reported, claiming that the “the message is spreading through generically named ‘news’ accounts” shilling for Iran. The term “Epstein class” was, in fact, first used by American Democratic politicians such as Senator Jon Ossoff, who is Jewish, and Rep. Ro Khanna, who is not.
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### **Israel’s Influence**
The survey also probed the question of Israeli influence over Trump’s decision-making. Americans were split over the question of Trump’s loyalty, with 47% saying he is more responsive to the American people than to Israel, and 46% saying he is more responsive to Israel.
Among independents, a crucial voting block that swung the election to Trump, half – 50-44% – said that Trump prioritizes Israeli interests over those of Americans. Among Republicans, 17% said the same. Democrats overwhelmingly held that view, 75-17%.
Asked if the Trump administration was pursuing its war with Iran “primarily for American interests” or “primarily for Israeli interest,” the public was also divided, but half – 50-41% – said that he was considering America first. Another 9% said they didn’t know.
Still, no president has ever gone into war with 41% of the country convinced he was doing so on behalf of a foreign country, putting Trump and Israel’s war in uncharted territory.
### **Electoral Backlash**
The survey found that Americans are sour on it, with 55% saying they disapproved; among those, 39% said they strongly disapproved, while just 42% approved. This result is in line with [other polls on the war][6].
Overwhelmingly, voters believe the war will make their lives worse. The survey was in the field before the wild volatility in the oil market, but even then, 49% of voters said the war “will make my life more difficult” compared to just 10% who said they’d see an improvement. One third said it would have no impact.
More pressing for Washington, however, may be the public’s attitude toward politicians and candidates who support the war or support emergency supplemental funding for the war, which Trump has requested. The survey asked whether voters would be more likely or less likely to vote for a congressional candidate in 2026 or a presidential candidate in 2028 if they support the war or support new war funding.
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For Democratic voters, the question is existential. A candidate who supports the war will be badly punished by primary voters in the 2026 congressional elections, with voters saying they’d be 79% less likely to support them, a number that held roughly the same for 2028 presidential candidates.
Republicans, however, would be more likely to support a pro-war candidate by a net 39 points, with only 20% saying it would make them less likely to back the candidate for president.
In the general election, this means voters would be less likely to support a congressional candidate by 19 points; roughly the same result holds for candidates who vote for war spending. Among presidential candidates, the number is negative 19.
### **Ballistic Missiles**
Still, the poll found contradictory views among Americans. By a net margin of 70 points – 83-13% – votes said it was important to them that Iran be prevented from possessing ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel. (In hindsight, the word “prevent” may have been the wrong one to use, since Iran already possesses such weapons.)
Asked if Iran should be allowed to possess ballistic missiles “because countries have a right to defend themselves,” only 13% agreed, while 14% said it’s “not a concern of the United States.” The remaining two-thirds said that they should be prevented from having them.
### **Girls’ Elementary School Strike**
Finally, we asked how much voters had read, seen, or heard about the[ attack on the girls’ school][8] in southern Iran, which killed more than 175 people, mostly young girls.
A full 32% said they had heard nothing at all, and another 23% said they had heard “a little.” Some 29% said they’d heard “some,” and 16% had heard “a lot.”
Of those who had heard of it, 70% believed it was the work of either Israel, the US, or the US and Israel together. A quarter of Americans believes Iran hit the school – a theory that was promoted by Trump and a cadre of war defenders without evidence. Republicans are the only demographic where a substantial portion holds that view, with 45% blaming Iran, 45% blaming the US and/or Israel, and 10% unsure.
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[2]: http://www.filesforprogress.org/datasets/2026/3/dfp_zeteo_dropsite_iran_tabs.pdf
[3]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/03/10/epstein-files-pro-iran-propaganda/
[4]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/03/10/epstein-files-pro-iran-propaganda/
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/new-poll-most-americans-believe-trump?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[6]: https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/polls-us-iran-attack-2026-03-06
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[8]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/us/politics/iran-school-missile-strike.html
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/new-poll-most-americans-believe-trump?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/new-poll-most-americans-believe-trump

2026-03-11 14:04:18 UTC

IRAN WAR Town Hall TODAY: Jeremy Scahill, Vali Nasr, Rula Jebreal, and Mehdi
The war in Iran has entered its second week of bloodshed. The US continues to bomb the country and threaten a ground invasion. Israel is using the chaos to also wreak havoc upon the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon. And there is no exit strategy or ceasefire in sight.
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With so much happening so quickly, **Zeteo **is hosting this live Town Hall on Zoom with three renowned and respected experts who have a lot to share and will be taking *your* questions:
* **Jeremy Scahill,** investigative journalist and co-founder of DropSite News, which has been reporting on Iran from the ground,
* **Vali Nasr, **Iranian-American professor, author, and former US State Department advisor,
* **Rula Jebreal**, Palestinian-Italian journalist, author, and **Zeteo **contributor
* Plus, **Mehdi** will be moderating.
Clear your schedules **TODAY**, **March 11** **at** **4:30pm ET** **(1:30pm PT / 8:30pm GMT) **for the kind of conversation you won’t find anywhere in mainstream news.
**Paid subscribers** can register below. If you’re a **free subscriber**, it’s not too late to [upgrade now][2] and register via the link below.
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[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/iran-war-town-hall-today-jeremy-scahill
https://zeteo.com/p/iran-war-town-hall-today-jeremy-scahill

2026-03-11 11:23:02 UTC

How the Media Manufactures Consent for War
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Good morning. **Minnah Arshad** and **Andrew Perez** here, marking 12 days since **Donald Trump** dragged us into an illegal war on Iran – and 415 days since Trump took office. But hey, just 1,045 to go… we hope…
There’s no paywall on this edition of **First Draft**, thanks to today’s sponsor, **Incogni**.
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ the** *****New York Times*** is covering Trump’s illegal **war in Iran** roughly how you’d expect, the US is **bombing boats** in search of lower energy prices, and the president’s **worst attorney** is facing ethics charges.
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# Same Old Times?
*The New York Times building in New York City on Jan. 22, 2026. Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images*
The people who suffer the most in US wars have [generally][4] been mentioned last and least by America’s so-called paper of record. With Trump’s illegal war on Iran, history is repeating itself.
According to a **Zeteo** analysis, the *New York Times *underrepresented Iranian victims in its early coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The *Times* published over 100 articles on the Iran war in its Middle East section in the first four days. Only 18 of the 103 stories **Zeteo** analyzed mentioned Iranian victims, compared to 29 that mentioned casualties for the US, Israel, or Gulf countries.
Bear in mind that Iranians make up 97%* *of the [victims][5] in this war so far.
And most of the *Times*’s initial coverage also avoided noting that Trump’s war is [illegal][6] to begin with.
When the *Times* did* *report on Iranian victims in its early coverage of the war, the paper mostly used passive language – some of it mangled. In a March 3 article, the *Times* [wrote][7]: **“The war has pressed forward, expanding across the Middle East and yielding hundreds of casualties, including among Iran’s top leadership.”**
Compare that with a *Times* [report][8] on Israeli victims: **“One man stood crying in the ghastly aftermath of an Iranian missile strike that killed at least nine people in central Israel on Sunday afternoon, the worst casualty toll in the country after two days of conflict with Iran.”**
This is what [manufacturing consent][9] looks like.
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The paper did try to address readers’ criticisms of its war coverage in a Q&A with the editor who is reportedly helming war coverage, [published][11] Monday.
The story acknowledged that **“several readers argued that we initially underplayed”** the Feb. 28 attack on the elementary school in Minab compared to Iran’s attacks on Israel. It is worth noting that the first story on the school massacre appeared not on the front page of the paper but on page 11. Yet Adrienne Carter, a senior editor on the *Times*’s International desk, said the school attack was a **“priority” **while arguing that the paper had less access to on-the-ground reporting in Iran compared to Israel.
On another question about passive versus active voice, Carter said **“language evolves”** and **“initial claims don’t always bear out.”**
The coverage of this war from the US media as a whole has been embarrassing in many ways. The *Washington Post *on Tuesday, for instance, [published][12] a piece asserting that it’s a pro-Iranian **“conspiracy theory”** to argue **“that Trump attacked Iran to distract the public from the Epstein files.”**
The paper cited an executive from the Anti-Defamation League who expressed concern that social media users are calling Trump’s Iran war **“Operation Epstein Fury,”** rather than by the president’s preferred branding: **“Operation Epic Fury.”**
**“An ADL report found that the phrase ‘Epstein Fury’ was mentioned more than 90,000 times by some 60,000 different accounts on X within the conflict’s first three days,”** the *Post* reported, somehow keeping a straight face.
Of course, some mainstream journalists, including at the *Times*, are working to hold the Trump administration accountable. *Times* reporter Shawn McCreesh specifically pressed Trump on why he chose to claim Iran was responsible for the attack on the Iranian school.
**“You just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a Tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war,”** McCreesh said Monday. **“But you’re the only person in your government saying this.”** His questioning caused Trump to, for one moment, stop lying. **“I just don’t know enough about it,”** Trump responded, before saying he will **“live with”** the results of his administration’s investigation into the school attack.
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A spokesperson for the *Times* tells **Zeteo** that the paper **“has written on the legality of President Trump’s attacks on Iran through a [domestic][14] and [international][15] lens, and[ asked questions][16] of Trump directly, among reporting on many other topics.”** The spokesperson noted the paper has published **“multiple pieces of forensic reporting on the likely US strike on an Iranian school,”** adding: **“We have done all of this reporting fairly, thoroughly, and without bias.”**
Nevertheless, the *Times* may not have [learned its lesson][17] from the lead-up to the Iraq War, when its reporting helped sell the Bush administration’s lies about WMDs. Over the weekend, the paper helped justify Trump’s Iran war [with blind quotes][18] from **“officials”** who suggested that **“Iran or potentially another group”** may have been able to access the uranium at sites after Trump’s administration bombed them last year.
The *Times* also still employs Gaza genocide apologist Bret Stephens, whose first column headline on the Iran war read: **“Trump and Netanyahu Are Doing the Free World a Favor.”**
It’s the same paper that [instructed reporters][19] to avoid words like **“genocide”** and **“ethnic cleansing”** when reporting on Palestine, and to this day, fails to recognize what the world’s leading genocide scholars have concluded: that Israel is indeed committing a genocide in Gaza.
The *Times* famously issued a half-hearted apology for its coverage of Iraq. In a [May 2004 letter][20], *Times* editors wrote, **“Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged – or failed to emerge.”**
More than two decades later, the paper is once again failing to be aggressive in covering another US president’s baseless war.
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## 🇮🇷 Iran War Updates
**Death tolls:**
* **Iran: **More than 1,300 people, including over 200 children and 11 health workers, have been killed in US-Israeli strikes, an Iranian official [said][22].
* **Lebanon: **Israel has killed at least 570 people, including scores of children, Lebanon’s health officials said today.
* **US troops: **Seven US troops have been [killed][23] since the war began (an eighth service member died of a “health-related incident” in Kuwait, US Central Command said, without elaborating). The Pentagon said yesterday that some [140 troops][24] have been wounded, mostly with minor injuries.
* **Israel: **At least 12 people have been killed in Iranian attacks in Israel.
* **Elsewhere in the region: **More than a dozen others have been killed across the region.
**And in more Iran war news…**
* **Bombing boats**: The US [said][25] it had “eliminated” multiple boats, including 16 vessels it claimed were “minelayers,” in the area around the Strait of Hormuz just hours after Trump [demanded][26] that Iran remove any mines it laid, or risk “military consequences” that were “never seen before.”
* **Whoops: **Trump Energy Secretary Chris Wright [claimed][27] on Twitter that the Navy “successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets” – causing oil prices to temporarily drop. The only problem? It wasn’t true, as the White House quickly acknowledged.
* **Iran’s new targets: **Tehran [said][28] today that it could soon target banks and financial institutions associated with US and Israeli entities in the region.
* **‘Nearly 20,000’ civilian sites damaged: **Iran’s Red Crescent [said][29] today that nearly 20,000 civilian sites, including dozens of schools and health facilities, had been damaged since the start of the war.
## Really Racist Republican, Exhibit 374
GOP Congressman Andy Ogles is doubling down on his vicious Islamophobia. After [claiming][30] on Monday that “Muslims don’t belong in American society,” the attention-seeking Ogles went further on Tuesday, [saying][31] millions of Muslim Americans are “unable to assimilate” and “all have to go back.” Is it any surprise that the Tennessee lawmaker’s rhetoric is getting more and more extreme and bigoted, given the Republican Party’s leadership refuses to condemn him? Speaker Mike Johnson shamefully [declined][32] to criticize or disown Ogles’s remarks yesterday. Apparently, it’s okay to sound like a neo-Nazi in the modern GOP.
[Share][33]
## **🗞️ **What You Need to Know
* **Don’t call it ‘mass deportation’**: On Tuesday, Trump’s White House [advised][34] lawmakers to focus their messaging on deporting violent criminals, rather than mass deportation – even though that remains Trump’s policy.
* **ICE at the polls: **The Democratic National Committee is [suing][35] the Trump administration to get answers on whether it’s planning to deploy Trump’s masked, violent secret police or troops to the polls during this year’s midterms. The lawsuit says federal agencies have failed to respond to public records requests on the issue.
* **Election threats:** The Department of Homeland Security’s investigative branch has started investigating the 2020 election results in Arizona, [reportedly][36] on “direction from DC.” It’s the latest indication of how Trump is planning to wield the whole of the federal government to meddle in the 2026 midterms.
* **Always be losing: **Ed Martin, Trump’s former US attorney and current pardon attorney, is [facing][37] ethics charges from the DC Bar for attempting to unlawfully coerce Georgetown University Law Center to stop teaching “DEI” – and for attempting to quash a complaint over the matter by privately communicating with the judge.
## 🧠 Pop Quiz!
***How much money did Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon spend on Alaskan king crab in September?***
Keep your eyes out for the answer below!
## 💬 Quote Unquote
***“While there is no money for 15 million Americans who lost their healthcare, there’s a billion dollars a day to spend on bombing Iran.”***
– That’s Senator Elizabeth Warren [slamming][38] Trump’s illegal war with Iran.
## 🚨 Don’t Miss It!
Later today, we’ll have an **exclusive poll** from our friends at **Data for Progress**, which we commissioned with **Drop Site News**, on the American public’s attitude towards the **war on Iran**, whether they think it was launched to distract from the **Epstein files**, and whether politicians who support this war will pay a political penalty at the polls. It will land in your inbox in a few hours!
[Subscribe now][39]
## 🌏 Anywhere But America
* **🇵🇸 Don’t forget Gaza: **Palestinians in Gaza are grappling with expensive food prices as the US-Israel war on Iran puts further strain on the already-limited supply of basic necessities. [According to Al Jazeera][40], “Residents and traders say prices have jumped in a matter of days, while some staples have become scarce or disappeared altogether.”
* 🇭🇹 **Illegal drone strikes:** More than 1,200 people in Haiti were [killed][41] in drone strikes by Haitian security forces and private contractors between March 2025 and January 2026, including at least 17 children and 43 adults who were not members of criminal groups, according to Human Rights Watch. The group called for these unlawful killings to be investigated under international law.
* 🇸🇸 **UN calls for a ceasefire: **UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk called for an [immediate ceasefire][42] in South Sudan after more than 160 civilians were killed over the past 17 days. Türk warned that “civilians are being brutally killed, injured, and displaced on a daily basis,” and that the violence “may amount to war crimes.”
* 🇺🇦🇷🇺 **Territorial gains: **Russian and Ukrainian officials made [rival claims][43] of territorial gains as US-brokered peace talks are seemingly on pause. Ukraine said it has retaken nearly all of the Dnipropetrovsk region, while Russia said it has pushed further into the eastern Donbas region.
[Share][44]
## 🦊 Fox Watch
Noted military expert Jesse Watters thinks the US bombing a girl’s school and Israel bombing oil depots is evidence of a ‘compassionately’ fought war…
#### 🧠 Trivia answer: $2 million, according to the nonprofit transparency group, [Open the Books][45].
## ICYMI From Zeteo
*Zeteo’s Melanie Riehl and Akshay Gokul contributed to this newsletter.*
[Share][46]
*Still want to get **Zeteo **content, but not this newsletter? You can unsubscribe directly from ‘**First Draft**’ by going to ‘[manage subscription][47]’ in Substack, scrolling down, and toggling the button for ‘First Draft’ off. *
[1]: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zeteo-live-in-nyc-with-riz-ahmed-mehdi-hasan-and-guests-tickets-1984574773571?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://deal.incogni.io/aff_c?offer_id=6&aff_id=2097&url_id=136
[4]: https://news.illinois.edu/casualties-get-scant-attention-in-wartime-news-with-little-change-since-world-war-i/
[5]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/1/us-israel-attacks-on-iran-death-toll-and-injuries-live-tracker
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/international-law-trump-israel-war-iran-illegal
[7]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/world/middleeast/us-soldiers-killed-iran-war.html
[8]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/world/middleeast/9-killed-beit-shemesh-iranian-missiles.html
[9]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent
[10]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[11]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/insider/07iran-israel-united-states-war.html
[12]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/03/10/epstein-files-pro-iran-propaganda/
[13]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[14]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/us/politics/trump-iran-war-presidential-power.html
[15]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/us/politics/iran-khamenei-dead-trump-legal.html
[16]: https://x.com/clashreport/status/2031133927256047757?s=20
[17]: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/may/26/pressandpublishing.usnews
[18]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/us/politics/iran-nuclear-site-uranium-intel.html
[19]: https://theintercept.com/2024/04/15/nyt-israel-gaza-genocide-palestine-coverage/
[20]: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/world/from-the-editors-the-times-and-iraq.html
[21]: https://zeteo.com/p/how-media-manufactures-war-consent-iran-new-york-times-first-draft?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[22]: https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/close-10000-civilian-sites-destroyed-us-israeli-bombing-irans-un-envoy
[23]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/world/middleeast/american-soldier-killed-iran-war.html
[24]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/world/middleeast/us-injuries-iran-war.html
[25]: https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2031489675760640370
[26]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116206683370194686
[27]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/10/oil-hormuz-iran-tanker-wright-00821041
[28]: https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-trump--03-11-2026#0000019c-dbf9-dd61-adfd-dff90e2f0000
[29]: https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/close-10000-civilian-sites-destroyed-us-israeli-bombing-irans-un-envoy
[30]: https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2031002097135599717?s=20
[31]: https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2031449464825667735
[32]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/10/mike-johnson-anti-muslim-comments
[33]: https://zeteo.com/p/how-media-manufactures-war-consent-iran-new-york-times-first-draft?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[34]: https://www.axios.com/2026/03/10/white-house-house-republicans-mass-deportations
[35]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/us/politics/democrats-sue-to-find-out-if-trump-will-send-armed-officers-to-election-sites.html
[36]: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/03/arizona-election-investigations/686310/
[37]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-ed-martin-ethics-charges-disciplinary-office-georgetown-university/
[38]: https://x.com/atrupar/status/2031384481169379575
[39]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[40]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/10/gaza-food-prices-soar-as-border-closures-deepen-shortages-amid-iran-war
[41]: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/03/10/haiti-drone-strikes-put-residents-at-risk
[42]: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/south-sudan-turk-urges-immediate-ceasefire-war-crimes-fears-mount
[43]: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-iran-drones-us-talks-b7267b71dda7a7f5b7fd10770ac04ae8
[44]: https://zeteo.com/p/how-media-manufactures-war-consent-iran-new-york-times-first-draft?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[45]: https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/pentagon-should-focus-on-defense
[46]: https://zeteo.com/p/how-media-manufactures-war-consent-iran-new-york-times-first-draft?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[47]: https://zeteo.com/account?utm_source=user-menu
https://zeteo.com/p/how-media-manufactures-war-consent-iran-new-york-times-first-draft

