Seven Republicans joined the Democrats to pass the mostly symbolic measure that can be vetoed if it reaches the president’s desk.

The House passed the measure on Sept. 15. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the unprovoked attack on Feb. 28.

The vote and allegations came as a front in the war opened wider as Iran-backed Ansar Allah (Houthi) forces advanced in its fight to control the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, the second critical waterway in the Gulf region through which Saudi Arabia ships crude oil.

Prior to the war, the Strait of Hormuz, now controlled by Iran, accounted for about 20% of the world’s crude oil shipments, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, while Bab al Mandeb accounted 5%-9%.

In a perhaps surprising and unexpected move, a reported request from Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for U.S. military assistance to halt advancing Ansar Allah forces was rebuffed by President Trump, deciding instead to provide the Kingdom with military intelligence.

“There is no sense in Washington that the U.S. owes the Saudis anything,” said Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), emphasizing the “transactional” nature of Trump administration’s relationships.

“The Trump administration has said that explicitly about NATO countries, that we have no obligation to support them. This is just one more example that the Saudis are not special in that way.”

She said Persian Gulf countries that rely on U.S. military protection may seek other means of security while not necessarily moving completely away from the U.S. “Some may look for other options, some may try to normalize their relationship with Iran,” she said. “They’re seeing they can’t count on the U.S. for what they thought were promises of what they’d get for hosting a military base in their country.”

The War Powers vote might have been influenced by a Sept. 15 government watchdog report that quantified significant war-related hardware and facility losses previously known but not widely reported.

Compounding the administration’s problems are Sept. 18 reports by The Washington Post that four more service members died than what appears in the Pentagon’s public database, known as the Defense Casualty Analysis System, and UN allegations that the U.S. committed war crimes for the bombings of a school and sports facility at the beginning of the war.

Watchdogs confirm damage

An Inspector General’s report that included information from watchdog groups for the Defense and State departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development revealed Iranian missiles damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures on U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.

Iranian attacks compromised dozens of U.S. airplanes and drones, including MQ-9 Reaper drones and KC-135 refueling planes. Reaper drones cost $30 million each, the report noted.

At the same time, according to the report, the State Department negotiated sales of more than $44 billion in emergency and non-emergency military products to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations.  Sales included military helicopters, munitions and munitions support as well as advanced precision weapons systems, the report said.

The War Powers vote took place as nervous Republican legislators return home to campaign for November midterm elections. They know they will face voters who mostly oppose the war and are tired of rising gas and food prices.

The BBC reported that a barrel of oil cost $72.48 at the start of the war. A barrel was priced at $103.47 on Sept. 18, according to oilprice.com.

Iowa’s two Republican representatives, both military veterans, voted in favor of the War Powers resolution. Both opposed it in previous votes.

“I will not vote to keep our soldiers in an open-ended war, with Iowans paying too much at the pump. The Iranian regime and its nuclear ambitions have been defanged. The President needs to present a plan to Congress and the American people for how these ends so we can focus on bringing our soldiers home and lowering prices,” said Rep. Marionnette Miller-Meeks.

Referencing two Iowans killed in a drone attack in Kuwait, Rep. Zach Nunn said, “Congress owes them, their families, and every American in uniform clear objectives and constitutional oversight. With the negotiating window closed, sustained combat operations now require congressional authorization. … We can defend Americans, pressure Iran, and pursue peace while ensuring Congress fulfills its constitutional responsibility.”

Other Republicans voting for the resolution were Thomas Massie (Ky.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Warren Davisson (Ohio), Tom Barrett (Mich.), and Nancy Mace (S.C.).

The Senate has narrowly voted to oppose a resolution on two previous occasions and has not voted since July 30.

No U.S. strategy in Iran war

With the Strait of Hormuz controlled by Iran, the U.S. and other nations were concerned that Iran-allied Ansar Allah would seize control of the Bab Al Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.

Prince bin Salman made two calls to President Trump Sept. 10, one asking for military strikes on Ansar Allah forces, according to news reports. Ansar Allah succeeded in securing Bab al Mandeb coastal territory and the island of Perim (also known as Mayyum) giving them control of the waterway.

Ansar Allah forces, however, signaled to the international community that shipping through the strait remains safe for ships, except those from Saudi Arabia.

