On one of the holiest days on the Islamic calendar, Iran fired on Israel and energy sites in neighboring Gulf Arab states, insisting that it can still build missiles and issuing a new threat: to deny safety to its enemies in “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide. Israel meanwhile pounded Tehran with airstrikes as Iranians marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
The U.S. military is deploying three more warships and roughly 2,500 more marines to the Middle East, where there's no end to the war in sight despite three weeks of U.S. and Israeli air strikes that have decimated Iran's military and leadership. The Pentagon’s request for another $200 billion to fund the war would need congressional approval as the U.S. national debt hits a record $39 trillion.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will stop attacking the gas field that Iranians depend on for most of their electricity at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump. Iran responded to Israel’s attack on the field by intensifying targeting of energy infrastructure in other Middle East countries, sending oil and gas prices soaring.
The death toll has risen to more than 1,300 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members in the region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
US imposes new Sanctions on Hezbollah
The Department of the Treasury on Friday designated a network of 16 individuals and entities led by what it called is Hezbollah financier and former public investment official Alaa Hassan Hamieh.
The treasury said these individuals and companies — located in Lebanon, Syria, Poland, Slovenia, Qatar, and Canada — have been involved in numerous economic projects and are estimated to have enabled the diversion of over $100 million since 2020.
This network represents a critical source of funding for Hezbollah, it said.
The U.S. Department of State designated Hezbollah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2001, and three years earlier as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Schumer says $200 billion funding request for Iran war ‘will never happen’
Source: WPLG