2026-03-11 01:03:35 UTC

I Was a US Intelligence Analyst. Here's What a Ground Invasion of Iran Could Look Like
*President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speak to reporters on board Air Force One on March 7, 2026. Photo Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images*
Donald Trump bombed Iran expecting an overnight victory. Instead, he got a 14-country war, at least seven dead US servicemembers, the [worst][1] US military civilian casualty incident in decades, and skyrocketing oil prices. Desperate for a win, he’s tried [bombing Iran][2], [bombing Iran][3], and even [bombing Iran][4], and now he’s all out of ideas.
So it’s no surprise that Trump officials soft-pitched ground operations inside Iran to Axios over the weekend. If that sounds like an invasion to you, don’t worry, they would be “small special ops raids — not a big force,” [per][5] a reassuring unnamed Trump official.
[Subscribe now][6]
Before evaluating the three “small” plans on the table, we need to understand three important factors for context:
* First, for Iran hawks in [Israel and the US][7], the longer the war, the better. Trapping Trump in a quagmire raises the odds of state collapse in Iran – a humanitarian catastrophe and the ideal outcome for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
* Second, Trump has plenty of troops at his disposal, even if he hasn’t put in the months it would take to assemble an Iraq-scale invasion force. He could deploy over 10,000 [rapid-response][8] troops in weeks if he wanted to – potentially enough to buy time for a larger invasion force.
* Third, the closer US forces get to Iranian soil, the more US technological and firepower advantages are negated. The US military can bomb Iran at will, but that doesn’t protect a commando from stepping on an IED, or a landing helicopter from a concealed Iranian soldier with an RPG.
The three proposed ground operations reported – or pitched – in the media all have limited aims that sound more palatable than committing the US to a ruinous forever war in Iran. Here’s how they all risk ending up there anyway:
[ Read more ][9]
[1]: https://truthout.org/articles/un-experts-demand-probe-into-minab-massacre-as-reports-find-us-was-responsible/
[2]: https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-attack-02-28-26-hnk-intl
[3]: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/03/01/9-iranian-naval-ships-have-been-destroyed-and-sunk-trump-says/
[4]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/trump-says-he-wont-target-iran-electricity-production-sites-unless-he-has-to/
[5]: https://www.axios.com/2026/03/08/iran-ground-troops-special-forces-nuclear
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[7]: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/lindsey-graham-trump-iran-fa5f54f0?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqdwX2QSFE_zveR2-x3q9PmY68YJLQJ9pU4FhbaWi2ESrUzW3gX4oDFk9b259Ls%3D&gaa_ts=69af1fd1&gaa_sig=aBwW6ok5N1vQTDX_GZi-z4874CzyZ3CHOCvjjnMwh6cOcYoJ_iTejezm2XzWABYstnaZv378lWSX67tlIdvTrg%3D%3D
[8]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/06/army-82nd-airborne-iran/
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-ground-invasion-plans-forever-war
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-ground-invasion-plans-forever-war

2026-03-10 19:35:54 UTC

Graham Platner Was Left for Dead. So Why Is He Winning?
Graham Platner at a town hall in Ogunquit, Maine, on Oct. 22, 2025. Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters.
Many people assumed Graham Platner’s Senate candidacy was dead in October. Instead, the oyster farmer and veteran [kept campaigning][1], and [continued][2] [drawing][3] [overflow][4] [crowds][5] to town halls all over Maine.
His Democratic opponent, Janet Mills, Maine’s current two-term governor, has led a quieter campaign, and with three months left in the primary, [polls][6] suggest Platner is in the lead. Recent surveys, including a poll [released][7] Monday, suggest Platner would be a stronger candidate to face incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins, too.
It was, of course, fair to expect Platner wouldn’t get past the news that he, for years, had a chest tattoo – dating back to his time in the Marines – that resembled a skull-and-crossbones symbol used by the Nazis, even after he [apologized][8] and got the tattoo covered up.
Months later, it’s clear the conventional wisdom about Platner’s demise was wrong. What’s happening in Maine, on the ground, is a fundamentally different story.
[Subscribe now][9]
**Zeteo** spoke with Platner over the weekend about the state of the Senate race, after he led a protest outside Collins’s Portland office to speak out against her vote in favor of Donald Trump’s illegal war.
As part of our wide-ranging conversation, Platner discussed why Trump’s war in Iran is “uniquely bad,” how he survived his tattoo scandal, and why he thinks it won’t doom his campaign if he makes it to the general election. “Everybody in Maine knows about it already,” he says. Platner also shared why he’s sick of being compared to John Fetterman, and what he’d like to say to Ted Cruz. (Spoiler: It’s not kind, but certainly relatable.)
*Below is our conversation, which has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity: *
[ Read more ][10]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/graham-platner-senate-maine-interview
[2]: https://x.com/aobrien2010/status/1982939801558175882
[3]: https://x.com/nathanTbernard/status/1989708413891199019
[4]: https://x.com/PHirschkorn/status/2030811763260772789
[5]: https://x.com/carinemhajjar/status/2030751454059725271
[6]: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/polls/maine-us-senate-election-polls-2026.html
[7]: https://polls.quantusinsights.org/polls/maine-senate-quantus-mxnu1zpr
[8]: https://x.com/grahamformaine/status/1981087613466660950
[9]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/graham-platner-maine-campaign-primary
https://zeteo.com/p/graham-platner-maine-campaign-primary

2026-03-10 14:06:12 UTC

Meet Three Congressional Candidates Taking on AIPAC
The Illinois primaries are just one week away, and affiliates and donors of AIPAC have poured [more than $13 million][1] to try and elect their preferred candidates in four wide-open congressional primaries in the Chicago area, according to an analysis of federal campaign disclosures.
But in a riveting panel with **Mehdi**, three pro-Palestinian candidates pull back the curtain on AIPAC’s use of shell PACs to “**hide their money**,” as support for one of the most influential lobbying groups in the country wanes among Democratic voters.
The panel includes tech entrepreneur **Junaid Ahmed**, who is** **running in the 8th district; journalist and former **Zeteo** contributor **Kat Abughazaleh**, who is running in the 9th district; and state Senator **Robert Peters**, who is running in the 2nd district.
[Subscribe now][2]
“**There’s an entire movement that’s growing that says you have to reject AIPAC**,” Peters says, with Abughazaleh noting that the group is “**grasping at straws and they’re panicking.**”
“**Right now, this race is pretty much unlimited money versus people power**,” Ahmed adds.
Also during this can’t-miss interview:
* Mehdi asks Peters about meeting with an AIPAC official shortly after launching his campaign and writing a draft position paper (*“***I actually very much regret it.**”)
* Abughazaleh responds to the recent controversy surrounding an email from her former national security adviser that referred to her as “firmly an interventionist”
* Ahmed discusses the hypocrisy of AIPAC’s preferred candidates denouncing the US-Israeli war in Iran while refusing to rule out supporting unconditional military aid to Israel
**Paid subscribers** can watch the whole interview. **Free subscribers** can watch a 5-minute preview. Consider [becoming a paid subscriber][3] to never hit another paywall again!
***Check out more from Zeteo***:
[ Read more ][4]
[1]: https://www.wbez.org/politics/2026/02/27/aipac-pro-israel-groups-chicago-area-democratic-congressional-primaries-miller-conyears-ervin-bean-fine
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/illinois-election-aipac
https://zeteo.com/p/illinois-election-aipac

2026-03-10 11:11:57 UTC

Debunking Donald’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Remarks
*🚨 Join **Mehdi and Team Zeteo** for a LIVE conversation with Oscar-winning actor **Riz Ahmed** and special guests in New York City on April 9 – grab your tickets before prices go **UP** later this week!*
*(P.S. **Paid subscribers **and **Founding Members** already received discount codes in their emails!)*
[Get your tickets!][1]
Good morning! **Prem** here! I know we are 10 years into **Donald Trump**’s dominance of American public life, but this morning, I am basking in the wonderment you feel when you really soak in a Trump public appearance. On the one hand, I don’t want to have to subject you to it, but on the other hand, you *really* have to sink your teeth into this one. It matters! So, without further ado…
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ **Trump** delivers some of the **most insane** remarks he perhaps ever has (does he now believe in… **zombies**??), **Israeli forces** escalate their illegal invasion in **Lebanon**, and the Trump administration has a gift for **Ticketmaster**.
[Subscribe now][2]
# The King’s Brain Is Dead
* Trump speaks to reporters on March 9, 2026. Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images.*
Donald Trump delivered remarks in Doral, Florida, last night, to House Republicans during their retreat, and then as part of a press conference. It might not seem like an appropriate time to be off the job, but, dear reader, based on Trump’s remarks, maybe it’s better if he steps away from the steering wheel. Let’s discuss, debunk, annotate, and report on his insanity – quote by quote:
**First off, there were so *****many***** lies:**
**[“Try finding wind farms in China.”][3]**
China is the [leading producer][4] of wind energy in the world.
**[“[Democrats] don’t say [affordability] anymore because we brought down prices.”][5]**
Voters strongly disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy – to a record degree, according to a new Quinnipiac [poll][6]. Prices are only getting higher as a result of Trump’s illegal war in Iran.
**[“Virtually nobody has a system of mail-in ballots like we have; no other country in the world.][7]**”
[Dozens of nations][8] have some form of mail-in voting.
[Subscribe now][9]
**[Iran “was looking to take over the Middle East.”][10]**
There’s only one nation in the Middle East right now seeking to encroach on neighboring territories: Israel.
**[“If we didn’t go in, they would have come in after us.”][11]**
Once again, there was no proof that Iran posed any “imminent threat” to the US, and, in fact, the country was negotiating a new nuclear deal with the Trump administration before the president decided to attack.
**[“…the Tomahawk is sold and used by other countries…Iran who also has some Tomahawks.”][12]**
Trump has continued to suggest that Iran was responsible for the horrific bombing of an Iranian girls’ school, killing some 175 people, mostly children. Repeated independent reporting has found that the US was likely the culprit. Footage shows that it was a Tomahawk missile that rained down on the school – a US munition that Iran *does not possess. *
**Now onto the *****really***** absurd, brain-addled, and racist moments:**
[ Read more ][13]
[1]: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zeteo-live-in-nyc-with-riz-ahmed-mehdi-hasan-and-guests-tickets-1984574773571?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2031116714147197176?s=20
[4]: https://wwindea.org/GlobalStatistics#:~:text=Here%20are%20some%20statistics%20on%20wind%20power,of%20wind%20power%20above%20the%20world%20average
[5]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2031117043328766087?s=20
[6]: https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3952
[7]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2031132481504817201?s=20
[8]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-trumps-claim-the-u-s-is-the-only-country-that-uses-mail-in-voting
[9]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[10]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2031115859683598416?s=20
[11]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2031116238936752259?s=20
[12]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2031131478617444468
[13]: https://zeteo.com/p/debunking-trump-iran-press-conference-first-draft
https://zeteo.com/p/debunking-trump-iran-press-conference-first-draft

2026-03-10 02:03:00 UTC

Don't Forget Gaza and the Palestinians
*Relatives of Palestinian journalist Amal Muhammad Shamali, who was killed in an Israeli strike on makeshift tents in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, perform funeral prayers in Gaza City on March 9, 2026. Photo by Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images*
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t have appeared happier; he looked almost giddy. By launching an illegal attack on Iran with the United States, Netanyahu’s lifelong goal was achieved. He said as much. While standing on the rooftop of the Israeli military headquarters (Israel’s Pentagon), nestled among residential and commercial buildings in the heart of Tel Aviv, Netanyahu [proclaimed][1], “This coalition of forces allows us to do what I have yearned to do for 40 years: smite the terror regime hip and thigh. This is what I promised – and this is what we shall do.”
[Subscribe now][2]
Let’s leave aside the “40 years” comment for the moment – though it is clear that Israel has posed a threat to Iran for at least that time, given its years of attacks on the country and its allies. It’s the rest of the sentence that is equally disturbing. Just as Netanyahu made a Biblical reference to the tribe of [Amalek][3] – an enemy that must be completely wiped out – as a justification to slaughter Palestinians in Gaza, including children and infants, he is now invoking a phrase from the Old Testament’s Book of Judges in which Samson “smote them [the Philistines] hip and thigh,” to justify the war with Iran. In plain English, Samson attacked the Philistines mercilessly and viciously. Not coincidentally, Israel’s widely-reported nuclear deterrence strategy is known as the “[Samson Option][4],” in which Israel will resort to using nuclear weapons if it deems necessary. By the way, unlike Iran, [Israel has never submitted to international inspections][5], and Israel has refused to
sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty that 191 countries (including Iran) have signed.
This out-and-proud combination of unchecked military aggression, coupled with deranged Zionist biblical references, foretells what’s to come, but it also underscores what we’re already witnessing in Palestine, making it all the more important that we don’t look away from what Israel is doing in Gaza and the West Bank as the war in Iran rages on.
Just take Gaza, for instance.
[ Read more ][6]
[1]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1969336447032052
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/its-not-just-netanyahu-a-lot-of-israelis
[4]: https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-planned-war-iran-40-years-everything-else-smoke-screen
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/why-wont-the-media-mention-israels
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/dont-forget-gaza-and-palestinians-iran-war
https://zeteo.com/p/dont-forget-gaza-and-palestinians-iran-war

2026-03-09 22:33:26 UTC

'The Gaza Playbook': Mehdi Breaks Down What Israel Is Doing to Iran
Almost 1,000 Iranians and multiple Americans have been killed, oil prices are skyrocketing, and the US is barreling towards recession.
The worst part?
**“None of this had to happen. This was a war of choice by Donald Trump at the behest, request, manipulation of Benjamin Netanyahu.”**
**Mehdi** and **Prem** unpack the latest news from the war on Iran on ‘Ask the Editor,’ answering questions from **Zeteo** subscribers who participated live on [Zeteo.com][1] or on [Youtube][2].
[Subscribe now][3]
Watch the** full video above** to hear **Zeteo’s** editor-in-chief discuss what could be next in the war, whether a nuclear threat is real, and much more, including:
* How the US and Israel are using **“the Gaza playbook”** in Lebanon and Iran to brazenly kill civilians, commit potential war crimes, and get away with it
* The Trump admin’s incompetence – from just how bad this war is going to be for the US economy to a potential **military draft** (!)
* The **failed ‘regime change’** operation
* …and more.
Let us know what you think in the comments, and [subscribe][4] to catch the next episode of **Ask the Editor** every Monday at 11am ET on [Zeteo.com][5], [YouTube][6], or on the Substack app.
[Share][7]
#### **🚨LAST CHANCE to get early bird tickets!🚨**
*Join **Mehdi and Team Zeteo **for a LIVE conversation with Academy Award-winning actor **Riz Ahmed** and special guests in New York City on April 9 – secure your ticket below before the price increases!*
[Get tickets here!][8]
*If you’re a **paid** **subscriber or a Founder,** don’t forget to use the 25% off discount code below. Everyone else, you can still upgrade your subscription to get access to discounts on events and all our premium content.*
[ Read more ][9]
[1]: http://zeteo.com
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/@zeteo/streams
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[5]: http://zeteo.com/
[6]: https://www.youtube.com/@zeteo/streams
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/will-the-us-nuke-iran-mehdi-breaks?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[8]: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zeteo-live-in-nyc-with-riz-ahmed-mehdi-hasan-and-guests-tickets-1984574773571?aff=oddtdtcreator
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/will-the-us-nuke-iran-mehdi-breaks
https://zeteo.com/p/will-the-us-nuke-iran-mehdi-breaks

2026-03-09 21:02:02 UTC

'They're Perceived To Be Weak': Top Pollster Explains Why Democrats Should Not Shift to the Center
Despite Democrats’ failure to rally voters around a centrist agenda back in 2024, many in the party still believe that the “middle of the road” is key to victory.
But in this Substack Live conversation, independent pollster G. Elliott Morris tells John Harwood that those counseling Democrats to move toward the center have got it wrong. There are no “**median voters” **there, as he describes to Harwood – just people who pay little attention, have mixed views, and want strong leaders.
[Subscribe now][1]
Watch the full conversation to hear Harwood and Morris also discuss Trump's unpopular Iran war, and the chances that Republicans might lose both chambers of Congress in the 2026 elections.
Morris can also be found on his Substack, [Strength In Numbers.][2]
Free subscribers can watch a 5-minute preview. Consider upgrading to a [paid subscription][3] and never hit a paywall again!
*This was a **live** conversation on [Zeteo.com][4] and the Substack app, where subscribers could ask questions. Be sure to [subscribe][5] to catch the next Substack Live.*
***Check out Zeteo’s other recent stories:***
[ Read more ][6]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://www.gelliottmorris.com/
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[4]: http://zeteo.com/
[5]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/g-elliott-morris-democrats-center
https://zeteo.com/p/g-elliott-morris-democrats-center

2026-03-09 18:20:25 UTC

Citizens In a Democracy Must Be Allowed to Criticize Israel
*This [post][1] was originally published by [Jason Stanley on his Substack][2], ‘[Front Left][3].’ **Zeteo** is republishing it with his permission.*
*Protesters gather outside the White House to demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit on Feb. 11, 2026. Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images*
When I was in Ukraine in May of 2024, a Ukrainian public figure said to me, “the Americans and Europeans think that Eastern European autocrats admire Putin the most. This is false. It’s Netanyahu who they look up to.”
The point my Ukrainian friend was making is that everyone in the world knows that Putin is a brutal dictator and Russia is an autocracy. Everyone in the West is free to criticize Russia; there is no sanction or threat in so doing. But somehow you are required to say that Israel is a democracy even though it is a country that practices apartheid, and its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been in power for almost as long as Vladimir Putin. There is real risk in stating the truth about Israel in the West; there is no risk at all in stating the truth about Russia in the West. Netanyahu is therefore the one with more power.
And yet it is essential in a democracy that its citizens are allowed to criticize the actions of any state, whether it is their own or another. Given that Israel has so much geopolitical weight in the world today, if citizens face threats and career sanctions for stating what is true about Israel, they cannot participate in a full public conversation about policy decisions. Such a country is therefore not a democracy, a state in which all citizens can freely participate in important policy decisions and debates. If you cannot say what is true about Israel’s actions in the world, you do not live in a democracy. Too many citizens live in countries whose democratic status is threatened in this way.
[Subscribe now][4]
According to a *New York Times* article published on March 2 entitled [“How Trump Decided to Go to War,”][5] the decision to go to war was “spurred by an Israeli leader determined to end diplomatic negotiations.” The article stated the obvious. There is no clear strategic interest at stake for the US behind its massive attack on Iran, nor has the administration been able to provide one. Iran poses no threat to the United States. Iran was not about to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran was not about to produce missiles capable of reaching the continental US. The Trump regime has provided shifting explanations of the decision for this massive attack. But the best explanation is the most obvious one – it is in the strategic interests of Israel to destroy the Iranian regime. And the Trump regime is, for some unfathomable reason, prioritizing what is in Israel’s strategic interest over what is in the strategic interests of the United States.
If we assume, as seems clear, that the attack on Iran is for the purposes of Israel, then we can also make a prediction about the future. If Iran becomes a democracy, its citizens will no doubt remain opposed to Israel’s actions against the Palestinians. Thus, Israel will likely seek to prevent Iran from becoming a democracy. The goal then, as Marcus Stanley of the Quincy Institute [has pointed out on X][6], would be regime *collapse*, rather than regime *change* (full disclosure – Marcus Stanley is my brother). It is in Israel’s interests to replace the states that challenge its domination over the Palestinian people and occupation of Palestinian lands by failed states, rather than democracies. For example, Libya is hardly in a position anymore to lend its weight to the cause of Palestinian liberation.
[Share][7]
I have seen from my own country how democracy has been attacked by sanctioning speech critical of Israel. When Donald Trump came into office, he targeted universities with enormous fines and many other harmful tactics for allowing protests critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza. It was a broader signal to universities that speech critical of Israel would be carefully monitored. The “Israel exception” was the primary method the Trump regime used to attack universities, which are core democratic institutions. No democracy can allow such an exception.
*A poster on May 6, 2025, shows pro-Palestine students and scholars whom the Trump administration has attempted to deport in the last year. Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images*
In any true democracy, it should be allowable to point out what seems to me to be obvious – the United States is, for some reason, doing the bidding of the State of Israel, lending its military to its causes, and sanctioning criticism of its actions domestically. Understanding this is essential to predicting what will happen in the Middle East. Given Israel’s geopolitical power, open discussion of its influence in the world today should be a free part of every democracy. Repression of such discussion is a way to dismantle democracy.
Finally, if it is not permissible for ordinary citizens in a democracy to point out situations in which Israel is responsible for world events, then it will be left to antisemites and fascists to state these truths. The speech prohibitions on Israel do not then merely threaten democracy; they threaten to make Nazis and those with sympathy for their ideologies into the only ones who are allowed to state these truths. In other words, restrictions on speech critical of Israel lend unwarranted legitimacy to antisemitic ideologies. For the sake of both democracy and Jewish safety worldwide, it is therefore essential to allow citizens to freely criticize Israel without fear or sanction.
[Share][8]
***Zeteo **contributor **Jason Stanley** is the Bissell-Heyd-Associates Chair at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. He’s also the author of seven books, including [How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them][9] and [Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future][10]. *
*For more of Jason’s writing, [subscribe][11] to his Substack, ‘[Front Left][12].’*
***The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Zeteo.***
***Check out more from Zeteo: ***
[1]: https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/p/citizens-in-a-democracy-must-be-allowed
[2]: https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/
[3]: https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/us/politics/trump-war-iran-israel.html
[6]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/us/politics/trump-war-iran-israel.html
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/democracy-criticize-israel-netanyahu-iran-trump?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/democracy-criticize-israel-netanyahu-iran-trump?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[9]: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586030/how-fascism-works-by-jason-stanley/
[10]: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Erasing-History/Jason-Stanley/9781668056912
[11]: https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips
[12]: https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips
https://zeteo.com/p/democracy-criticize-israel-netanyahu-iran-trump