The conflict between Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia began in 2014 when Ansar Allah captured the capital city Sana’a from the transitional government of Abdurabbuh Mansur Hadi.

In 2015, Mr. Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia from which Operation Decisive Storm—a Saudi-led coalition of forces to reinstate Mr. Hadi—was launched. Today, the civil war continues with Ansar Allah controlling one third of Yemen. President Rashad Al-Amini leads the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized Yemen government.

The lack of U.S. strategic planning has been a major criticism of Mr. Trump’s “unnecessary war,” according to Morgan State University political science professor Wilmer Leon.

“If the Trump administration had a plan, then how to deal with the Saudi situation would have been part of the plan. Because there was no plan, there was no process to deal with peripheral issues,” he told The Final Call.

He recounted the U.S.’ role in creating what’s happening between the Saudis and Ansar Allah.  The (Barack) Obama administration encouraged the Saudis to fight Yemen, he said, adding the Biden administration later labeled Ansar Allah as a terrorist group during a time when the Saudis and Ansar Allah were negotiating a peace treaty.

‘They blew the hell out of Bahrain’

Evidence of the lack of planning has been seen in depleted weapons stockpiles, lengthy troop deployments, maintenance issues on ships, depletion of emergency fuel stockpiles, and low morale among military personnel, among other issues.

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier recently was ordered to return to port after more than 10 months at sea resulting in unsustainable conditions on the ship and among shipmates.

Two U.S. officials who spoke to The Intercept news told of early miscalculations in the U.S. strategy: one, that Iran would buckle under the size of the U.S. Navy presence; two, the U.S.’ mission was seriously crippled at the outset when Iranian missiles destroyed the U.S. Navy logistics hub in Bahrain.

“They blew the hell out of Bahrain,” Navy Secretary Hung Cao would later admit in an interview with The Epoch Times, the damage of which was documented in the Inspector General’s report.

Dr. Leon said the USS Gerald Ford is an example of the lack of strategy and planning by the U.S. Iran knows it can’t defeat the Navy ships, so they just cut off  the fleets’ supply chain, he said.

“Iran says, ‘It’s gonna need water. They’re gonna need food. They’re going to need to be resupplied,’” Dr. Leon said.

“So, they strike the base that supplies the ship. They don’t have to attack the ship. The ship will eventually leave because it can’t support itself and that takes us back to the adage: You have the watches, but we have the time.”

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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio—Jocelyn Rhau sits at a table near the entrance of the Rose Goute Creole restaurant. A Haitian flag and an American flag are situated on either side of the front door behind him, seemingly representing his heritage and his aspirations.

Wearing a yellow T-shirt with the word “Boston” in capital letters across his chest and the sleeves cut off at the shoulders, he looks across a table that is as empty as the restaurant itself. Except for a small delegation of journalists in the city to talk to people like him.

The main thing accompanying him is an unfamiliar silence—no clanging kitchen utensils, no conversations among neighborhood residents, and no Haitian music over the speakers.

The restaurant is a popular establishment that, on any given day before July 27, was bustling with crowds from surrounding communities eating and enjoying Haitian music.

That was before President Donald Trump eliminated the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, a federal program that allows migrants to live and even work in the U.S. if it is too dangerous for them to return to their country.

Today in Springfield, most Haitians live in fear, community leaders told The Final Call.

Haitians in the U.S. were granted TPS protection following a devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. That protection was extended, and other refugees were allowed in through the years because of disease, hurricanes, the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021, and extensive violence before and since.

President Trump went after the status in 2017 during his first term, arguing the earthquake’s structural damage had been resolved. The courts, addressing lawsuits filed against the administration, issued injunctions challenging termination of the program.

Feb. 3, 2026, was the expiration date for the latest extensions. After clearing the remaining legal hurdles, the Trump administration terminated TPS for Haitians on July 27.

Interviews conducted by The Final Call in Springfield described widespread fear since the termination took effect. Because many residents speak Haitian Creole, reporters traveled with an interpreter, who approached prospective interviewees and explained the purpose of the reporting. Many declined to speak.

At a law office serving the Haitian community, located in a nearly empty three-story office building, most doors were locked. Signs warned that ICE was not allowed or that entry was restricted to authorized personnel. ICE is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

When reporters knocked on the frosted glass window of the door, the silhouette of a person approached. Too hesitant to open the door, the person slid a piece of paper with a number to an authorized person to contact at the law office.

When a reporter approached two hotel workers returning from an outside break and announced he was in town to do a story on the problems Haitians are facing, the workers blurted, “We know nothing about that,” before going into a side hotel door.

In the restaurant, Mr. Rhau explained the fear. “After they said TPS was ending, ICE began arresting people. They were arresting people everywhere. I am only 39 years old, and the stress is making my hair fall out. Even though I am not working now, I could be working.”

In response, Haitian residents set up early warning systems using WhatsApp and other social media platforms to message residents about the presence of ICE agents. Most recently, two Haitian pastors were apprehended. One, Gilbert Joubert Adrien, was in his vehicle with four passengers on Aug. 20 when ICE agents blocked his car and took him into custody, according to local activists.

Less than two weeks later, 20-year-old Wright State University student Pierre Damas Bel died after being struck by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 70. Authorities were investigating the Aug. 31 death as a possible suicide.

His family and community members said he had been distressed and humiliated after ICE required him to wear an ankle monitor (See related story on page 3). Monitoring devices in various forms are given to the undocumented so they can be tracked and eventually deported. The exact number of people detained and deported to Haiti is unclear.

James Fleurijean and Hubert Calixte are Haitian activists familiar with the daily struggles the people endure. Mr. Calixte is a U.S. resident born in Haiti. He serves his people as an interpreter and sometimes a mediator.

When a resident receives a letter from ICE to come to their office for a tracking device, Mr. Calixte sometimes transports them. The tracking device comes in the form of an ankle monitor, an app placed on a cell phone or a digital watch.

Mr. Calixte is a familiar face and can sometimes negotiate for a resident to receive a less noticeable form of tracking. If he had been with Pierre, he said he may have been able to convince ICE to place him with a watch or an app on his phone.

Mr. Fleurijean is a board member of the Haitian Community Help & Support Center. His agency shoulders the weight of being what he describes as the only Haitian organization in the city that distributes vital household supplies and food.

As volunteers stuffed boxes with items like laundry detergent, diapers, and tissue, Mr. Fleurijean explained that most of the boxes are delivered. Very few people venture out of their homes to come to the center, he said.

Other agencies do similar work, but Mr. Fleurijean explained, “All the responsibilities have been on our back. We are the ones they come to when they have some immigration issue, when they need an attorney, an interpreter; they come to us.

“If they have a rent issue, they come to us, food, everything, even water,” he said.

As The Final Call spoke with Mr. Fleurijean, he got a call from the son of one of the detained pastors, asking for help with an issue he was facing to help his detained father.

Haitians came for work, and helped Springfield recover

The growth of Springfield’s Haitian population accelerated as workers responded to job opportunities in the area and then shared their experiences with relatives and friends. Local leaders and residents said manufacturing, warehouse and service-sector employers needed workers, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, the town of 58,000 has an estimated 12,000-15,000 Haitian residents in Springfield and Clark County, according to local government estimates. As they began to thrive, they opened small businesses in mostly abandoned strip malls. By many accounts, Haitians helped to revive the city.

“There were lots of jobs. The factories, the warehouses were giving bonuses,” Mr. Fleurijean at the Community Center explained to The Final Call. “They would put out ads asking people to come to work. When I came to Springfield, it was just a ghost town.”

The population growth also strained schools, health care and housing. Cultural differences created some tensions between Haitian newcomers and some longtime residents, including members of Springfield’s existing Black community.

Margery Koveleski is a U.S. citizen born in New York to Haitian parents. She works from a small room in the back of a lightly stocked Haitian bodega. Passion for Haitian people burns in her belly as she thumps her chest, describing herself in the spirit of Harriet Tubman. She’s been in Springfield 24 years.

When Haitians began to arrive, she assisted them as an interpreter, helped them to establish bank accounts, and as they progressed, she helped new arrivals avoid being exploited, particularly in housing, something that also attracted pastor Michal Young.

Rev. Young is pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church and president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship (IMF), a diverse coalition formed after the COVID-19 pandemic. Both mention that there have been tensions between the communities, but over the years a sense of unity has emerged.