2026-03-09 14:10:32 UTC

'Zionism Will Collapse' - Palestinian Scholar Tareq Baconi on The Nakba, Apartheid, and the Significance of Gaza
*NOTE: This episode was recorded prior to the US-Israel attack on Iran.*
In the latest episode of ‘Beyond Israelism’, **Simone Zimmerman** engages in a powerful and timely conversation with Palestinian scholar and author **Tareq Baconi,** author of ‘Hamas Contained’ and his newly released memoir ‘Fire in Every Direction’. Tareq is regarded as one of the sharpest analysts when it comes to Gaza and Hamas, but this conversation moves beyond headlines into something more intimate. In his memoir, he weaves together his journey of coming out as a queer Palestinian with his family’s history of dispossession. He tells the story of finding his grandmother’s home in Haifa that she had fled during 1948 — a reminder that history is not abstract, but rather lived and carried across generations.
**“Even before the genocide began, Gaza felt to me like the most truthful place of what the Palestinian experience is.”**
Tareq explores the legacy of the Nakba as an ongoing structure rather than a closed chapter. He reflects on what it means to tell family stories in the midst of mass violence, and why publishing a personal memoir during a genocide has felt both unbearable and necessary. Tareq recently wrote in ‘+972 Magazine’ that **“even if Hamas were dismantled tomorrow, the siege of Gaza, apartheid, and the denial of return would persist. At the same time, resistance would reconstitute itself in new forms because the condition that gives rise to it — colonial domination — remains.” **Tareq offers historical depth and clarity in a moment saturated with distortion and political theater.
This episode also lands at a critical political moment: Donald Trump unveiling his so-called “Board of Peace,” promoting glossy redevelopment schemes for Gaza while sidelining Palestinians. Against this backdrop, Tareq’s emphasis on the enduring realities of colonialism and apartheid feels clarifying and urgent. For anyone trying to make sense of this moment, this conversation offers something rare: moral seriousness, historical grounding, and a refusal to look away. This is a conversation that doesn’t just inform — it grounds us in our humanity, and invites us into a deeper understanding of what’s at stake.
***Free subscribers get a 5-minute preview of the video above while Zeteo’s paid subscribers can watch it in full. As always, you can also listen wherever you get your podcasts.***
[Apple][1]
[Spotify][2]
‘Beyond Israelism with Simone Zimmerman’* *is a provocative new video podcast series from [Tikkun Olam Productions][3], the team behind the viral and award-winning 2023 film *[Israelism][4]*. In this series, Simone will host bold and inspiring conversations that face, head on, the growing global reckoning with Zionism, the debates over Jewish identity, and the urgent struggle for Palestinian freedom. The episodes will unpack the myths of Zionism; dive deep into the meaning of Palestinian liberation, and through raw and fearless discussions examine the Jewish relationship with Israel.
***If you enjoyed this conversation, here are some additional resources:***
Order Tareq’s books *[Fire in Every Direction][5]* and *[Hamas Contained][6]*.
Tareq in +972 Magazine - [‘The Gaza Genocide Radicalized The World’][7] and [‘A Colonized Palestine Isn’t The Answer To The World’s Guilt’][8].
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[ Read more ][9]
[1]: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-israelism-with-simone-zimmerman/id1843736886
[2]: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h6mATYvb3acjvUKx9F6aD
[3]: https://www.tikkunolamproductions.com/
[4]: https://www.israelismfilm.com/
[5]: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fire-in-Every-Direction/Tareq-Baconi/9781668068564
[6]: https://www.sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/hamas-contained
[7]: https://www.972mag.com/gaza-genocide-world-radicalized/
[8]: https://www.972mag.com/hijacking-memory-palestine-antisemitism/
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/zionism-will-collapse-tareq-baconi
https://zeteo.com/p/zionism-will-collapse-tareq-baconi

2026-03-09 11:52:00 UTC

President Lindsey Graham?
*On this day in 1933, the 73rd US Congress was called into a special session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, beginning its “100 days” during which it passed 77 bills into law. Compare and contrast with the current GOP-led 119th Congress, which is on course to be the [least productive][1] and most useless in our nation’s history. *
Good morning! **Prem** here, wishing you all a wonderful new week. Since we last spoke, **Zeteo** has weathered several attacks, including from **Donald Trump’s** pro-Israel [White House][2] and one [prominent pro-Israel Democratic senator][3], as we continue to push for truth and accountability on the illegal Israel-led war on Iran… another reminder that your support for our work is needed more now than ever!
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ Republican Senator **Lindsey Graham** has gone from Trump foe to practically directing the president’s warmongering foreign policy; **oil prices** are going through the roof, but Trump doesn’t seem to care; and **Democrats** are calling on the Pentagon to investigate the horrific attack on an **Iranian elementary school.**
[Subscribe now][4]
# Baying for Blood
*Lindsey Graham in the US Capitol on March 4, 2026. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.*
**“He’s one of the dumbest human beings I’ve ever seen… you’ll end up starting World War III with a guy like that.”**
That’s what Donald Trump [had to say][5] about Lindsey Graham during his first bid for president in 2016. Turns out Trump was right, as Graham has helped dog-walk him into his disastrous war in Iran – a baseless and illegal conflict that’s pierced the illusion that the president is a dovish exception to the bloodthirsty conservative movement.
Graham has made himself the very loud and very public face of the war effort – look no further than his tour of the Sunday show circuit yesterday, in which the arch-neoconservative could readily be mistaken for any number of Israeli cabinet officials who’ve been inciting genocide in Gaza for the past two-and-a-half-years.
The South Carolina senator shuffled between all the pro-war talking points: a desire for regime change; the need to stop Iran from a fictitious nuclear weapon; oil, oil, oil. And, all the while, he [demanded][6] that the US’s allies in the region – currently facing attacks as a result of a war sparked by the US itself – **“get in the fight.”**
[Subscribe now][7]
On the joint war led by Israel and the US, Graham crowed that we should **“just wait and see”** what comes in the next two weeks. **“We’re going to blow the hell out of these people,”** he [pledged][8], baying for blood in what was a not-so-veiled encouragement of war crimes. **“When this regime goes down, we’re going to have a new Mideast,”** he [imagined][9], adding in a moment of raw imperial honesty: **“We’re going to make a ton of money.” **He [noted][10] that **“Venezuela and Iran have 31% of the world’s oil reserves.”**
Graham’s appetite for intervention did not end there. Brandishing a hat that read **“Free Cuba”** (adding to his collection of [euphemistic hats][11] of places he wants to invade), Graham [promised][12]: **“Stay tuned. The liberation of Cuba is upon us. We’re marching through the world. We’re clearing out the bad guys. Cuba is next.”**
He appeared on the Sunday shows after Israel [bombed][13] several oil facilities, igniting a massive firestorm in Tehran. As the flames engulfing the Iranian capital were being put out by toxic rains, Graham [rejoiced][14]: **“Donald J. Trump saved the world from real chaos… Thank God Trump did this.”**
Graham’s PR role for Trump’s war is all the more interesting given his apparent role in making the war happen. The efforts have been as pathetically paternalistic as Graham [reportedly][15] playing a word-association game with our man-child president, encouraging him to go to war.
[ Read more ][16]
[1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/24/congress-republicans-legislation-trump-2025/
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-white-house-attacks-mehdi-zeteo-support
[3]: https://x.com/zeteo_news/status/2029339376313159817?s=20
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/trump-lindsay-graham-insults-219374
[6]: https://x.com/atrupar/status/2030655986260668448?s=20
[7]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[8]: https://x.com/atrupar/status/2030656129768796663?s=20
[9]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2030654776674013635?s=20
[10]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2030655262131171787?s=20
[11]: https://x.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/2010028472668737696
[12]: https://x.com/atrupar/status/2030656663405895877?s=20
[13]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/08/dark-like-our-future-iranians-describe-scenes-of-catastrophe-after-tehrans-oil-depots-bombed
[14]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2030655262131171787?s=20
[15]: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-news-updates-2026/card/lindsey-graham-s-quest-to-sell-trump-on-striking-iran-DQiOgLFxxxR4tcKYGlGA?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqfvMC8PhMCymMSYTqbbRb-ZQhF_s4EpIMbLwwrJFUZmx9fxuUBM9Ie5BxsgGZA%3D&gaa_ts=69ae08a3&gaa_sig=n-DGntlkGt_G3db1-0pJwV7Il2mWVX1X38dDBs-q0OxungxaU7kaHFC30rtIM6-amJA81pQ2J8JILyRgUGDRTg%3D%3D
[16]: https://zeteo.com/p/first-draft-president-lindsey-graham
https://zeteo.com/p/first-draft-president-lindsey-graham

2026-03-09 02:15:50 UTC

What’s Next for This War? Mehdi Takes Your Questions on Iran, Trump, Lebanon, & More
‘Ask the Editor’ is back, and you’re invited!
Join **Mehdi** and **Prem** for a livestreamed Q&A on **Monday** at **11am ET, 8am PT, or 3pm GMT** to break down the latest stories. Subscribers can join the conversation on [Zeteo.com][1], the Substack app, or [YouTube][2].
[Subscribe now][3]
There’s no shortage of news: **Zeteo’s** editor-in-chief will unpack the latest from Trump and Netanyahu’s war on Iran, Israel’s deadly Lebanon campaign, the White House’s attack on Mehdi, and more. Bring your best questions.
Don’t miss it. **Add ‘Ask the Editor’ to your calendar below:**
[TUNE IN HERE][4]
*P.S., the best way to get your question answered is to become [a paid subscriber][5] on Substack. If you support the work we do, a [donation][6] would also go a long way in supporting our brand of independent, accountability journalism.*
***Catch up on more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/125384?utm_source=activity_item
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrmVWNaCAY
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/125384?utm_source=activity_item
[5]: https://substack.com/redirect/87804755-6b5b-4164-ad33-8dc58a67bb24?j=eyJ1IjoiNG4xMWJiIn0.VdqxNfiAjWMuJ0INyIr1sjJ74hlF9jPSY_30l39faNc
[6]: https://substack.com/redirect/20ac81a5-7391-4986-aed0-cf4649d94472?j=eyJ1IjoiNG4xMWJiIn0.VdqxNfiAjWMuJ0INyIr1sjJ74hlF9jPSY_30l39faNc
https://zeteo.com/p/whats-next-for-this-war-mehdi-takes

2026-03-08 21:03:47 UTC

Beheaded Babies? Trump White House Attacks Me for Calling Out Its Anti-Iran, Anti-Palestinian Propaganda
The Trump White House’s official rapid response account on Twitter, @RapidResponse47, [called][1] me a “depraved, terrorist-sympathizing moron” on Saturday evening.
My crime? Daring to [point out][2] that Donald Trump’s [claim][3] to reporters that Iranians are not only “among the most evil people ever on Earth” but that they also “cut babies’ heads off” is flatly false.
First, zero Iranians participated in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, and while Iran does have a history of supporting Hamas, there is no credible evidence – as even then-US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken [conceded][4] in 2023 – that the Iranian government was involved in those attacks. In fact, the US intelligence community believes Iran’s leaders [“were surprised by the Hamas attack.”][5]
[Subscribe now][6]
Second, no babies had their heads cut off on Oct. 7 – by Iranians, Palestinians, or anyone else. The macabre claim that Israeli babies were beheaded has been repeatedly investigated and debunked by everyone from *[Le Monde][7]* to *[Haaretz][8]* to [CNN][9]. It’s pure [atrocity propaganda][10], originally used to justify mass slaughter in Gaza and now being bizarrely deployed to defend similar killings in Iran.
Trump isn’t the first US president to push the [‘beheaded babies’ hoax][11] - Joe Biden [falsely claimed][12] to have seen pictures of the (fictitious) decapitated Israeli infants. But Trump *is* the first president to illegally attack Iran. And he is also the first president to viciously lambast and threaten the media for daring to ask questions of the people in power.
Right now, Trump and his cronies won’t stop attacking my colleagues and me as the conflict in the Middle East escalates.
Why?
They want silence.
They want fear.
They want journalists and media outlets who fall in line.
I’m not one of them. **Zeteo** isn’t one of them.
[Subscribe now][13]
If you’ve followed my work over the years, you know I’ve never been afraid to speak truth to power – whether it’s presidents, prime ministers, or billionaires.
But here’s the reality: when powerful people come after me, it’s not really about *me*.
It’s about intimidating *anyone* in the media who dares to challenge their lies and gaslighting.
And the only way we fight back is together.
So if you’re able, please do consider [becoming][14] a ***[paid][15]*****[ subscriber][16]** to **Zeteo** today to support us and help grow independent media.
If you’re already a paid subscriber (*thank you!*), you can also consider making a [donation][17] to **Zeteo**.
[Donate to Zeteo][18]
Every paid subscription, every donation, every financial contribution, big or small, sends a message to this authoritarian, warmongering administration that we won’t be bullied, we won’t be silenced, and we won’t stop telling the truth about fascism, genocide, and illegal wars.
Thank you for standing with **Zeteo.**
***Check out more from Zeteo: ***
[Share][19]
[1]: https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2030449895497187543
[2]: https://x.com/mehdirhasan/status/2030446395191177474
[3]: https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2030433205006864619
[4]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/blinken-says-no-direct-evidence-iran-was-involved-hamas-attack-israel-rcna120110
[5]: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/us/politics/iran-israel-gaza-hamas-us-intelligence.html
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[7]: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2024/04/03/40-beheaded-babies-the-itinerary-of-a-rumor-at-the-heart-of-the-information-battle-between-israel-and-hamas_6667274_8.html
[8]: https://archive.ph/NRjWC
[9]: https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/12/middleeast/israel-hamas-beheading-claims-intl/index.html
[10]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocity_propaganda
[11]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas_baby_beheading_hoax
[12]: https://theintercept.com/2023/12/14/israel-biden-beheaded-babies-false/
[13]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[14]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[15]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[16]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[17]: https://zeteo.com/p/donate-to-zeteo
[18]: https://zeteo.com/p/donate-to-zeteo
[19]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-white-house-attacks-mehdi-zeteo-support?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-white-house-attacks-mehdi-zeteo-support

2026-03-08 17:05:04 UTC

EXCLUSIVE: I’m the Palestinian Who Has Been in ICE Detention for Almost a Year
*Photo courtesy of Kordia’s legal team*
On this International Women’s Day, nearly a year after I was first detained by ICE for speaking out for Palestinian freedom, my thoughts are filled with the women who, like me, are living – surviving – in immigration detention.
Women who wake up every morning unsure when they will see their families again.
Women who hold each other up, because sometimes it is the only support we have.
[Subscribe now][1]
A woman who gets her period while being transferred to a detention center, while her hands, waist, and feet are shackled so tightly she can’t even lift her arms to scratch her head. The bus doesn’t stop. There is no bathroom. She sits for hours, unable to move, as blood soaks through her clothes.
I think about the woman who is six months pregnant, barely sleeping because of the pain in her back and body. The only “nutritional” food the facility gives her to sustain the new life she carries is a “salad” made of just lettuce. She is afraid to seek medical attention. “Medical is not good.” All you do there is sit on a cold stool in a smelly room until they send you back.
*Federal agents detain a nine-month pregnant women after exiting a court hearing in immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City last year. Photo by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images*
Pregnancy becomes a higher risk here. We are haunted by the knowledge that one of the women before us lost her baby in the bathroom. They deported her the next day.
There are women of all ages here. One grandmother told a judge she would accept never leaving her son’s house, if it meant she could spend her last years with family. “I don’t want to die alone,” she says.
Another woman, in her late 60s, cried every day because she was being deported to a country where she had no address, home, or anyone waiting for her. I tried to tell her it would be okay. Her son and sister would take care of her, send her money. *Don’t worry.* But at her age, she doesn’t know how to use technology. Her family told us it was really difficult to contact her.
A girl with me hasn’t even turned 18 yet. She’s so innocent, quiet. She doesn’t speak. Another young woman, who has since been deported, was grabbed by an ICE agent from her classroom in front of fellow students.
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One woman here was taken while driving her daughter to school. She had a pending asylum case and work registration. When she asked what she had done wrong, the agents would not answer her. She asked to call her husband and let him know he needed to pick up their daughter. They refused. The school called him at the end of the day when she couldn’t be reached.
This place makes women sick. Those with serious medical conditions are not given proper treatment.
I spent 72 hours [chained like an animal in a hospital][3] after experiencing the first seizure of my life. A woman coughed for 10 days straight until her chest and bones hurt. One night, she coughed so much that nobody slept. Facility staff refused to give her cough drops.
One screams in pain every night, “I’m dying, I’m dying,” only to be told by a doctor that there’s nothing wrong with her.
Next week, I will have spent a year in Prairieland Detention Facility, because I attended a protest and called for an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza – which has killed nearly 200 of my family members.
Throughout history, women have been taught to stay quiet and shrink our power. The longer they hold me, the more I am reminded how important my story is….Why else would they be so afraid of what we have to say?
The struggle of the Palestinian woman is never-ending. There is no way to measure the grief. A nurse who continues to work at the hospital, saving lives after losing all of her children. Wives separated from their husbands, families torn apart, which is something that happens often in detention, too.
An Immigration judge has now* twice *ordered my release on bond, but ICE used procedural loopholes each time to keep me confined.
Throughout history, women have been taught to stay quiet and shrink our power. The longer they hold me, the more I am reminded how important my story is. Our voices must matter. Why else would they be so afraid of what we have to say?
DHS insists they are targeting criminals. But all I see here are mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers. Some have active green cards. Nevertheless, they are transferred from detention center to detention center. It is human trafficking, by another name.
Women are forced to stay for days in an intake room with no mattresses, no blankets, or pillows. Those who ask for water are told to drink from the bathroom sink. Once they arrive in the dorm, they are already exhausted and hopeless.
My friendships with the women here help me get through this otherwise unbearable ordeal, both figuratively and literally. When I first arrived, there was no food for me. I was told the kitchen was closed. If it weren’t for the women who shared their meals with me, I might have starved.
[Share][4]
Now, I pay the kindness forward. During Ramadan, I get a small luxury: an apple. Each day, I give my apple to a different woman. Yesterday, I gave one to a pregnant woman. Though her English was difficult to understand, I knew that she was craving it. Just a piece of fruit. But she doesn’t have access. She almost cried.
This year, I have a Muslim friend to observe the holy month with me. We pray together, we make Dua together, we break our fast together, and we fight for our religious rights together. Neither of us should be here, but selfishly, I’m grateful not to be alone.
During the holidays, women made small Christmas trees and put them on every bunk. I turned 33 in December. I told everyone not to celebrate my birthday, but – despite that – they gave me a beautiful card. Not just a regular one. They actually spent time making it.
We have each other. We *only* have each other.
We laugh together. We cry together. When somebody is crying, everybody is crying. When somebody is laughing, everybody is laughing. We try to do anything to make anybody happy. If someone is having a problem, we solve it together. We explain paperwork to each other. Many women here can’t afford lawyers.
In a place where any of us could be taken away in the middle of the night without warning, we keep each other’s family phone numbers. Just in case.
We have each other. We *only* have each other.
Today, if you want to honor the strength and resilience of women, remember those of us locked behind these walls. Listen to our words. Demand accountability.
We are still here. No matter how hard they fight to erase or silence us, we will not be forgotten.
[Share][5]
***Leqaa Kordia** is a 33-year-old Palestinian woman and New Jersey resident currently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This piece was written via transcribed interviews and reviewed by the author.*
***The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Zeteo.***
***Check out more from Zeteo: ***
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/why-has-this-columbia-university
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/leqaa-kordia-ice-detention-women-trump-administration?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/leqaa-kordia-ice-detention-women-trump-administration?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/leqaa-kordia-ice-detention-women-trump-administration