“As clergy and as leaders, we were concerned that they would not be exploited,” said Rev. Young, who has lived in the Springfield area for over 30 years. “We could not believe how much the rent and leases had increased. We found out it was due to the influx of Haitians, fundamental supply and demand.”

He said the IMF organized rallies and marches following the 2024 false and inflammatory statement by then presidential candidate Donald Trump that Haitians in Springfield were eating neighborhood pets.

“I was so appalled by the way they treated Haitians,” Ms. Koveleski said. “They would have to sleep on the floor or a cardboard box. They came with families and renters sometimes didn’t accept children. They came to work, but they wanted to eventually go back home,” she said.

The absence of Haitians’ participation in the economy is and will have a serious impact, those interviewed told The Final Call. “Everybody will be affected, not only the Haitian stores,” Ms. Koveleski said. “But this needs to happen to show prejudice there’s a high price to that. It’s easy to be intimidated by fear.”

Locked down

How long can the Haitian community hold out under these conditions? Interviewees said they are concerned that residents aren’t going to doctor or dentist appointments and some children are being kept home from school.

Most who have work visas cannot work anymore due to the cancellation of TPS. Those who do have jobs sometimes don’t go out of fear. So, income is very limited, they said.

“No one knows how long this is gonna take to be finished,” Mr. Fleurijean said. “We are hoping things gonna come to an end as soon as possible, but we don’t know. The only thing we tell people is to be careful whenever they are going out because people cannot stay at home like 24-7.

“Sometimes they need some stuff. So, us as an organization, we do the maximum that we can, but we can’t feed all these people for too long. And I don’t really think we reach all of them because there are so many Haitians living in Springfield, even if some of them have already left.”

Ms. Koveleski once depended on donations from those who could pay for her services, but now mostly works with attorneys, who she said are taking on fewer asylum cases.

The Trump administration is encouraging Haitians to self-deport and the Department of Homeland Security is offering an incentive of free airfare and a stipend of around $2,600. But self-deporting has its problems. While the government encourages Haitians to self-deport, it posts a Level 4 “do not travel” advisory to U.S. citizens, the highest level.

Churches, a foundation of the community, have also been hard hit. Pastor Michelet Delcine sits in an empty church that once was filled every Sunday with more than 100 parishioners. Now there may be 10. He calls his congregants regularly and they contribute what they can financially to keep the church doors open, he said.

The church, Bon (Good) Samaritan Baptist Church, sits on a busy street. As The Final Call delegation entered the front door, which sits about 40 feet from the thoroughfare, a person in a passing car shouted an obscenity at the well-known safe haven for Haitians. Wearing a black suit, navy-blue T-shirt and navy-blue socks, the pastor takes a “keep hope alive” attitude.

“It is a beautiful country, and the people are good people,” he said of the U.S. “There are bad people in every society. Every administration is different. But this one is not different—it is worse, in my view.

“I do not believe it is governing according to the law. Reagan used to be bad, but he listened. George Bush’s father used to be bad, but he listened. This one does not listen.”

He said people here with legal work permits should have been left alone. At first, the Trump message was that immigration enforcement would focus on going after criminals, he said.

“That is not what people are seeing. It is unbelievable, but true,” he lamented. “When I say keep hope alive, that means this will not last. It will not last. It is passing by. Good times are coming,” he said with a smile.

There will be additional coverage in upcoming editions of The Final Call.

2

[Editor’s note: Under the guidance and instructions of our Publisher, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, The Final Call recently sent a delegation to Springfield, Ohio, to investigate and speak with community residents on the impact of the elimination of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. The delegation included: Former Editor-in-Chief and current Contributing Editor James G. Muhammad, Staff Writer Anisah Muhammad, Contributing Photographer Haroon Rajaee and N.O.I. Representative to Haiti,

Joseph Makhandal Champagne. The Final Call will continue to report on this important issue.]

The Final Call

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— “Fall of America,” Chapter 50, titled “Lull Before The Storm,” by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad

On February 28, 2026, President Donald J. Trump, at the insistence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, launched an unprovoked attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran, an attack both leaders expected to last several weeks, but one that now is in its seventh month.