2026-03-08 14:14:20 UTC

Zeteo's Coverage of the War on Iran – Context You Won't Find Elsewhere
*A large plume of smoke rises over Tehran after strikes on the city on March 07, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Photo by Contributor/Getty Images*
Dear Friends,
We know it’s hard to keep up with all the latest updates when it comes to the US-Israeli war on Iran. We also know it is frustrating to have to try and cover what’s happening in the Middle East via the mainstream media, with its biased headlines, softball interviews, and dehumanizing coverage of Arabs and Iranians. So below, to help out, we’ve listed some of ***our ***latest articles on the recent developments; **Mehdi’s **interviews with actual experts offering much-needed context; and some of **Zeteo’s** most widely-shared pieces since the start of this illegal conflict one week ago.
For those of you who are free subscribers** **to **Zeteo** and who have been appreciating our coverage, do consider upgrading to a* **paid ***subscription today,* *if you can. There is also the option of **donating** to us [here][1].
Every financial contribution helps us commission another piece, cover another angle, and continue being a leading independent, truth-driven news outlet during this critical and consequential war.
Stay tuned for more coverage from us this week on Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and more.
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> # News and Commentary
> # Video Interviews
[1]: https://donorbox.org/support-zeteo
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
https://zeteo.com/p/iran-war-2026-latest-coverage

2026-03-07 22:30:49 UTC

Sources: Trump Is Dangerously Close to Sending Troops to Iran
*Trump at the White House on March 5, 2026. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images*
Donald Trump is much closer to sending US troops to invade Iran than people realize.
In recent days, US officials and other close allies have privately briefed Trump that if he wants to achieve what he says he wants to achieve in his illegal war – including “unconditional surrender” by the Iranian government – then he is going to have to deploy ground troops to Iran, four knowledgeable sources in or close to the Trump-Vance administration tell **Zeteo**.
Trump, the sources say, has been receptive to these ideas, and he and others around him have been leaning toward sending in the troops. While no final decision has been made yet, internal momentum at top levels of the government is rapidly headed in that direction.
According to the sources, administration officials and allies have told Trump that attacks from the air are not enough to accomplish Trump’s stated ideas of victory – though, to be fair, the president and his team are [constantly changing][1] how they would define a “victory” in their Iran war, which began with [no clear mission][2] and no coherent strategy beyond removing Iran’s top leaders and bombing the country, in partnership with Israel.
[Subscribe now][3]
In multiple conversations over the past few days, several of these officials and outside advisers have told the president that a more limited, smaller deployment of special forces will almost certainly not be enough, and that he’d need to send further ground troops to get what he wants.
“He likes the idea of special forces,” a Trump administration official tells **Zeteo**. “But they’re telling him he has to go bigger to end this once and for all.”
Some Republicans close to Trump have assured him – however flimsily – that this kind of troop deployment could be achieved without creating the type of Iraq War 2.0-style quagmire in the Middle East that the president and his top officials have long [publicly railed against][4].
None of the sources said anything about the Trump White House seeking congressional authorization before sending in the troops.
If Trump were to put boots on the ground, it is unclear how large a troop deployment he’d ultimately go for.
[ Read more ][5]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/is-this-the-worst-run-war-in-us-history
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/an-illegal-war-iran-trump-first-draft
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-anti-war-debunk
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-sending-troops-iran-war
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-sending-troops-iran-war

2026-03-07 18:02:49 UTC

Seven US Regime Change Wars, Ranked by Disastrousness
*An Iranian flag is placed amid rubble next to a destroyed residential building in Tehran on March 3, 2026. Photo by Atta Kenrae / AFP via Getty Images*
Many Iranians in the diaspora are cheering on Donald Trump’s war against their home country, despite the growing civilian casualties and widespread destruction, because they believe the fall of the theocratic regime will be a boost for democracy and freedom across Iran.
The problem is that those Iranians, like so many Americans, seem to have forgotten just how catastrophic US regime change wars have been in the past.
[Subscribe now][1]
So, with the risk of history repeating itself once again, here is** Zeteo**’s list of seven of the US’s most disastrous attempts at regime change, ranked:
### **7. Chile**
**What Happened**
When self-proclaimed Marxist Salvador Allende was elected fair and square as Chile’s president in 1970, President Richard Nixon and infamous warmonger Henry Kissinger quickly escalated the US’s already existing campaign against him by making Chile’s economy [“scream,”][2] conspiring with the Chilean military, and spending [$8 million][3] on covert operations.
*Salvador Allende photographed on the day of the coup, which overthrew him. Photo by Serge Plantureux/Corbis via Getty Images*
The Chilean military successfully took over the country in 1973, and installed General Augusto Pinochet as the country’s leader. Thank goodness for democracy-building!
**What Was Said**
Nixon justified his administration’s meddling in Chile years later, saying that he had been [warned][4] by an Italian businessman that Allende’s victory – combined with Cuba’s Fidel Castro – would create a “red sandwich” in Latin America.
**How It Turned Out**
One big fascist sandwich.
Pinochet’s 17-year dictatorship was defined by political repression and state violence, with tens of thousands of citizens tortured and an [estimated][5] 2,600 to 3,400 citizens executed or forcibly disappeared during his reign. While the country is now a stable democracy, Pinochet’s legacy is rearing its ugly head again through the likes of its new far-right, dictator-praising president, [José Antonio Kast][6].
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### **6. Libya**
**What Happened**
Back in 2011, during the Arab Spring, US-led NATO forces [launched][8] a military campaign against Muammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship for violently suppressing Libya’s pro-democracy protesters. Rebel forces later assassinated Gaddafi, after the US [struck][9] his escape convoy.
Sound familiar?
*Anti-war protesters in front of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2011 urging an end to the war in Libya. Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images*
**What They Said**
“We came, we saw, he died,” the laughing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [bragged][10] to reporters at the time.
**How It Turned Out**
After NATO forces left Libya, rival armed groups began to fight amidst the power vacuum, increasing political instability, and leading to a six-year civil war resulting in thousands of deaths.
The country still suffers from severe economic instability, armed militias, and political divisions today. Even their most recent [election][11] – the first in 11 years – was mired with torched electoral offices and rival administrations rejecting the ballot.
### **5. Democratic Republic of Congo **
**What Happened**
After the Belgian government [left][12] the newly independent Congo in chaos and disarray in 1960, Congo’s Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba appealed to the Soviet Union for help. The US quickly interpreted that plea as anti-American, and began to plan his ousting by fomenting protests at Lumumba’s speeches and [paying][13] the army commander – Joseph-Désiré Mobutu – to turn against him.
While the US had also begun to devise a covert plot to assassinate Lumumba, the Belgians ultimately beat them to it, [killing][14] him in 1961 with the help of armed Congolese men.
*Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba gives a press conference in Leopoldville on Aug. 12, 1960. Photo by AFP via Getty Images*
**What They Said**
In the lead-up to Lumumba’s assassination, CIA field officer Larry Delvin [warned][15] the US in a cable that, “there may be little time left in which [to] take action [to] avoid another Cuba,” even while admitting he was unsure whether Lumumba was an actual communist.
**How It Turned Out**
Zero communism, but loads of catastrophe.
Mobutu eventually went on to govern the country as a ruthless and corrupt dictator for over three decades, and was later overthrown in 1997, leading to [an even bloodier war][16] that resulted in *millions* of deaths.
The country today is still engulfed by violent [conflict][17] between rival groups, catastrophic [hunger][18], and a paralyzed political system.
### **4. Iran (The First Time!)**
[ Read more ][19]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v21/d93
[3]: https://www.npr.org/2023/09/10/1193755188/chile-coup-50-years-pinochet-kissinger-human-rights-allende
[4]: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/26/archives/excerpts-from-nixon-interview-on-agnew-chile-and-his-decision-to.html
[5]: https://cja.org/where-we-work/chile/#:~:text=Barrientos,1%5D%20%5B2%5D
[6]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0kde07lvvro
[7]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[8]: https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/mde190032012en.pdf
[9]: https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/10/16/death-dictator/bloody-vengeance-sirte
[10]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/clinton-on-qaddafi-we-came-we-saw-he-died/
[11]: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/libyas-stalled-transition-when-domestic-spoilers-meet-foreign-interests/
[12]: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/06/the-lumumba-plot-the-secret-history-of-the-cia-and-a-cold-war-assassination-stuart-a-reid-book-review
[13]: https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIAs-Covert-Ops-Congo.pdf
[14]: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/1/17/symbol-of-resistance-lumumba-the-congolese-hero-killed-before-his-prime
[15]: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/02/magazine/the-cia-and-lumumba.html
[16]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/21/a-guide-to-the-decades-long-conflict-in-dr-congo#:~:text=What%20caused%20the%201998%2D2003,also%20seeking%20to%20overthrow%20Kabila.
[17]: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/01/12/dr-congo-surge-in-conflict-related-sexual-violence
[18]: https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/11/1166305
[19]: https://zeteo.com/p/seven-us-regime-change-wars-ranked
https://zeteo.com/p/seven-us-regime-change-wars-ranked

2026-03-07 13:05:35 UTC

‘Bogus Evidence’: Former Nuclear Watchdog Head Debunks US Justification for Iran War
Very few people have the credibility to speak on Iran’s nuclear capabilities like **Mohamed ElBaradei** can. The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1997 to 2009, and of the key figures who tried to prevent the illegal invasion of Iraq on [spurious WMD grounds][1] in 2003, ElBaradei joins **Mehdi** to discuss the biggest and most concerning aspects of the [Israel-American war on Iran][2], the credibility of the [nuclear justifications][3] for the attack, and how this conflict will make countries more, not less, likely to obtain nuclear weapons.
**“The message right now that we have countries, A, who are protected by nuclear weapons, or nuclear weapon umbrella. And new countries, B, who have to be left in the cold and fend for themselves,” **says ElBaradei, warning that this will push more countries to seek nuclear deterrence. One country that already has that covered, however, is [Israel][4], and ElBaradei is not blind to the irony of that.
[Subscribe now][5]
**“Israel, who is supposed to have, according to report, 90 nuclear weapons, Mehdi, is attacking Iran because Iran might develop nuclear weapons in the next 10, 20 years,” **ElBaradei tells Mehdi, adding that the claims about Iran’s supposed nuclear weapons program are based on **“bogus evidence.” “I go by what the IAEA says… there is no nuclear weapon program.”**
In this unique conversation with a true expert on what has quickly become one of the defining moments of the Trump presidency, Mehdi and ElBaradei discuss:
* Why Iran was enriching weapons-grade uranium despite having no weapons program.
* Whether Iran’s relationships with its neighbors are beyond salvaging.
* What he did during his tenure as head of the IAEA regarding Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
* The objectives of the US-Israeli war with Iran, as well as the.
* America’s **“[colonial approach][6]” **to war and why it won’t work.
[Share][7]
**Paid subscribers** can watch the full video above. **Free subscribers** can watch a four-minute preview. Consider [becoming a paid subscriber][8] to unlock content like this and a lot more from **Zeteo**.
***Catch the latest stories from Zeteo:***
[ Read more ][9]
[1]: https://news.un.org/en/story/2003/01/57442
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/ali-vaez-trump-iran?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/no-intel-imminent-attack?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/israel-us-netanyahu-trump-iran-lies-debunking?utm_source=publication-search
[5]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-putins-playbook?r=3uiw9m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/iran-nuclear-weapons-fake-israel-trump-war-iaea-iraq?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[8]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23234856710&gbraid=0AAAAA-F9BazexDKE8DZfrLzh4CXXMQ9fn&gclid=CjwKCAiA2PrMBhA4EiwAwpHyC2IegxZtZP36gmzZ73GExvPfwxqiDiV4yqd6ZxaWjUqalj4PBDbmRxoCbb0QAvD_BwE
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/iran-nuclear-weapons-fake-israel-trump-war-iaea-iraq
https://zeteo.com/p/iran-nuclear-weapons-fake-israel-trump-war-iaea-iraq

2026-03-07 02:32:44 UTC

Trump’s White House Posts Fascist Memes As It Wrecks the Economy
*Donald Trump during a roundtable at the White House on March 6, 2026. Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images.*
Since last weekend, when Donald Trump commenced his latest war, we here at **Zeteo** have been [noting to][1] ourselves that the United States has now fully entered the “Drive-By Shooting Era” of US foreign policy.
The Trump-Vance administration’s actions around the globe don’t feel like those of a functioning government in a healthy democracy, but rather those of addled suburban teens playing ‘Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,’ or “GTA,” cackling hysterically and chugging gallons of Pepsi as they mow down stretches of civilians during the video game’s many sequences of [drive-by mayhem and mass murder][2].
Team Trump seems to have spent disturbingly little time considering the inevitable and disastrous economic consequences that its war on Iran would bring. Still, we did not necessarily expect the Trump White House would *actually* [post][3] a ‘Grand Theft Auto’ meme to tout the airstrikes being conducted as part of its illegal, shambolic war on the Islamic Republic, as it did on Friday – just days after using [footage][4] from the game ‘Call of Duty’ in a similar manner. The White House separately posted a culturally illiterate, fascist war [meme][5] using clips from the films ‘Braveheart,’ ‘Gladiator,’ and ‘Tropic Thunder,’ among others.
[Subscribe now][6]
The White House is childishly pumping out these excruciatingly unfunny fascist memes to entertain its far-right staffers and acutely racist YouTubers at a time when the dead bodies are [piling up][7] on [all sides][8], and as the financial carnage from Trump’s illegal war explodes – and threatens to plunge the global economy into a full-blown crisis, [in an election year][9].
None of this should come as a surprise, given how deeply stupid the fashy MAGAheads in power are, and how desperately they want to be seen as “[gangster][10]” and badass. Yet, even our increasingly feeble president – who [eagerly][11] touted low gas prices at his State of the Union address last week – should have understood full well that attacking Iran was certain to spike oil prices.
[ Read more ][12]
[1]: https://newrepublic.com/article/207322/transcript-trump-blurts-damning-iran-admission-maga-cracks
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJsZmAP9Zk0
[3]: https://x.com/whitehouse/status/2029953667600646655?s=46
[4]: https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2029307088808055083?s=20
[5]: https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2029741548791853331
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[7]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-un-envoy-says-1332-iranian-civilians-killed-war-2026-03-06/
[8]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/04/iran-war-us-soldiers-killed-names
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-pollsters-2026-midterms
[10]: https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mfx2hlknqa2a
[11]: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transcript-state-of-union-2026-c13e2a07df999b464b733f4a6e84dbd4
[12]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-grand-theft-auto-memes
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-grand-theft-auto-memes

2026-03-07 00:01:22 UTC

This Week in Democracy – Week 59: An Illegal War Abroad, More Madness at Home
*Protesters rally against the war in Iran in Chicago, Illinois, on Feb. 28, 2026. Photo by Jerome Gilles/NurPhoto via Getty Images*
We didn’t need Donald Trump to launch an illegal war to show that he’s wrecked American democracy – but if there was any doubt about just how much damage he’s done, this week certainly has cleared things up.
Americans didn’t vote for Trump’s illegal war with Iran – nor do they [support it today][1]. Their representatives in Congress didn’t authorize it. But that doesn’t matter to a man who cares about no one but himself, nor to the cronies who do his bidding.
Hey, at least there was one small piece of good news: Trump finally got rid of [puppy-killer Kristi Noem][2]… only to replace her with another crony: Senator Markwayne Mullin.
[Subscribe now][3]
From launching an illegal war with no clear strategy to obstructing a DHS inspector general, here’s what Trump and his allies did this week that harm democracy, undermine the Constitution, and hurt societies worldwide:
#### **Saturday, Feb. 28 – Trump’s Illegal Regime Change War**
Trump, with Israel, [launched an illegal war with Iran][4], carrying out massive airstrikes across the country, killing hundreds, and assassinating Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In a video [posted][5] to Truth Social, Trump attempted to justify the war by saying Iran posed an imminent threat – despite previously claiming that the US obliterated Iran’s nuclear program last year.
He also told the Iranian people to “take over your government” when the war is finished. “This will be probably your only chance for generations,” he added.
*Smoke is seen over Tehran after US-Israeli airstrikes on March 6, 2026. Photo by Contributor/Getty Images*
#### **Sunday, March 1 – A Pentagon Admission**
During closed-door briefings with Congress, the Pentagon [admitted][6] that it had no intelligence to suggest Iran was planning to attack US forces first.
Meanwhile, Trump [told][7] the *New York Times* that US involvement in the Iran war could last “four to five weeks,” and [said][8] in a video that there will “likely be more” deaths of US troops before the war ends.
[Subscribe now][9]
#### **Monday, March 2 – Bovino Investigated**
A Minnesota county attorney’s office launched an [investigation][10] into former top Border Patrol official Greg Bovino in relation to an incident during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota when he tossed a canister of tear gas at protesters in a park.
Bovino’s incident is just one of 17 being investigated for criminal charges by the office as part of a project to probe “potentially unlawful behavior” by federal agents.
#### **Tuesday, March 3 – Homeland Security’s ‘Egregious’ Obstruction**
The *Wall Street Journal* [reported][11] that the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security sent a letter to Congress detailing nearly a dozen instances of DHS “systematically obstruct[ing]” him from accessing records and information, including a “particularly egregious” refusal to cooperate in a federal criminal investigation with national security implications.
#### **Wednesday, March 4 – Trump’s Autopen Obsession**
The *New York Times* [reported][12] that, due to pressure from Trump, his Justice Department investigated former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen – which Trump has admitted to using himself – to sign presidential documents.
While the *Times* said the DOJ ultimately failed to build a criminal case against Biden and his aides, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro suggested the case isn’t completely closed, tweeting, “We cannot comment on ongoing investigations.”
#### **Thursday, March 5 – Trump Axes Puppy-Killer**
Following a disastrous pair of congressional hearings, Trump [fired][13] Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, replacing her with Senator Markwayne Mullin.
Mullin, a staunch defender of Trump’s policies, has [said][14] the ICE officer who shot and killed Renee Good “had the right to defend” himself, [called for][15] “no amnesty for illegal aliens,” and [argued][16] that babies born in the US to undocumented parents should “go with” them if they are deported.
#### **Friday, March 6 – Republicans Go After Key Witness in Jan. 6 Probe**
CNN [reported][17] that Republican lawmakers are pushing the Justice Department to bring charges against former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who gave explosive testimony against her former boss over the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) recently made a criminal referral of Hutchinson, accusing her of lying to Congress in 2022 when she testified about Trump’s role in the insurrection.
[Share][18]
***Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up [here][19]. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:***
[1]: https://www.npr.org/2026/03/06/nx-s1-5737627/iran-us-military-poll-trump-approval
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-kristi-noem-dhs-fired-puppy-killer
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/breaking-us-and-israel-ilegally-attack
[5]: https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/2027651077865157033
[6]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pentagon-tells-congress-no-sign-that-iran-was-going-attack-us-first-sources-say-2026-03-02/
[7]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/us/politics/trump-iran-war-interview.html
[8]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/01/trump-more-deaths-military-iran
[9]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[10]: https://www.startribune.com/greg-bovino-other-federal-agents-investigated-for-actions-during-operation-metro-surge/601591378
[11]: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/inspector-general-says-kristi-noems-dhs-has-systematically-obstructed-its-work-32496cfe
[12]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/us/politics/trump-biden-autopen.html
[13]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116178030946996760
[14]: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5683794-sen-mullin-officer-minneapolis-ice-shooting-defend-himself/
[15]: https://www.facebook.com/mullinforamerica/posts/no-amnesty-for-illegal-aliens/1476953797127532/
[16]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQFACZ1OVqU
[17]: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/politics/cassidy-hutchinson-january-6-house-republicans-criminal-referral
[18]: https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-democracy-week-59-trump?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[19]: https://zeteo.com/s/this-week-in-democracy
https://zeteo.com/p/this-week-in-democracy-week-59-trump

2026-03-06 20:21:21 UTC

Why Netanyahu Duped Trump Into the Illegal War With Iran
*Trump and Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport on Oct. 13, 2025. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images*
This has not been subtle. Across multiple decades, Israel, and Benjamin Netanyahu in particular (he has been Israel’s premier for almost 20 of the last 30 years), have tried to pull America into a war against Iran.
Netanyahu briefly succeeded last June when Trump launched the one-and-done Operation Midnight Hammer strikes. That appeared to only whet appetites.
Israel’s campaign to induce a full-scale American assault on Iran became relentless. Netanyahu visited Trump twice in the roughly eight weeks preceding the launch of this illegal war of aggression (and that’s a total of seven Netanyahu meetings with the president in the second term so far).
This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio[ let slip][1] that America’s supposed case for pre-emptive use of force in the face of a threat was, in fact, necessitated by Israeli (rather than Iranian) imminent military aggression. But the collective gasp in response was not one of surprise at the content of his remarks, but rather at the fact that the quiet part had been said out loud.
Attempts by leadership on both sides of the Zionist-American axis to [walk the comment back][2] failed the credibility test. Netanyahu frequently embraces Donald J. Trump as the [best friend][3] Israel has ever had in the White House. Perhaps what Israel’s premier is really telling us is that while all previous US presidents have been easy for Israel to manage and manipulate, none has been[ so easy to dupe][4] into launching this long-attempted war.
[Subscribe now][5]
The idea that this is a war to serve American rather than Israeli interests resonates primarily in three spaces: the gullible, the true believers (especially of end times religious eschatology), or those who are paid-up members of Israel’s echo chamber.
There is also a geopolitical case that is guiding a cohort of DC policymakers – after all, one should not dismiss the agency of deceitful and delusional US officials across multiple administrations – Democrat and Republican. In this iteration, the US addiction to primacy and preponderance is embedded in a paradigm of imperial resurgence, the promise of resurrected colonial glory offered to Europeans by[ Secretary Rubio at this year’s Munich Security Conference][6]. It is a notion driven by decline-anxiety, which is leading to the metastasization of global instability and insecurity. In this context, the Iran war is a geo-economic and geo-political move to assert hegemony in this strategic hinge area of Eurasia, [with China an undeclared target][7].
Even combined, those echo chambers are not convincing the American public. The transparent “Israel First” impetus has never been so visible. And it is unprecedented for the US to launch a war that is[ so unpopular on Day 1][8] – not the nearly [90% support][9] when the US attacked Afghanistan or the over [70% support][10] when it attacked Iraq.[Barely a quarter of Americans][11] back this operation, according to polls. There is growing dissent inside the MAGA base and almost zero traction on the Democrat side.
What is more, a war widely considered to be for the benefit of a foreign state is being launched at a time when support for Israel among the American public[has hit a historic low point][12], now expanding deep into core areas of Republican support and with significant signs even of a[ shift in Evangelical opinion and theology][13]. It is unquestionably the case that this war will serve to accelerate and intensify that trend.
Surely that is a high-risk strategy for Israel given its dependence on the US. One has to assume Netanyahu would be aware of this. Which begs the question – why was Israel so willing to go out on a limb in pushing for this war?
### **Why Now?**
[ Read more ][14]
[1]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-not-currently-postured-ground-forces-iran-rubio-says-2026-03-02/
[2]: https://newrepublic.com/post/207325/donald-trump-marco-rubio-israel-iran
[3]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-thanks-greatest-friend-ever-trump-for-weapons-sales/
[4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ago2Mf7SwWU
[5]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[6]: https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/02/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-at-the-munich-security-conference
[7]: https://www.hudson.org/national-security-defense/iran-strike-all-about-china-zineb-riboua
[8]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/just-one-four-americans-support-us-strikes-iran-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2026-03-01/
[9]: https://news.gallup.com/poll/352793/americans-split-whether-afghanistan-war-mistake.aspx
[10]: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/03/14/a-look-back-at-how-fear-and-false-beliefs-bolstered-u-s-public-support-for-war-in-iraq/
[11]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/just-one-four-americans-support-us-strikes-iran-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2026-03-01/
[12]: https://news.gallup.com/poll/702440/israelis-no-longer-ahead-americans-middle-east-sympathies.aspx?
[13]: https://www.notus.org/perspectives/the-coming-conservative-turn-against-israel-goes-much-deeper-than-you-realize
[14]: https://zeteo.com/p/netanyahu-trump-iran-war-israel
https://zeteo.com/p/netanyahu-trump-iran-war-israel

2026-03-06 15:05:38 UTC

Two Muslim Journalists Walk Into a Podcast - Mehdi and Ayman Mohyeldin on Iran, Gaza, and Media Bias
**Mehdi **and **Ayman Mohyeldin **have a lot in common: They were both born in the same year, they’re both immigrants and naturalized US citizens, they’re both Muslim, and they both worked at Al Jazeera and then MSNBC (now MS NOW). As Mehdi says to his former colleague, **“I look at you and I feel like I’m looking at a taller, better looking, Arab version of myself.” **
Ayman joins Mehdi in Washington DC for the latest episode of ‘We’re Not Kidding’ to discuss their careers in TV journalism, the failures of Western media on Gaza, and the new US war with Iran.
**“What do you make of the Iran coverage so far?”** Mehdi asks.
**“The imbalance of representation of viewpoints is always one of the things that immediately jumps out. You see this in multiple conflicts in the Middle East,”** Ayman says.
[Subscribe now][1]
Mehdi and Ayman also discuss Israel’s role in instigating the war, Benjamin Netanyahu’s decades-long obsession with toppling the Iranian regime, as well as the media’s unwillingness to name Israel as an influence on US foreign policy. **“Israel has said it wants regime change in Iran for 40 years, but you couldn’t say that until Marco Rubio came out and said that,”** Ayman says.
As one of the only American journalists who lived in Gaza during the 2008-09 war, Ayman brings a perspective on the region that few other mainstream journalists are able to. The two talk about Ayman’s history of reporting on the conflict, what has changed (and sadly not changed), as well as the shortcomings of most Western media outlets in offering balanced coverage. **“There was no willingness to challenge on a systematic basis the Israeli narrative about what it was doing in Gaza,”** Ayman says. **“Everything that was coming out of Gaza was always shrouded in doubt, as if Palestinians couldn’t document what was actually happening to them.”**
The two also discuss:
* Beginning their journalism careers in the post 9/11 era.
* Double standard attacks levied against Muslim journalists.
* Bari Weiss and her **“Iran expert”** Douglas Murray.
* Which Republican lawmakers are **“dumb as shit.”**
* And Mehdi quizzes Ayman on the French national soccer (sorry, football) team…
***Free subscribers get a 5-minute preview of the video above while Zeteo’s paid subscribers can watch it in full. As always, you can also listen wherever you get your podcasts.***
[Spotify][2]
[Apple Podcasts][3]
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[ Read more ][4]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ogT7ZvKhH04CInjNQbbdp
[3]: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/were-not-kidding-with-mehdi-friends/id1743028415
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/ayman-mohyeldin-iran-gaza-israel
https://zeteo.com/p/ayman-mohyeldin-iran-gaza-israel

2026-03-06 12:46:57 UTC

✝️ A Holy War Against Iran?
*🚨 Join **Mehdi and Team Zeteo** for a LIVE conversation with Academy Award-winning actor **Riz Ahmed** and special guests in New York City on April 9 – secure your tickets before they sell out!*
[Get tickets here!][1]
*(P.S. **Paid subscribers **and **Founding Members** received discount codes in their emails yesterday!)*
Good morning! **Mehdi** here, back from a quick trip to Canada, where I gave a talk to students at the University of Toronto about rising authoritarianism here in the United States. But it’s not just an American problem. Did you know that [nearly 1 in 3 Canadians][2] don’t object to having a strong leader who doesn’t bother with elections?
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ it’s not Iran’s **religious zealots** we should be worried about. Plus, it was indeed the **United States** that bombed the **elementary school** in Minab. Disgraced GOP congressman **Tony Gonzales** drops his re-election bid. And – *surprise!* – **gas prices** are on the rise.
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## The Real Religious Fanatics Behind the Iran War
*Lindsey Graham and Pete Hegseth. Photos by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images and Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images*
For decades now, every time the subject of Iran has come up in the United States, we’ve been told a familiar story.
It’s a story about religious fanatics. Apocalyptic ideologues. Madmen who mix theology with geopolitics.
And that story hasn’t changed at all since the United States began bombing Iran last weekend.
[Subscribe now][4]
What did US Secretary of State Marco Rubio [say][5] about the Iranian government on Monday?
**“That entire regime is led by radical clerics who don’t make geopolitical decisions. They make decisions on the basis of theology, their view of theology, which is an apocalyptic one.”**
To be fair, the Islamic Republic of Iran *is* a theocracy run by clerics. Its leaders do invoke religion to repress dissent, and have merged mosque and state to justify their authoritarian rule.
But here’s the inconvenient truth that American politicians and pundits choose to ignore: The most influential religious zealots driving the current conflict with Iran are not in Tehran. They’re in Washington.
[ Read more ][6]
[1]: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zeteo-live-in-nyc-with-riz-ahmed-mehdi-hasan-and-guests-tickets-1984574773571?aff=oddtdtcreator
[2]: https://angusreid.org/democracy-and-authoritarianism-canada-usa/
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2028573615273484592
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/holy-war-against-iran-graham-hegseth-christian-nationalism
https://zeteo.com/p/holy-war-against-iran-graham-hegseth-christian-nationalism

2026-03-06 01:32:02 UTC

📣 LIVE in NYC! Riz Ahmed, Mehdi Hasan, and More!
Dear Paid Subscribers,
#### This may be our most exciting event yet…
New Yorkers (and those in the area), **Zeteo** and **Mehdi** are coming to the city on **April 9** for a LIVE conversation with Academy Award-winning actor and rapper, the one and only **Riz Ahmed**.
Mehdi and Riz go way back – they went to the same high school in the UK! – and let’s just say there’s *a lot *f…
[ Read more ][1]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/live-in-nyc-riz-ahmed-mehdi-hasan
https://zeteo.com/p/live-in-nyc-riz-ahmed-mehdi-hasan

2026-03-05 22:03:22 UTC

Are Israel and the US Trying To Start a Civil War in Iran?
In the wake of the US’s assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, many are asking – will Iran actually see regime change, as President Donald Trump has [called][1] for? What would that take? And is the real goal to engineer a civil war inside of Iran and leave it as a failed state?
In this ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ interview, **Mehdi **gets straight down to the facts with one of the top Iranian-affairs experts, **Ali Vaez** – who serves as the International Crisis Group’s Iran Project Director. Vaez breaks down how the country’s leadership is handling this crisis and why he worries the US and Israel’s war on Iran may bring the country to state collapse.
[Subscribe now][2]
The conversation is insightful and wide-ranging, with Vaez bringing his expert-level analysis to all the issues coming out of this war, including:
* What would happen if the Trump administration decided to [arm][3] Kurdish opposition forces **(“Even those who hated the regime are likely to turn against the war effort.”)**
* What we learned from the [last time][4] the US overthrew the Iranian government **(“An unstable formula… that is also going to end in grief.”)**
* Why Khamenei’s assassination is not enough to take down Iran’s current government **(“The Islamic Republic was built to absorb shocks.”)**
* How a deal between Iran and the US would be perceived **(“Politically toxic.”)**
* How long Iran can last against the US **(“These people are determined to survive.”)**
[Share][5]
**Paid subscribers** can watch the whole interview. **Free subscribers** can watch a 5-minute preview. Consider [becoming a paid subscriber][6] to **Zeteo** to unlock this episode and the rest of our award-winning content.
***Check out Zeteo’s other recent stories: ***
[ Read more ][7]
[1]: https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/28/politics/regime-change-iran-trump
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-officials-consider-arming-kurdish-opposition-irans-regime-rcna261731
[4]: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/iran-u-s-regime-change-1953-1.7568828
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/ali-vaez-trump-iran?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/ali-vaez-trump-iran
https://zeteo.com/p/ali-vaez-trump-iran

2026-03-05 19:46:09 UTC

BREAKING: Trump Axes His Puppy Killer
*Kristi Noem testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on March 3, 2026. Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images.*
Donald Trump has fired Kristi Noem – his monstrous Homeland Security secretary – for what may be the stupidest reason possible.
Noem wasn’t fired for putting masked federal agents on the streets to racially profile and kidnap people, or for running a department that has repeatedly violated Americans’ constitutional rights, or for overseeing agencies whose employees have senselessly [murdered][1] [US citizens][2] in cold blood, on video.
Instead, Noem was apparently fired for telling Congress, under oath, that Trump approved her department’s $220 million ad campaign – a suite of ads in which Noem repeatedly demonized immigrants while lavishing praise on the president.
[Subscribe now][3]
It was not the only reason she was canned but it certainly was a last straw of sorts. She has, after all, been [pissing off ][4]other senior Trump appointees for months now, and some of her high-level colleagues have been leaking against her for a while, trying to drum up support for an ouster.
On Thursday, news outlets reported on how President Trump was “[pissed”][5] that Noem told the Senate this week that the president had approved her department’s glitzy ad campaign. On Thursday morning, Trump advisers were telling **Zeteo **that Noem was days not weeks away from being fired or “resigning,” given how, as one adviser put it, “disappointed” the president was.
By Thursday afternoon, the Trump advisers were proven wrong. It wasn’t days. It was a few hours. Trump [announced][6] on Truth Social Thursday afternoon that he intends to replace Noem with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland,’” Trump wrote.
Noem’s firing came shortly after Trump spoke with [Reuters][7] about the DHS ad campaign. “I never knew anything about it,” he insisted.
It’s an amazing statement, because that means the president is publicly claiming his soon-to-be- former DHS secretary lied under oath before Congress. It is also a statement that is, well, just completely wrong.
Noem [said last February][8], at a CPAC dinner, that the ad campaign was Trump’s idea – and that he demanded she thank him in the ads.
[Share][9]
“I want you to do [ads] for the border, and I want you to do those everywhere, not just in the United States, but I want them around the world,” Noem recalled Trump saying. “I want you in the ads, and I want your face in the ads … but I want the first ad, I want you to thank me. I want you to thank me for closing the border.”
Noem has been telling this anecdote for more than a year, including in public and while live-streamed. As far as **Zeteo **can tell, not once, including when we discussed her very specific account with the White House, did Team Trump ever object to any of her characterizations. Indeed, the White House and its president and senior staff were treating it as uncontroversial fact.
When we asked Trump’s White House about the DHS ad campaign last year, a White House official [told us][10]: “It is normal for an agency head to thank their principal – in this instance the president of the United States – for their policies and leadership.”
The White House official added that the ad campaign had been made “to directly communicate the administration’s message on immigration: We will find you, and we will deport you.”
We’ll note here that Noem separately told Congress that “officials followed the competitive bid process” for the ads. But officials [skipped][11] a traditional competitive bidding process, citing “an unusual and compelling urgency” for the ads, while handing the work over to two Republican consulting firms.
Trump may be removing Noem, at least in part, for a very dumb reason, but there’s plenty of reason for her to go.
For one thing, she should never have been hired. Noem is an avowed puppy killer – she [wrote in her book][12] about shooting and killing her family’s young, not-yet-trained dog before Trump selected her to lead DHS. According to a forthcoming book by Julia Ainsley, Trump [saw this backstory][13] as an asset, and it was part of why he selected her… even though he was initially repulsed by the story and used it to [mock her behind her back][14].
[Subscribe now][15]
DHS, under Noem’s leadership, has been an absolute disgrace. The department has carried out Trump’s brutal mass deportation campaign – which in many ways is a domestic war against the American people.
Her department has placed masked, violent federal agents on the streets of the USA to racially profile, kidnap, detain, and deport people; abuse and surveil US citizens protesting its activities; and occasionally kill Americans. She and her department baselessly smeared the US citizens whom DHS agents executed as “domestic terrorists,” a label they’ve routinely thrown around to defend agents’ actions.
The department has acted without concern for basic human rights or the Constitution. DHS sent hundreds of immigrants to an infamous torture prison in El Salvador, without due process, in defiance of a judge’s order, before Noem traveled there for a photo-op standing in front of prisoners while wearing [a $50,000 Rolex watch][16].
And she did it all with her top adviser and alleged romantic partner, former Trump campaign chief Corey Lewandowski, playing the cushy role of sidekick, enforcer, and opportunistic Noem cheerleader throughout her stint atop DHS.
All this to say, Noem should never be entrusted with public service again.
Unfortunately, Trump said he’s naming her “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new initiative to be detailed soon.
But when it comes to DHS, Trump administration policy, and the president’s armed secret-police force and ethnic-cleansing campaigns, Noem’s humiliating downfall won’t change all that much.
[Share][17]
According to numerous sources familiar with the matter, Noem was the DHS secretary in name only. She, like so many other top officials in Trump’s government, primarily did what White House policy architect Stephen Miller told her to do.
It has been the Stephen Miller DHS since January 2025. It will continue to belong to him, no matter where Noem ends up.
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/ice-renee-nicole-good-video-murder-shooting-minnesota
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/dhs-shooting-victim-in-minneapolis
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://www.axios.com/2026/02/28/noem-luxury-jets-dhs-deportations
[5]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/rump-kristi-noem-replacements-dhs-secretary-congress-hearings-rcna261915
[6]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116178030946996760
[7]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-didnt-sign-off-200-million-border-security-ad-campaign-2026-03-05/
[8]: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-kristi-noem-200-million-dhs-ad-campaign-thanks-president-1235276324/
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-kristi-noem-dhs-fired-puppy-killer?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[10]: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-campaign-firm-dhs-immigration-ads-thank-president-1235356693
[11]: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-ads-immigration-exempt-doge-musk-noem-1235311714/
[12]: http://m
[13]: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/02/dhs-couple-noem-lewandowski/686153
[14]: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-kristi-noem-puppy-execution-disgusted-1235015193/
[15]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[16]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/style/kristi-noem-venezuela-prison-rolex-watch.html
[17]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-kristi-noem-dhs-fired-puppy-killer?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-kristi-noem-dhs-fired-puppy-killer

2026-03-05 18:04:39 UTC

How Trump Is Borrowing Putin’s Playbook On Iran
**“This isn’t a war! It was a preemptive strike!**”
That’s the ludicrous and false narrative the Trump administration and the GOP have been touting since the US and Israel launched their illegal attack on Iran less than a week ago.
[Subscribe now][1]
But in his latest monologue, **Mehdi** brings the receipts to show how we’ve heard this story before – just look at Putin’s war in Ukraine. The parallels, he says, are as clear as they are eery - but also conveniently ignored by the mainstream media in the United States.
Mehdi’s message to the Trump administration in this video is clear:
“**If you don’t want to be accused of committing war crimes, as the Russians rightly have been, then stop bombing hospitals, and schools, and civilian targets across Iran in general,**” he says.
There is no paywall on this. So, if you’re a **free subscriber**, please do consider [upgrading][2] to **paid** in order to access more of **Zeteo**’s coverage of the war in Iran paywall-free, and to support independent journalism in this time of crisis.
You can also [donate][3] to **Zeteo** to help us continue doing more bold and unfiltered journalism you won’t find elsewhere.
***Check out more from Zeteo**:*
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/donate-to-zeteo
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-putins-playbook

2026-03-05 15:05:22 UTC

Trump’s Deadly and ‘Orwellian’ Refugee Policy
*Donald Trump speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on March 4, 2026. Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images.*
Donald Trump’s goons have carried out his mass deportation agenda with violence, capriciousness, and cruelty. But the agenda at least follows an underlying logic.
It purports to remove immigrants who entered our country without legal permission. A government of laws, as John Adams once framed America’s aspiration, needs to control in-migration across its borders in the country’s best interest.
Policy toward refugees, however, serves an entirely different purpose. The federal government, as authorized by Congress, screens and decides whom to admit. It does that to save some of the world’s most desperate people from persecution, and in the process buttress our reputation as a beacon of hope for freedom.
[Subscribe now][1]
That makes Trump’s refugee agenda all the more perverse. His administration now asserts the right to summarily arrest, detain and deport those already granted permission to live here.
Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security has begun doing that. In its campaign against the Somali community in Minnesota, DHS has [arrested][2] at least 72 refugees, sending many to Texas for indefinite detention.
A federal judge in Minnesota has [halted][3] the DHS policy as a constitutionally dubious intrusion that “turns the refugees’ American dream into a dystopian nightmare.” But his order doesn’t stop Noem from attempting the same thing elsewhere.
[ Read more ][4]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://e1.nmcdn.io/assets/irap/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ECF-079-1-Corrected-Opposition-to-Mot-to-Dissolve.pdf
[3]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/judge-extends-order-protecting-refugees-in-minnesota-from-being-arrested-and-deported
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-orwellian-refugee-policy
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-orwellian-refugee-policy

2026-03-05 12:11:15 UTC

🤬 Is This the Worst-Run War in US History?
*On this day in 1868, the US Senate impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began. Must be nice to have only been [impeached once][1].*
Good morning, it’s **Swin** again. Lately, I’ve been listening to Bruce Springsteen’s version of “[War][2]” a lot – a cover he performed in the 1980s to protest the agenda of another Republican president who ran on “Making America Great Again.” I suggest you do so too, given how badly the *current* MAGA president wants to [criminally investigate Springsteen][3] for engaging in free speech. (Also, it’s a banger rendition of the Edwin Starr / Temptations song.)
Speaking of WAR, in today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ President **Donald Trump** starts to sweat the growing **American body count**, barely anyone in the **Pentagon** has any clue what’s going on, a **Republican senator** pulls the old switcheroo, and a displacement crisis in **Afghanistan** deepens.
[Subscribe now][4]
# This Is No Way to Run a Bloodbath!
*Trump at the White House on March 4, 2026, in Washington, DC. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.*
Donald Trump’s ongoing, [deeply][5] [unpopular][6] Iran war isn’t [just illegal][7]. It isn’t merely a moral and policy abomination. It’s not just a self-inflicted political catastrophe for the GOP, whose senators are still covering Trump’s ass and just [blocked][8] a war powers resolution to stop his illegal military actions. And it isn’t just a problem for the Trump-Vance administration and a president whose tanking approval numbers are dragging down his party during a critical election year. It is already the worst-run war in the history of the United States, and the war isn’t even a week old yet.
After months of [classified briefings on how][9] US casualties were all but a given if he picked this fight, the self-styled **“Peace President”** got American troops killed in a completely unnecessary war with all the prudence that you or I would devote to a decision to renew or cancel an HBO Max subscription.
[Subscribe now][10]
When his administration isn’t lying through its teeth about the justifications for war, it’s busy being publicly confused about what its own mission is… or engaging in rapid-fire self-contradictions… or simply making it up as it goes along. Several close Trump allies tell me that even *they* are shocked by how vanishingly little this PR-and-polls-obsessed president bothered to sell the case for war to the public.
When the mics are hot, Trump has glossed over the rising number of US military deaths, stressed that more are likely to die, and claimed he’s willing to stay in it for the long haul, **“whatever it takes.”** But privately, Trump has voiced extreme unease about how the rising American body count **“looks,”** and few officials close to him believe he has tolerance for a protracted quagmire, sources with knowledge of the matter tell me.
[ Read more ][11]
[1]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/majority-of-house-members-vote-for-2nd-impeachment-of-trump
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn91L9goKfQ
[3]: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-bruce-springsteen-threat-investigate-election-law-1235343852/
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/poll-americans-oppose-trumps-strikes-on-iran/
[6]: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5767714-trump-iran-poll-results/
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/an-illegal-war-iran-trump-first-draft
[8]: https://www.ms.now/news/trump-iran-war-powers-senate
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-was-told-americans-would-very
[10]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[11]: https://zeteo.com/p/is-this-the-worst-run-war-in-us-history
https://zeteo.com/p/is-this-the-worst-run-war-in-us-history

2026-03-05 01:03:02 UTC

Bari Weiss Is Going Full ‘Propaganda-Palooza’ With the Iran War
Good evening, and welcome to this week’s **‘Ragebait.’**
**Justin Baragona** here, bringing you the latest dispatches from Bari World and the right-wing industrial outrage complex. In tonight’s edition, we take a look at how CBS News is covering the Iran war under the direction of **Bari Weiss**. Plus, CNN’s resident MAGA defender **Scott Jennings** is driving his colleagues nuts while kissing up to his future boss; Fox is manufacturing consent for another Middle East war; and **Gayle King** is going “all in” on Bari.
We’re still sending ‘**Ragebait’ **to all **Zeteo **subscribers, but we won’t do so for long. To ensure you get my media scoops every week, make sure you’re signed up to get ‘**Ragebait**’ by going to ‘[manage subscription][1]’ in your Substack account, scrolling down, and toggling the button for ‘**Ragebait**’ on. And ensure you’re a **[paid subscriber][2]**to get past the paywall! Let’s jump in.
# ‘**Bari’s Hardline Zionist Wet Dream’**
*Screenshot via [CBS New/YouTube][3]*
“Buckle up. Propaganda-palooza,” one CBS News staffer told me after the network announced that it had deployed **Tony Dokoupil** to the Middle East this week to anchor ‘CBS Evening News’ as **Donald Trump’s** [aggressive war of choice][4] with Iran escalated.
The fact of the matter, though, is that editor-in-chief **Bari Weiss** had made sure that would be the case well before Dokoupil – the pro-Israeli talking head she installed to lead the network’s flagship nightly news broadcast – made his way to Tel Aviv.
“This is Bari’s hardline Zionist wet dream come true,” a CBS News insider snarked to **Zeteo**.
[ Read more ][5]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/account?utm_source=user-menu
[2]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01862BxbpWs
[4]: https://open.substack.com/pub/zeteo/p/israel-netanyahu-iran-war-trump-endgame?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/bari-weiss-cbs-iran-war-dukoupil
https://zeteo.com/p/bari-weiss-cbs-iran-war-dukoupil

2026-03-04 21:29:37 UTC

No Intel to Support Trump’s ‘Imminent’ Iran Threat, Says Intel Committee Member
Days after the Trump administration joined forces with Israel to launch an illegal attack on Iran, the White House’s messaging on why they had no choice but to wage this war continues to shift.
But **Rep. André Carson** (D-Ind.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, says there was one main reason Trump went to war with Iran – and it wasn’t because of an “imminent threat.”
“**I have not seen any intelligence that would satisfy that kind of attack**,” Carson tells **Mehdi**. “**This was clearly an attack to distract us from the Epstein files**.”
[Subscribe now][1]
Carson says that not only is he deeply concerned about the safety of Americans abroad, he’s also worried about the possibility of retaliation on US soil.
“**We could see attacks on our homeland by folks with terrorist organizations seeking to seize upon the moment, as it were, or sleeper cell operations as well,**” he warns.
Also during this timely and wide-ranging interview, Mehdi and Carson discuss:
* Whether a war powers resolution will pass in the Republican-controlled Congress
* The “double standard” of Democrats supporting Obama’s 2011 attack on Libya without congressional approval
* Whether anti-war voters swayed by Trump in the 2024 election have buyer’s remorse
**Paid subscribers** can watch the whole interview. **Free subscribers** can watch a 3-minute preview. Consider [becoming a paid subscriber][2] to never hit another paywall again!
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[ Read more ][3]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/no-intel-imminent-attack
https://zeteo.com/p/no-intel-imminent-attack

2026-03-04 17:39:45 UTC

Inside the Pro-Israel Campaign to Stop ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ From Winning an Oscar
*Director Kaouther Ben Hania, center, with Ireland Bohemians soccer players at a screening of ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab.’ Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images.*
An obscure group of entertainment industry professionals is smearing the film, ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab,’ in a concerted effort to stop it from winning an Oscar for Best International Feature Film. While the group purports to be “apolitical,” it has ties to a pro-Israel organization that’s shut down speech in the US.
[‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’][1] is an Oscar-nominated documentary-drama film that depicts the Palestinian Red Crescent’s response to the Israeli military’s brutal killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family members – a case known around the world as emblematic of the Israeli government’s ruthless genocide of Palestine.
The Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), an influential organization in Los Angeles, is[ smearing][2] the film — whose executive producers include Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, and Jonathan Glazer — as “propaganda” and “manipulation, casting doubts on the circumstances that led to her killing by Israeli soldiers.
[Subscribe now][3]
The war crime made international news: On Jan. 29, 2024, 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family sought to escape the violence surrounding them in Gaza – only to be met with the very thing they were fleeing from. The Israeli military brutally killed several of her family members as they attempted to flee. Then her cousin. Hind was then left alone for hours, pleading with emergency workers on the phone to help her. After agonizing hours, paramedics finally got approval from the Israeli government to rescue her.
Then the Israeli military killed Hind and the paramedics – who were [found dead][4] just hundreds of meters from her.
This sequence of events is documented in painstaking detail in ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab.’ Final voting for the Oscars ends Thursday evening.
### ‘Propaganda’
According to its website, the CCFP was founded in 2012 by David Renzer, the former chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing, and Steve Schnur, who is the president of music at Electronic Arts (EA) and the former chairman of the Grammy Foundation. The group describes itself as an “[apolitical][5]” organization that’s made up of “prominent members of the entertainment community,” and says it “strives to provide balance to the discourse regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.”
The CCFP [counts][6] professionals from Warner Bros., Sony, Atlantic Records, Amazon, and more as members of its advisory board and networking committee. Its annual gala has been [sponsored][7] by a wide range of companies and individuals, including the foundations of [Len Blavatnik][8], a Russian oligarch, and [Casey Wasserman][9], chairman of the Los Angeles organizing committee for the 2028 Olympics – both of whom are featured in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
[ Read more ][10]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/how-the-us-helped-israel-get-away
[2]: https://www.instagram.com/ccfpeace/reel/DOYfXUsCDud/
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/hind-killing-israel-biden-legacy-gaza
[5]: https://www.creativecommunityforpeace.com/our-mission/
[6]: https://www.creativecommunityforpeace.com/our-leadership/
[7]: https://www.creativecommunityforpeace.com/gala/sponsors-2025/
[8]: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01013330.pdf
[9]: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02335749.pdf
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/voice-of-hind-rajab-israel-oscar-campaign
https://zeteo.com/p/voice-of-hind-rajab-israel-oscar-campaign

2026-03-04 15:26:11 UTC

Support Zeteo's Coverage of the Illegal War on Iran
*A worker at the Gandhi Hospital in Tehran, Iran which is damaged after U.S.-Israeli strikes on March 2, 2026. Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images*
Dear **Zeteo** subscribers,
Many of you have been closely following the devastating – and illegal – US-Israeli war on Iran and the Iranian retaliation. This could be one of the most cataclysmic political events of the decade, with ramifications far beyond our understanding today.
We know you have many options for where to get your news and analysis… and you’ve likely seen problems with all of them:
* **CNN**, where they take the Israeli government’s line of calling them “[preemptive strikes][1]” and will say an Iranian hospital was hit, [but not who hit it][2].
* The **BBC**, where they just say Iranians ‘are dead’ – *Because of who? How?* – while Israelis [were clearly killed][3] by an Iranian strike.
* ***The*** ***Atlantic***, where they literally said Netanyahu built a career on ‘[conflict avoidance][4]’.
* Or ***The*** ***New York Times***, where they’re using the same passive language they use for Palestinians when describing Iranians being killed, versus [centering the perpetrator][5] when Israelis are killed.
We at **Zeteo** see all of this. And we take our responsibility to cover this consequential war with **journalistic integrity** very seriously. We want to cover it *holistically*, *contextually*, *truthfully*, and with uncompromised perspectives and voices who aren’t favoring political agendas, billionaires, or foreign governments.
[Subscribe now][6]
### Here’s some of what we’ve done so far on this war:
Mehdi, Prem, and Asawin did a live Town Hall on the day of the strikes, and were joined by two Iranian-American voices who have offered sharp analysis: the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi and Center for International Policy’s Negar Mortezavi.
We explicitly said what needed to be said – and explained why it was the case, something mainstream media is still avoiding doing.
Iranian-American author and academic Narges Bajoghli wrote about what US media has totally failed to understand: the significance of Ali Khamenei beyond his political position, why he’s unlike other leaders he’s been compared to, and why his assassination has caused a backlash beyond the borders of Iran.
Harrison Mann, a former U.S. army officer and intelligence official who resigned in protest over Gaza, wrote about the lies surrounding this war.
**Zeteo** contributor Fatima Bhutto wrote about the strike on the Iranian school with a kind of compassion and righteous anger we wish we saw elsewhere in the media.
So, have you liked our coverage so far? If you see the difference, and feel what we’re doing is important, consider supporting us further. None of this is free to do and we can only do as much as you all, our subscribers, allow us to do with your financial support.
If you’re a *free subscriber*, consider becoming a **[paid one][7]**. If you’re a *paid subscriber*, and have the means, consider supporting us further through a ***[Founding Membership][8]***. Or, you can always **[donate to us here][9]** as well.
[Subscribe now][10]
Thank you so much for making **Zeteo** what it is – and for helping us become a powerful voice for truth and facts at this critical time.
**- Mehdi and Team Zeteo**
[1]: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVSuj5qE9NC/?hl=en
[2]: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/02/world/video/gandhi-hospital-tehran-damage-hnk-digvid
[3]: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVWO0wriIGB/?hl=en
[4]: https://x.com/TheAtlantic/status/2028594998195675356
[5]: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVXcDLEkcE8/?hl=en
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[7]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[8]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
[9]: https://donorbox.org/support-zeteo
[10]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
https://zeteo.com/p/support-zeteos-coverage-of-the-illegal

2026-03-04 12:45:07 UTC

The Vote to Stop the War?
*🚨 **Tune in TODAY: **Zeteo contributor John Harwood will talk to independent pollster **G. Elliott Morris** at **2:00pm ET (11:00am PT/7:00pm GMT) **to discuss the political impact of Trump’s war with Iran, this week’s primary elections, and why he doesn’t think Democrats need to move to the center in 2026 and beyond. Tune in [here][1]. *
Good morning! **Andrew** here, on what should be a big day in Washington, DC. We’ll find out how many US senators are OK with our mad-king president waging a new US war in the Middle East based, again, on lies. (Surely, only a few, right? *Right??*)
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ Trump could expand his **war on Iran** if Congress doesn’t stop him first, **James Talarico** defeats **Jasmine Crockett **in the Texas Senate Democratic primary, and **Gavin Newsom** (*Gavin Newsom!*) suggests Israel is an **“apartheid state.” **(Yes, you read that correctly.)
[Subscribe now][2]
# **‘A Multi-Trillion-Dollar Open-Ended Conflict’**
*A woman on a rooftop as smoke rises in the distance over Tehran following explosions in the city, on March 3, 2026. Photo by Getty Images.*
Over the next two days, we’ll find out whether lawmakers in Washington are ready to fulfill their duties and serve as a check on Donald Trump’s lawlessness, or whether the GOP-led Congress can still rally its narrow majorities to rubber-stamp the whims of an increasingly fascist and vicious leader.
Democrats have largely united behind War Powers resolutions in the House and Senate to block further US military action in Iran without congressional authorization. The Senate is expected to vote on Wednesday, and the House on Thursday. These votes are important tests. Unfortunately, Congress will likely fail them.
While Trump’s Iran conflict is the exact type of disastrous regime-change war that the president and his top officials have all rightfully (disingenuously) railed against, now that they’re in one, they want to ramp it up considerably.
[Subscribe now][3]
**“I’m more convinced now that this is going to be open-ended and forever,”** Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters after senators received a classified briefing on the war Tuesday, [according to HuffPost][4]. **“This feels like a multi-trillion-dollar open-ended conflict with a very confusing and constantly shifting set of goals.”**
Murphy suggested the Trump administration would be **“fine with hard-line elements being in control”** in Iran, and is in fact already planning to **“permanently run air operations in order to chase [Iran’s] missile-making capability, drone-making capability, and nuclear capabilities.”**
Trump’s Iran war doesn’t have much support from the American public so far, [early][5] [polling][6] shows. Washington’s a unique place, though. Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle – and in the Beltway media – are used to backing Israel’s interests no matter what and have no qualms about the idea of bombing countries at will.
Take Republican Senator Josh Hawley (Mo.), who [described][7] the US war on Iran to *Politico* as **“a massive operation”** that’s **“rapidly changing.”** Echoing Murphy, Hawley said, **“It sounded very open-ended to me.”** But Hawley said he’ll oppose the War Powers resolution and allow Trump to keep his war going for now.
[ Read more ][8]
[1]: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/123649?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=new-live-stream-email&add_to_calendar=true
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-raise-alarms-trump-iran-war_n_69a75d90e4b0c9c664ada332?origin=top-ad-recirc
[5]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/just-one-four-americans-support-us-strikes-iran-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2026-03-01/
[6]: https://criticalissues.umd.edu/feature/do-americans-favor-attacking-iran-under-current-circumstances-latest-critical-issues-poll-0
[7]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/03/lawmakers-trump-emergency-funding-iran-00810885
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/first-draft-trump-iran-war-vote-stop
https://zeteo.com/p/first-draft-trump-iran-war-vote-stop

2026-03-03 23:21:37 UTC

Trump Has Left Many Americans Stranded Amid His War on Iran
*A website with flight cancellations is seen on a computer screen on March 3, 2026. Photo by Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images.*
For the past two years, I have been in a [fight with the US government][1] over a simple premise: that it’s the government’s job to protect its own citizens when their lives are in danger, wherever those citizens may be.
Right now, amid Donald Trump’s war in Iran, the US government has left many Americans in the lurch across the Middle East.
Since October 2023, I have represented dozens of Palestinian Americans and their families who found themselves trapped in Gaza, abandoned by the US government and forced to dodge bombs financed by their tax dollars. To bring these Americans home, we [filed][2] federal lawsuits across the country. Through litigation and media attention, we were able to bring home dozens of Americans and their immediate relatives. But the work is not yet done.
I still represent an American who, two years later, remains trapped in Gaza. [Salsabeel Elhelou][3] is a young mother whom Trump’s State Department refuses to evacuate because her three minor children are not citizens.
[Subscribe now][4]
Today, as the US-Israeli war on Iran engulfs the Middle East, the US Department of State has issued an advisory [telling Americans in 14 countries][5] to depart immediately. What the State Department has failed to explain is just *how* Americans are supposed to leave with airspaces across the region closed, commercial airlines grounded, and local authorities instructing residents to shelter in place. Many of these countries [do not][6] currently have US ambassadors.
Turns out, Gaza was not an exception. It was a preview. The US government’s deadly indifference, which left Palestinian Americans to fend for themselves in Gaza, is now being replicated to all Americans across the Middle East.
### Solutions That Solve Little
In the coming days, we will hear administration officials argue across cable television that evacuation planning is difficult. It is.
Trump, for his part, [argued][7] on Tuesday that the war “happened all very quickly” and claimed he thought “we were going to be attacked,” when he was asked why the US doesn’t have a plan to evacuate Americans overseas.
Later on Tuesday, the State Department [said][8] in a press release that it “is facilitating charter flights from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan for American citizens, and will continue to secure additional capacity as security conditions allow,” adding that commercial flights “remain available in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and Egypt.”
The State Department’s press release describing this step as “historic action” is misleading. First, commercial aviation in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan never stopped. A limited number of flights have continued to depart daily, meaning Americans who were able to reach these hubs already had a way out. The Trump administration cannot credibly claim credit for adding charter flights in countries where airspace never closed.
Second, adding charter flights in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan – just 3 of the 14 countries affected by the State Department’s travel advisory – does not address the real bottleneck preventing Americans from leaving. Three days into the war Trump ignited, the State Department still appears to be operating on assumptions that do not hold in war time: safe highways, open airspace, and functioning border crossings.
[Share][9]
Indeed, the department’s latest announcement focuses entirely on outbound capacity from relatively stable hubs, while saying nothing about the hundreds of thousands of Americans in more unstable and restricted parts of the region or how they are supposed to reach these chartered flights safely. While increasing charter capacity where commercial aviation is already functioning is a welcome step because it eases congestion, it does nothing for the Americans trapped in places where secure transit routes no longer exist.
### War Planning Without Evacuation Planning Is Negligence
Our history shows that [evacuation from besieged regions][10] is difficult but far from impossible.
In 2006, when Israeli strikes destroyed Lebanon’s only functioning airport and Israeli forces sealed the country’s borders, Washington mobilized ships and aircrafts to evacuate roughly 15,000 Americans trapped inside the country. In 2011, chartered vessels and aircraft extracted Americans from Libya. In 2021, the US conducted one of the largest airlifts in modern history, evacuating more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan.
Within days of Oct. 7, 2023, the [State Department organized][11] cruise ships and chartered flights to bring Israeli-Americans home. In [December 2023][12], I was contacted by a Palestinian American serving in the US Armed Forces whose mother was trapped in the besieged north of Gaza. In an elaborate, secret operation, the US government coordinated with Israeli and Egyptian officials to evacuate this service member’s mother and uncle.
So yes, evacuation is complex. It is expensive. And, it requires leverage, coordination, and political capital. But it is possible when political will exists.
That political will did not exist for the Palestinian Americans I represented.
And now, even Israeli Americans – who, under the Biden administration, benefited from State Department-coordinated departures – are being told they are on their own. Ambassador Mike Huckabee’s [suggestion][13] that Americans simply make their way to Egypt and attempt to catch a commercial flight that may or may not exist is not a strategy. It’s an abdication of the United States government’s legal and moral duty.
While the US does little, Italy has [managed][14] to get its citizens home, while France and the UK are chartering flights for their citizens, too.
[Subscribe now][15]
I have seen firsthand what happens when a government treats the evacuation of its people as optional.
My client [Mufid Harara][16] of Dallas, Texas was killed when his shelter was bombed by the Israelis while he waited for his name to appear on an evacuation list. My client from the Bay Area, California, [Basel El Farra][17], while waiting to evacuate Gaza, turned a plot of land he had proudly owned for decades into a mass grave where he buried pieces of his nieces, nephews, and neighbors.
My clients [Borak and Hashem Alagha][18] – American brothers from Chicago – were abducted by the Israeli Defense Forces before they could exit Gaza. They continue to languish in an Israeli prison without charge or due process.
These are not isolated tragedies. This is the foreseeable outcome of a government telling its citizens to fend for themselves while a war it started escalates around them.
### Access Is the Real Passport
In our litigation filed on behalf of stranded Americans in Gaza, we argued that the State Department’s complete failure to organize meaningful evacuation infrastructure conflicted with its own regulatory obligations and with decades of historical precedent. The court [ultimately ruled][19] that evacuation decisions fall within executive discretion and are not subject to judicial intervention.
But executive discretion does not mean moral immunity. And it does not mean political unaccountability.
The lesson of Gaza was not that government-led evacuations are impossible. It was that they are selective. The real question is not whether the United States can extract its citizens from conflict zones. It is which citizens the United States chooses to extract.
Within days of war erupting, Trump adviser [Alex Bruesewitz][20] [announced][21] on X that he had departed Qatar on a private jet after coordinated intervention from congressional offices, White House officials, and Gulf contacts. That is what whole-of-government support looks like.
[Share][22]
The average American expat – teachers, engineers, young American families – will not have Bruesewitz’ access to lawmakers and White House officials. They will not have Arab foreign ministers on speed dial.
What they do have is a passport and a belief that that is enough to protect them. But they are about to discover what my Palestinian American clients learned in 2023: Access is the real passport.
The State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs operates with billions of dollars in funding to administer passports, overseas citizen services and crisis response operations. We the people fund this system. And funding it comes with an expectation — that when danger erupts, our government will act to protect us.
A nation that prepares meticulously for war must prepare just as meticulously to bring its people home from that war. Anything less diminishes the meaning of citizenship itself.
*Maria Kari is a Houston-based human rights attorney, freelance journalist, and founder of [Project Taha][23], a legal nonprofit focused on defending politically vulnerable communities and holding powerful institutions accountable. [Follow Maria on X][24].*
***The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Zeteo.***
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://www.palestinechronicle.com/for-abandoning-our-familiesin-gaza-us-govt-sued-by-palestinian-americans/
[2]: https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/lawsuit.pdf
[3]: https://mondoweiss.net/2025/01/palestinian-americans-sue-biden-administration-over-failure-to-evacuate-families-from-gaza/
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://x.com/AsstSecStateCA/status/2028588420403241021
[6]: https://afsa.org/list-ambassadorial-appointments
[7]: https://x.com/Acyn/status/2028879888367927671
[8]: https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/03/u-s-assistance-to-ensure-the-safety-of-american-citizens-overseas/
[9]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-americans-stranded?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[10]: https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/lawsuit.pdf
[11]: https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/lawsuit.pdf
[12]: https://apnews.com/article/gaza-rescue-american-soldier-mom-palestinian-f271d952bce3f325a7c6e50ebe174a3d
[13]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/huckabee-advises-us-citizens-in-israel-to-evacuate-via-egypt-noting-limited-options/
[14]: https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-war-how-countries-getting-citizens-home-middle-east-flights-2026-3
[15]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[16]: https://www.newarab.com/news/us-hearing-held-evacuation-us-families-still-gaza
[17]: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0kUQ7IPOKV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
[18]: https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-us-brothers-detained-9e9d675ad4fe5812c87a57c7f0e3f05f
[19]: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-calling-evacuations-palestinian-americans-gaza
[20]: https://x.com/SophiaCai99/status/2028604208946049457
[21]: https://x.com/alexbruesewitz/status/2028610574242726292?s=20
[22]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-americans-stranded?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[23]: https://projecttaha.org/
[24]: https://x.com/mariakari1414
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-americans-stranded

2026-03-03 20:08:49 UTC

Bibi’s Iran Goals Are Not Necessarily Trump’s Iran Goals
*Trump greets Netanyahu as he arrives at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images*
An unjustifiable, illegal war of aggression against Iran has united the United States and Israel. For now.
The triumphalism in Washington and Jerusalem is extreme after Saturday morning’s surprise assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei inaugurated the largest and most horrifying US military misadventure since the 2003 Iraq War. But it conceals the sources of major divergence between the US and Israel over the most important and least defined questions of the war: the endgame – and what comes next.
[ Read more ][1]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/israel-netanyahu-iran-war-trump-endgame
https://zeteo.com/p/israel-netanyahu-iran-war-trump-endgame

2026-03-03 16:55:32 UTC

UK Green Party Surges Ahead of Starmer’s Labour in a New Poll
*Green Party leader Zack Polanski attends a campaign event ahead of the Gorton and Denton by-election in February 2026 in Denton, England. Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images*
In an astonishing poll out on Tuesday, the UK’s Green Party overtook Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, reflecting a seismic shift in UK politics after years of the centrist establishment parties leading the pack.
The hard-right Reform UK still leads the weekly [YouGov voting intention poll][1] at 23%, down one point from last week, while the Greens jumped four points to 21% – *five points *ahead of Labour, as well as the Conservatives, which are both down two points at 16%.
What’s particularly stunning is that the Green Party is now the most popular party in the UK for all age groups under 50, according to the poll.
About a quarter of those surveyed who backed Labour in 2024 said they would now support the Greens in a general election, while roughly the same percentage of 2024 Conservative voters say they would back Reform UK.
[Subscribe now][2]
Tuesday’s results are a significant turnaround from UK political norms, as the two centrist parties, Labour and Conservative, [typically compete][3] for first place in the polls while the rest lag behind.
The results come just days after the Greens won a historic victory in the Gorton and Denton parliamentary by-election in a [blow to Starmer’s Labour Party][4], which has held the seat for years.
*Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer and Green Party leader Zack Polanski celebrate at an election rally in Manchester, England, after Spencer won the by-election on Feb. 26, 2026. Photo by Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images*
As Owen Jones, a UK political columnist and **Zeteo** contributor, [put it][5] on social media: the recent election is convincing Labour voters that the Green Party is not “a wasted vote.”
The results also come as the [UK government’s approval rating][6], with Labour in charge, hits just *12%, *as Starmer faces scrutiny over the recent arrest and [investigation into Peter Mandelson][7], his former ambassador to the US, who is accused of leaking sensitive information to child rapist Jeffrey Epstein.
[Share][8]
*Have a tip for Minnah? Reach out on Signal at minnahfarshad.94.*
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://x.com/YouGov/status/2028765671304167655/photo/1
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://yougov.com/en-gb/trackers/voting-intention
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/uk-green-party-won-historic-victory
[5]: https://x.com/owenjonesjourno/status/2028766399082934688?s=46
[6]: https://x.com/YouGov/status/2028833898734489624
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/mandelson-epstein-labour-starmer-corruption
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/uk-green-party-surges-ahead-labour-starmer-poll?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://zeteo.com/p/uk-green-party-surges-ahead-labour-starmer-poll

2026-03-03 16:04:59 UTC

The Pentagon Wants to Use AI to Kill People Without Checks. Is Anthropic Really Pushing Back?
*Photo illustration by Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images*
Over the weekend, the US military relied on Anthropic’s powerful AI model, Claude,[ to help support the launch][1] of its brutal attack on Iran. The Pentagon used Claude despite the fact that just hours earlier, the Trump administration declared it would end use of Anthropic’s AI tools after a spat over the government’s desire to mass-surveil US citizens using its AI model.
The dispute between Anthropic and the US government has devolved into a chaotic split that has upended Silicon Valley, thrown the government into confusion, and kicked off a national debate about the ethics of AI in warfare.
[ Read more ][2]
[1]: https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-f0954cb2-2f31-4426-87fd-050095005344.html?chunk=2&utm_term=twsocialshare#story2
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/anthropic-pentagon-ai-military-openai
https://zeteo.com/p/anthropic-pentagon-ai-military-openai

2026-03-03 13:01:55 UTC

Israel First, America Second
*🚨 Breaking: As it continued to [strike][1] Beirut, the Israeli military [advanced][2] into more areas of southern Lebanon, seizing new positions, and forcibly displacing thousands of Lebanese – marking a major escalation in the war with Iran and raising fears Israel may be considering a broad, full-scale invasion. Hezbollah, which launched missiles toward Israel for a second day, [said][3] Israel wanted an “open war, which it has not stopped since the ceasefire agreement…So let it be an open war.”*
Good morning! **Prem** here, coming at you fresh off another day walking around Capitol Hill. And boy oh boy, do we have a lot to talk about…
In today’s ‘**First Draft**:’ **Donald Trump’s** administration says the quiet part loud on **Iran **and** Israel** – causing **Democrats** across previous ideological spectrums to coalesce around a new anti-war stance and Republicans to flounder; local officials are investigating Border Patrol leader **Greg Bovino**, the disgraced face of Trump’s occupation of **Minneapolis**; more from the **Epstein files**; and we have the latest from the US and Israel’s illegal **war with Iran**.
[Subscribe now][4]
# ‘So Much For America First’
*Marco Rubio at the US Capitol on March 2, 2026. Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images.*
On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the subtext the text: The US launched its already devastating war on Iran for… the sake of Israel.
After meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Rubio [told reporters][5] that **“it was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, the United States or Israel or anyone, they were going to respond and respond against the United States.”**
He added: **“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed, and then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act.”**
[Subscribe now][6]
The Trump administration has maintained that it launched its war on Iran because of some **[“imminent threat”][7]** Iran was posing. An argument already tenuous, given that months ago, the administration claimed to have **“obliterated”** Iran’s looming nuclear facilities (which was since proven wrong); and given there was actually [more proof][8] that, instead of posing a threat, Iran had been approaching a possible deal with the US.
But now, Rubio has said the truth, clearly. The **“imminent threat”** was that they knew Israel was about to attack Iran. And thus, Iran would surely retaliate by attacking US bases. And so, the logic goes, the US *had to *attack Iran first – completely abandoning ongoing negotiations. Notably, the US *stopping *Israel* *from attacking Iran wasn’t apparently on the menu.
Republicans on Capitol Hill were hesitant to respond, sometimes giving puzzling answers. Senator Lisa Murkowski, for example, when asked about the secretary of state’s comments, said she wasn’t going to speak on **“any of these comments.”** Instead, she said, she was going to have a “unique opportunity” alongside her Senate colleagues **“to hear from the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, and others”** and listen to what’s presented to them.
The perennially evolving statements from the administration are tying Republicans in knots. **“This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change,”** Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday.
On Monday, Senator Tim Sheehy was asked about his *own* description of the war as **“regime change,”** versus Hegseth’s comments. The Montana Republican [settled on][9]: **“I think the reason you’re hearing so many varied reasons is the varied threats this regime presents.”**
As Republicans stumble, rank-and-file Democrats seem to be finding meaningful consensus.
[ Read more ][10]
[1]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/3/israel-strikes-lebanons-beirut-again-hezbollah-launches-drones-at-israel
[2]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/lebanon-sucked-deeper-into-war-hezbollah-israel-trade-blows-2026-03-03/
[3]: https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-trump-03-03-2026#0000019c-b341-d180-abfe-bbc3cb950000
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://x.com/acyn/status/2028573242173366282?s=12
[6]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/international-law-trump-israel-war-iran-illegal
[8]: https://www.commondreams.org/news/oman-foreign-minister-iran-deal
[9]: https://x.com/atrupar/status/2028660634032779444?s=20
[10]: https://zeteo.com/p/first-draft-trump-iran-marco-rubio-israel
https://zeteo.com/p/first-draft-trump-iran-marco-rubio-israel

2026-03-03 03:04:06 UTC

'Red Scare': Columbia Student Formerly Detained by Ice Describes 'Chilling Effect' on Campus
Columbia University is back in the spotlight, after the university once again [failed][1] to protect another one of its students from being unlawfully detained by ICE, this time international student from Azerbaijan, Ellie Aghayeva.
Though the student was quickly [released][2] after a meeting at the White House between President Donald Trump and New York City Mayo…
[ Read more ][3]
[1]: https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/02/26/dhs-agents-detain-columbia-student-after-entering-university-owned-residence-shipman-reports/
[2]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/nyregion/columbia-university-ice-student.html
[3]: https://zeteo.com/p/columbia-mohsen-mahdawi-west-bank
https://zeteo.com/p/columbia-mohsen-mahdawi-west-bank

2026-03-03 00:01:49 UTC

By Killing Khamenei, the West Created a Martyr – and Mainstream Media Is Ignoring the Muslim Backlash
*Mourners in Tehran attend a memorial vigil after the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 1, 2026. Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images*
When Israeli and American forces killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei [in strikes on his office][1], they didn’t just eliminate a political leader. They created a martyr with reach far beyond Iran’s borders – and triggered a backlash that Western media is barely covering.
The [protests][2] erupting across the [Muslim world][3], the attacks on US embassies and consulates from Pakistan to Lebanon to Iraq, the mass demonstrations in cities from Karachi to [Baghdad][4] to [Lucknow][5] to Beirut – these aren’t just about geopolitics. They’re about the killing of a religious authority whose significance transcends national politics.
Hezbollah [fired rockets][6] at Israel on Monday and officially entered the conflict, [explicitly citing Khamenei’s killing][7]. They’ve opened another front in a war that’s already spiraling beyond anyone’s control.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was not Nicolás Maduro. He was not Saddam Hussein. He was not Muammar Gaddafi. Understanding the difference matters enormously for what comes next.
[ Read more ][8]
[1]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/28/satellite-imagery-of-devastation-at-iranian-supreme-leaders-residence-00805793
[2]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/2/fury-on-pakistan-streets-20-dead-after-us-israel-strike-kills-khamenei
[3]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/1/world-reacts-to-killing-of-irans-khamenei-by-us-israel-forces
[4]: https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/3/2/raqi-police-disperse-pro-iran-protesters-near-us-embassy
[5]: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/old-lucknow-to-protest-ayatollah-khameneis-death-10559091/
[6]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-strikes-lebanon-following-hezbollah-attacks-widening-iran-conflict-2026-03-02/
[7]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/2/hezbollah-promises-to-confront-us-israel-over-khamenei-killing
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/by-killing-khamenei-israel-us-created-martyr
https://zeteo.com/p/by-killing-khamenei-israel-us-created-martyr

2026-03-02 21:00:45 UTC

2028 Dem Presidential Contenders on Iran: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
*Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Gavin Newsom, and Mark Kelly. Photos via Getty Images.*
We already know how feckless Democratic Party leadership can be, and how complicit it is in the US-Israeli war on Iran. Look no further than Senate Minority Leader [Chuck Schumer][1], who [responded][2] by fronting his concerns about how Donald Trump’s “fitful cycles” put a wrench into more “strategic” ways to confront Iran’s “malign regional activities” and “nuclear ambitions.”
[Subscribe now][3]
While House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined Schumer in calling on Congress to vote for a War Powers Resolution to require congressional approval for any military action in Iran, Jeffries didn’t do much better in the [throat-clearing department][4].
But what about the Democrats likely running for president in 2028? We’ve collected their responses to Trump’s illegal and dangerous war, and ranked them here.
Without further ado – here is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:
# **The Good**
**Ro Khanna:**
Khanna, the California congressman, is one of the few Democrats actually using his power to check Trump by leading a War Powers Resolution in the House. He acknowledged the 93 million people in Iran and [called][5] the US-Israel assault on the Islamic Republic what it is: “an illegal regime change war” that endangers Americans.
**Ruben Gallego:**
The Arizona Senator delivered a [crisp message][6] befitting of the moment and its contradictions: “Trump ran on exposing the pedophiles and stopping wars. Trump is now protecting the pedophiles and starting wars.”
**Chris Van Hollen:**
Van Hollen is among the few to condemn the killings of innocent Iranian people, as hawks claim this war is being fought *for* their freedom. “Trump is lying to the American people as he launches an illegal, regime-change war against Iran,” the** **Maryland senator [wrote][7]. “This is endangering American lives & has already resulted in mass civilian casualties.”
**Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:**
Ocasio-Cortez checked Trump’s fake rationale for the war, [saying][8] this was “not an inevitability,” but a “deliberate choice of aggression” by Trump, who “walked away” from negotiating. “Violence begets violence. We learned this lesson in Iraq. We learned this lesson in Afghanistan. And we are about to learn it again in Iran,” the New York congresswoman said.
**Pete Buttigieg:**
Buttigieg condemned Trump’s “war of choice” for risking American lives, ignoring US law, and endangering allies. “It does nothing to help with the urgent problems here at home that Americans face every day,” the former transportation secretary [said][9].
**Jon Ossoff:**
While couching in “Iran’s support for terrorism and uranium enrichment” as destabilizing the region, Ossoff condemned Trump’s lies about Iran posing a threat, and his earlier contradictory claims that he “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Georgia senator, who’s up for reelection this year, [pushed][10] for an immediate vote on a War Powers resolution to stop Trump.
**JB Pritzker: **
Pritzker, the Illinois governor, slammed Trump for his expressed indifference for US soldiers who may die from his war. “Donald Trump is once again sidestepping the Constitution and once again failing to explain why he’s taking us into another war,” Pritzker [said][11]. “Americans asked for affordable housing and healthcare, not another potentially endless conflict.”
[Subscribe now][12]
**Kamala Harris:**
While Trump and his MAGA allies argued in 2024 that electing Kamala Harris would mean a war in Iran, or World War III, the former vice president condemned Trump’s war. “Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want. Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice,” she [said][13].
# **The Bad**
[ Read more ][14]
[1]: https://x.com/SenSchumer/status/1929676991789203528?s=20
[2]: https://x.com/SenSchumer/status/2027765113617277225?s=20
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://x.com/RepJeffries/status/2027751907754725757?s=20
[5]: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DVTPyzJiHac/
[6]: https://x.com/RubenGallego/status/2027776353827951054?s=20
[7]: https://x.com/ChrisVanHollen/status/2027751753005817981
[8]: https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/media/press-releases/ocasio-cortez-statement-trumps-combat-operations-iran
[9]: https://x.com/PeteButtigieg/status/2027777322699440142
[10]: https://www.ossoff.senate.gov/press-releases/sen-ossoff-statement-on-iran/
[11]: https://x.com/GovPritzker/status/2027754224814080325
[12]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[13]: https://x.com/KamalaHarris/status/2027820065886777456?s=20
[14]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-2028-democrat-presidential-candidates
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-2028-democrat-presidential-candidates

2026-03-02 17:06:43 UTC

Imran Khan's Sister Suggests He May Have Been Poisoned in Prison
Has former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan been poisoned in prison? That’s what his sister **Aleema Khan** alleges in a **Zeteo Town Hall,** where she discusses the state of her brother’s ongoing detention, including concerns of military chief [Asim Munir][1] wanting to kill Khan and the reported loss of her [brother’s vision][2] in detention.
[Subscribe now][3]
**“There has to be some underlying condition because he’s an extremely fit person,” **she tells **Mehdi** and an audience of **Zeteo** paid subscribers. **“But it could be poison. It could be some sort of a poison.”**
**“I broke down,” **Aleema adds, as she recalls the moment she heard the news of her brother’s deteriorating vision. **“They got him his second injection and within half an hour they took him back to the prison… We have no information on his eye except for what he told his wife, who’s also in jail.”**
Aleema spoke in detail about the care her brother is receiving in jail and the care his family is seeking to provide for him instead. Her insistence on managing Khan’s treatment stems from a distrust of the jail’s authorities and the [government][4], whom Aleema called **“shameless.”**
**“‘Asim Munir is going to kill me in jail’,”** she quotes Khan telling her younger sister in December. **“He shouldn’t be talking like that.” **
[Share][5]
The two also discuss:
* Support for Khan across Pakistan, and why street movements have *not* materialized.
* Her confidence in the leadership of Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
* The status of [Sulaiman and Kasim Khan’s][6] visa applications to visit Pakistan from the UK.
* Why foreign governments, such as the US and the UK, aren’t doing more to push for Khan’s release.
**Paid subscribers** can watch the full discussion above. **Free subscribers** can watch a four-minute preview. Consider [becoming a paid subscriber][7] to unlock the full discussion and take part in the next one!
The Pakistani government did not respond to **Zeteo’s** requests for comment regarding claims that Khan was poisoned in prison.
**Catch up on Zeteo’s latest stories:**
[ Read more ][8]
[1]: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/former-pakistan-prime-minister-imran-khan-vs-asim-munir-the-feud-that-began-in-2019-9715381
[2]: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistans-jailed-imran-khan-loses-85-vision-right-eye-lawyer-says-2026-02-13/
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://zeteo.com/p/pakistans-defense-minister-defends?utm_source=publication-search
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/pakistan-military-chief-kill-imran-khan-asim-munir-aleema-adiala-jail?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/imran-khan-sons-kasim-sulaiman-speak-to-mehdi-torture?utm_source=publication-search
[7]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23234856710&gbraid=0AAAAA-F9BazexDKE8DZfrLzh4CXXMQ9fn&gclid=CjwKCAiA2PrMBhA4EiwAwpHyC2IegxZtZP36gmzZ73GExvPfwxqiDiV4yqd6ZxaWjUqalj4PBDbmRxoCbb0QAvD_BwE
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/pakistan-military-chief-kill-imran-khan-asim-munir-aleema-adiala-jail
https://zeteo.com/p/pakistan-military-chief-kill-imran-khan-asim-munir-aleema-adiala-jail

2026-03-02 12:36:15 UTC

🚨 Trump Got US Troops Killed
*On this day in 2002, the US launched its first major ground assault in Afghanistan. This week is a stark reminder of how US military deployments have somehow found ways to grow dumber and more maddening over the last two and a half decades. Thanks for that, Donald the Dove.*
Hi, it’s **Swin** again. I don’t have anything clever to say in this intro. Every month, **Donald Trump** and his party find new ways to expand their numerous unjustified, lethal wars (both abroad and right here at home), and there aren’t very many polite words left to use in chronicling the upsurge in bloodbaths. I will, however, try my best, starting now.
In today’s ‘**First Draft**,’ President Trump is getting a ton of people, including **US military personnel**, killed and doesn’t seem to give a shit, he may have bit off more than he expected by taking out **Iran’s leader**, and judges in deep-red West Virginia are warning about **ICE’s lawlessness** at home. Plus, we bring you the latest from the US and Israel’s **illegal war** with Iran.
[Subscribe now][1]
# ‘He Doesn’t Do Empathy’
*Trump on March 1, 2026. Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images.*
The blood of American soldiers is [on his hands][2], even as the entirety of the Republican Party elite will try to wash it off with their scolding talking points. This was true when troops [got shot in Washington, DC][3], last year – troops who never should have been there and were in DC *only* because Donald Trump wanted a [power grab][4] in our nation’s capital.
It is truer today as American families mourn the latest round of fallen soldiers who did not have to die, and are only dead today because of the Trump-Vance administration and its bottomless appetite for wars that never had to happen and that a staggering majority of Americans openly do not want.
So far, Trump’s regime-change blitz on Iran – a war of aggression for which there is [no clear mission][5] [whatsoever][6] – has gotten hundreds of Iranians, including [scores of schoolgirls][7], killed in addition to three US troops killed and several others wounded, according to initial reports on Iranian retaliation. The US president is attempting to front-run *future* stories of dead American soldiers being flown home to grieving loved ones, and issued a video address telling the American public that **“there will likely be more”** of these deaths in the **“righteous” **war that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have plunged us into.
[Subscribe now][8]
I highly encourage each of you to watch the fuller [video][9] from Trump. It is genuinely chilling. At one point, it looks like the guy starts to smirk when talking about how likely it is that the American body count will further increase.
**“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,”** the president says. **“That’s the way it is.”**
Elsewhere, Trump [told][10] the *New York Times* on Sunday, **“Three is three too many as far as I’m concerned. If you look at projections, they do projections, it could be quite a bit higher than that.”** He added, **“We expect casualties.”**
Too often, it feels as though we are living in a [Paul Verhoeven movie][11], where a mentally declining, physically deteriorating reality-TV-show personality turned wannabe god emperor is doing a full court press to convince you to feel grateful for the mass death and American casualties he’s causing.
Trump and the horrendous gang running our federal government are barely even trying to pretend that they care about the soldiers they’ve needlessly sent to their deaths, and the other service members who they think they’ll be sending to die tomorrow.
Over the weekend, I reached out to various Trump advisers, past and present, to ask them why this president often seems so callous when officially addressing the killing of his fellow countrymen and compatriots. Some got defensive. Others retained a modicum of self-awareness, including a senior administration official who told me: **“He doesn’t do empathy.”**
[ Read more ][12]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/01/trump-more-deaths-military-iran
[3]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/us/politics/trump-national-guard-dc-shooting.html
[4]: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UCwH0PBJ-ws
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/an-illegal-war-iran-trump-first-draft
[6]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/us/politics/trump-iran-war-interview.html
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/gaza-iran-children-minab-killed-western-imperialism-israel-us
[8]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[9]: https://bsky.app/profile/meidastouch.com/post/3mfzo4vgaac2t
[10]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/us/politics/trump-iran-war-interview.html
[11]: https://www.cracked.com/article_19259_6-mind-blowing-ways-starship-troopers-predicted-future.html
[12]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-soldiers-killed-first-draft
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-soldiers-killed-first-draft

2026-03-01 22:10:26 UTC

From Gaza to Iran, Children Have Always Been Sacrificed by Western Imperial Aims
*Rescue forces and others work to recover the bodies of school girls killed in a US-Israeli strike in Minab, Iran, on Feb. 28, 2026. Photo by Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA via Reuters*
On the tenth of Ramadan, the holiest month of the year for Muslims, a US-Israeli strike in the Iranian town of Minab slaughtered at least 165 people, mostly girls between the ages of 7 and 12, who were at school, according to [local media][1]. In what has been disturbingly commonplace over the last three years, while the mainstream media contorted itself to report Israel’s illegal bombing without actually naming Israel, social media was filled with the nightmarish images of small, pink backpacks covered in blood. I watched a father hold the severed arm of a little girl up to the camera as he wept.
[ Read more ][2]
[1]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2028184693464539362
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/gaza-iran-children-minab-killed-western-imperialism-israel-us
https://zeteo.com/p/gaza-iran-children-minab-killed-western-imperialism-israel-us

2026-03-01 18:03:09 UTC

Mandelson, Epstein, and the Lure of the Rich
***A note from our Editor-in-Chief: ***
*The huge story in the UK over the last week was the arrest of former Labour Party grandee and former British ambassador to Trump’s Washington, Peter Mandelson. But what does it all mean for the Labour Party and Prime Minister Keir Starmer? And why did Mandelson end up so close to Jeffrey Epstein? Who better to lay it out for us than Donald Macintyre, the acclaimed British journalist who wrote the authorized biography of Mandelson back in 1999? **Zeteo** is privileged to have Macintyre writing for us, so do please become a **[paid subscriber][1]** to support our independent journalism. *
***-Mehdi***
*Peter Mandelson leaves his home in Wiltshire on Feb. 20, 2026. Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images*
If nothing else, the arrest last Monday of Peter Mandelson, long one of the most powerful figures in British politics, is a reminder that the UK authorities have acted more decisively than those in the US against at least two public figures who were entangled with the global financier, pedophile, and procurer Jeffrey Epstein. It’s true that police investigations of both the former Prince Andrew and Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, do not concern Epstein’s disgusting exploitation of young girls. Rather, they are into the allegations of the two men’s transmission and exploitation of inside information when they were caught in Epstein’s web while also acting as public servants, in Mandelson's case as a key member of Gordon Brown's Cabinet between 2008 and 2010, including as Brown's de facto deputy.
That said, Mandelson’s fall has proved a seismic event for the Labour government.
[ Read more ][2]
[1]: http://zeteo.com/subscribe
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/mandelson-epstein-labour-starmer-corruption
https://zeteo.com/p/mandelson-epstein-labour-starmer-corruption

2026-03-01 14:18:40 UTC

I Was a US Intelligence Analyst. Israel and the US Are Lying to You About Iran
*Trump and Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Oct. 13, 2025. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/AFP via Getty Images*
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have launched their [most dangerous war][1] yet, but the pretenses underpinning it are weaker than ever. You’re already being bombarded by lies from the White House, the Capitol, and TV commentators.
Here are seven truths behind the half-hearted arguments meant to manufacture consent for a war you never asked for:
#### **1. This War Won’t Keep Americans Safe**
Trump [says][2] he launched this war to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” He apparently expects us to forget he used this lie the *last time* he bombed Iran. What was true in June still is true now: There’s no evidence the Iranian government is on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon (despite Netanyahu’s claims to the contrary for the past 30 years), the Iranian military do not have weapons that can strike the US (despite Trump’s claim to the contrary) – a fact[ confirmed][3] by my old employer, the Defense Intelligence Agency – and Iran’s leaders had no intention of preemptively attacking US forces in the Middle East.
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The Trump administration’s [pained justification][5] that Iran planned to fire missiles “preemptively, but if not, if not simultaneous, against with any actions against them,” is beyond dubious given that the Iranian government watched US forces posturing to attack for weeks and did not, in fact, launch a preemptive strike against them (and “simultaneous” is an exceptionally creative way to say “firing missiles after we start attacking them”).
If Iran really represented an *immediate* threat to the American people, why has Trump been telegraphing this attack since [mid-January][6]? What *is* true is that the Iranian government’s missiles, drones, and proxies can strike US forces *in the region*, which is exactly what started happening on Saturday after US planes started bombing Iran. Anyone who actually wanted to keep US forces safe could simply move them out of the region and out of range of Tehran’s capabilities – or, even easier – just avoid starting a war of choice with them in the first place.
#### **2.** **Iran Isn’t Really the Greatest Threat to Stability in the Middle East Today**
[ Read more ][7]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-was-told-americans-would-very
[2]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c620d3nnw80o
[3]: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/trump-iranian-missile-claim-unsupported-by-us-intelligence-say-sources-2026-02-27/
[4]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[5]: https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-attack-02-28-26-hnk-intl?post-id=cmm6rngi500003b65edeb03j8
[6]: https://www.npr.org/2026/01/12/g-s1-105652/trump-military-action-iran-protests-deaths
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/israel-us-netanyahu-trump-iran-lies-debunking
https://zeteo.com/p/israel-us-netanyahu-trump-iran-lies-debunking

2026-03-01 02:00:43 UTC

International Law Is Clear. Trump’s War on Iran Is Illegal
*Trump announces US-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, 2026. Photo by US President Trump Via Truth Social/Anadolu via Getty Images*
“Preemptive strikes” – meant to “eliminate imminent threats from the Iranian regime” and prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
That’s how the US and Israel are attempting to justify their war on Iran – and if you’re only reading Western media, you may take that as fact. But the reality is, there’s nothing preemptive about these strikes, and there’s certainly no legitimate self-defense claim.
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International law is clear. Trump’s war on Iran is illegal. Here’s why:
### **What International Law Says**
Under the UN Charter, states are prohibited from using unilateral force, except in two cases: (1) when authorized by the UN Security Council or (2) in self-defense.
The US and Israel did not go to the UN Security Council ahead of Saturday’s strikes on Saturday. That leaves self-defense as the only possible justification under international law. That justification in this case, however, falls short when considering the facts.
### **‘Israel’s Right to Defend Itself’**
[ Read more ][2]
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://zeteo.com/p/international-law-trump-israel-war-iran-illegal
https://zeteo.com/p/international-law-trump-israel-war-iran-illegal

2026-02-28 23:17:18 UTC

Iran, Epstein, and a New Mideast War: Mehdi and Experts React
**Zeteo** put together a live stream with some expert voices in-house and beyond to explain why Donald Trump launched a war that most Americans do not support. The US president unilaterally and illegally [declared war on Iran][1] on Saturday after launching a joint attack with Israel, bringing chaos and turmoil to an already unstable part of the world.
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**“This war is inherently completely illegal… Trump has gone even beyond Bush, Cheney, and the neocons in terms of his unilateral aggression,” **says Mehdi, adding, **“ It’s 100% true that Epstein is a factor in all this.”** While many argue that this is Israel’s war more than it is America’s, **Swin** reminds viewers **“this is an inherently American mission, it has been in the neoconservative, and particularly American Republican party, bloodstream for years if not decades,” **the only difference now is they finally have a **“mentally desiccated elderly racist game show host”** of a president to finish the job.
Iran did not turn the other cheek in response to the attacks, but instead fought fire with fire by launching [retaliatory strikes][3] on targets across the region, including Israel, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and more. **“I think the next 48 to 72 hours are going to be crucial,” **says Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy **Negar Mortazavi**, **“The US is betting on the regime collapsing or imploding from inside.”**
How this plays out is hard to predict, but how we got here? Not as difficult, as Iranian-American relations expert **Trita Parsi **tells Prem.** “I think Trump, at the end of the day, ended up accepting the premise and the red lines of the Israelis, and that trapped him into a trajectory in which, increasingly, he felt that his only way out was to be able to get some sort of a humiliating surrender from the Iranians rather than a deal.”**
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Stay tuned to **Zeteo’s** coverage of the war in Iran by keeping an eye on your inboxes for written pieces, town halls, and interviews on what is shaping to be the biggest story of the year.
*Have any tips or information? Text Prem on Signal: premthakker.35*
*This video is being shared without a paywall. If you believe in the work we do and want to see more of it, do consider becoming [a paid subscriber][5]. And if you’re not ready for the commitment, then a [donation][6] would still go a long way.*
[1]: https://zeteo.com/p/breaking-us-and-israel-ilegally-attack
[2]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/28/mapping-us-and-israeli-attacks-on-iran-and-tehrans-retaliatory-strikes
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https://zeteo.com/p/iran-epstein-and-a-new-iran-war-donald-trump

2026-02-28 20:59:24 UTC

Trump Was Told Americans Would ‘Very’ Likely Die in His Illegal Iran War
*Donald Trump speaks outside the White House on Feb. 27, 2026. Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images.*
In the months-long run-up to Donald Trump’s illegal war on Iran, the president was repeatedly briefed by senior administration appointees and intelligence officials about the wide range of scenarios in which Americans and others could likely die, if Trump were to start a new war and the Islamic Republic were to retaliate, two sources familiar with the matter and three others briefed on it tell **Zeteo**.
The range included smaller-scale possible death tolls over the course of shorter, days- or weeks-long military engagements, or greater numbers of US casualties if the conflict grew protracted.
The two people familiar with the matter say that the gaming out of different scenarios included so many possibilities of how the regime in Tehran could kill American soldiers, potentially roil the global economy, or inflict other forms of damage, that many US officials did not mince words: It would be “very” likely, both sources say, that Americans would get killed days or weeks in, if Trump went ahead.
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“It’s in a lot of [internal] documents, we also wrote it down a lot,” says one of the people briefed. If you are Trump, or Vice President JD Vance, or Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, or their colleagues, “you can’t really say you didn’t know,” this source adds.
In other words: Trump’s government at the highest levels had largely assessed that this would not be easy, to put it mildly.
This weekend, Trump went ahead, all while claiming lately that the fight will be won “[easily][2].”
Yet, Trump also readily acknowledged that Americans may die due to his decision to launch a war against Iran, in partnership with Israel.
“My administration is taking every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill,” Trump [declared][3] in a video on Truth Social. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future.”
The president, whose approval rating is hovering near the dismal mid-30s, is dragging the nation and its armed forces into yet another regional bloodbath when an overwhelming majority of American adults say [they do not want this][4]. For someone who likes to brand himself the “peace president,” this is merely the latest blitz in Trump’s already lengthy record of waging war over the past year, both abroad [and at home][5].
The explicit stated goal of Trump’s war in Iran is regime change – even though Trump and his top officials [have long professed][6] to oppose regime-change wars in the Middle East.
Moreover, Trump and top administration officials have struggled in recent days to decide on [what the mission or preferred end][7] in Iran would even be.
[Share][8]
The president on Saturday urged Iranians to “take over your government,” once the bombing stops. “It will be yours to take,” he claimed. “This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
Speaking with Axios on Saturday, Trump [also claimed][9]: “I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs].’”
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, suggested Saturday afternoon that the US-Israeli strikes had successfully eliminated Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. “There are many signs that Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei is no longer alive,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.
Israeli officials have [said][10] that Khamenei’s body was recovered under rubble caused by an airstrike in Tehran. Iranian officials have [disputed][11] this.
It is unlikely that the Iranian supreme leader’s assassination would end the ongoing conflict; in fact, there are reasons to believe it would inflame the war further, and also accelerate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s power grabs in the regime. Indeed, elements in Trump’s own intelligence community think it’s quite likely that Khamenei would be replaced by someone, or something, [worse][12].
At least 201 people have been killed in Iran as a result of the strikes, according to [NBC News][13]. An Iranian state news agency said that dozens were killed in a strike on [a girls school][14].
According to the US military, despite “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks,” there have been no US casualties so far, [PBS][15] has reported.
The Trump-Vance administration is framing its illegal act of war as a “preemptive strike.”
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The only thing it “preempted” for certain was a congressional vote on a War Powers Resolution set for this week, led by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie.
Speaking about Trump and his team’s knowledge that Americans could die from their launch into war, Khanna tells **Zeteo**: “They have betrayed their core promise of ‘America First’ and no more Americans risking their lives in wars in the Middle East.”
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[1]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[2]: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5751562-general-caine-iran-military-action/
[3]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116147082884192486
[4]: https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/54158-few-americans-support-usa-military-action-against-iran-majority-think-it-is-likely-february-20-23-2026-economist-yougov-poll
[5]: https://zeteo.com/p/murder-inc
[6]: https://zeteo.com/p/team-trump-iran-war-regime-change
[7]: https://zeteo.com/p/an-illegal-war-iran-trump-first-draft
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/trump-was-told-americans-would-very?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[9]: https://www.axios.com/2026/02/28/trump-iran-war-israel-off-ramps
[10]: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-888283
[11]: https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-alive-iran-supreme-leader-us-attack-b2929525.html
[12]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/prior-iran-attacks-cia-assessed-khamenei-would-be-replaced-by-hardline-irgc-2026-02-28/
[13]: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/live-blog/israel-iran-live-updates-rcna261099
[14]: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/live-blog/israel-iran-live-updates-rcna261099
[15]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/live-updates-u-s-and-israel-attack-iran
[16]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-was-told-americans-would-very