The attack was anticipated to resolve two main goals—first, is Israel’s desire to neutralize Iran’s military power, the main threat to Israel’s regional prowess.

The second goal, according to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, was started years ago. In part 14 of his 2013 lecture series, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” Minister Farrakhan stated, “ Four-star U.S. army general Wesley Clark said that 10 years before 9/11, Paul Wolfowitz.

The neocon architect of Bush’s war on Iraq, told General Clark of plans to ‘clean out The Middle East,’ and take over those Muslim nations. Just 10 days after 9/11, Clark was shown a Pentagon memo that describes how they planned to ‘take out seven countries in five years,’ starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.”

On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center in New York and Pentagon in Washington D.C. were attacked.

As the country prepares to observe the 25th anniversary of that tragic day, the advice, warning and guidance given by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan regarding that attack—and the trajectory it has set this country on—should be revisited and reconsidered.

Following the 9/11 attack that killed more than 2,500 people, the country shifted into a mood for retaliation. The alleged attackers were identified, nations and organizations involved implicated, and revenge topped the public discourse.

The nation launched a “war on terror.” The Department of Homeland Security was created, the Patriot Act was passed, all resulting in attacks on civil liberties of American citizens and creating fear among certain communities and ethnicities.

Out of the rubble continued a plan to “target” seven Islamic nations within five years for destruction or destabilization, a plan revealed by General Wesley Clark in 2003 in his book “Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism, and the American Empire.”

Those nations included Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran. Though it has been more than five years, all of those nations have successfully been neutralized—except Iran.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has consistently warned every president that their desires to start wars against Islamic nations will lead to an even bigger war—Armageddon. That war, he has said, will involve all nations and end America’s power.

The question to consider today: Is Minister Farrakhan correct in his warning? If so, is the war in Iran opening the door to that great battle?

As recently as July 25 of this year, Minister Farrakhan warned President Donald Trump: “An aggressor is a loser. Because God is never with those who are aggressors, oppressors, tyrants, bullies, who love to make people afraid.  … Yes, you’ve got an armada. Yes, you’ve got ships. Yes, you’ve got armies. Yes, you’ve got ballistic missiles.

“Yes … but you don’t have God. And if you don’t have God, you don’t have the forces of nature! And God is unleashing the forces of nature now! Don’t try Him. Don’t try Him, please. If you want to live, put the gun down, put the bomb down.”

A warning is a blessing

Minister Farrakhan’s warning contained aspects of the warning he gave to then-President George W. Bush in two letters to the former president after the 9/11 attacks—that he might “run into something he did not expect” in the Middle East.

“You may threaten Iran. Iran has something to fight back. My Teacher (the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad) told me that this war was going to start with conventional weapons and it will end with nuclear weapons. I say this as warning before the war gets hot. Stop and think,” the Minister said to President Trump.

In warnings to Mr. Bush that fit circumstances today, Minister Farrakhan said, “Mr. President, I plead with you that this war that you intend could trigger that war that all the scientists of religion and of war have desired to escape.

The war that would end all wars, the War of Armageddon. The scriptures teach that, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, this is a sign of the end of this present system of things.”

Similarities of the political and social environment prior to 9/11 reflect those environments today. The World Trade Center attacks occurred during a time of intense division among the American public.

A Pew Research Center/Council of Foreign Relations survey at the time found that weapons of mass destruction and terrorism were among top concerns of the leadership and the public. But the so-called “spread of radical Islam” was viewed by political and influential leaders as a greater threat to U.S. interests than the emergence of China as a world power.

President Bush’s approval rating prior to 9/11 was around 50% and dropping, according to a Zogby poll at that time. The 9/11 attacks unified the nation and sent the president’s approval rating soaring.

One by one, the targeted nations succumbed to U.S. intervention or outright attacks by the U.S. military. Iraq fell to a U.S. invasion in 2003 under the false pretext that Saddam Hussein harbored weapons of mass destruction.

Economic sanctions and U.S.-provoked civil wars created chaos and instability in Syria and the Sudan. U.S. interference and support for aggressions by neighboring countries into Somalia has sparked persistent civil unrest.

Libya’s leader Muammar Gadhafi was killed by a U.S.-inspired uprising by rebel forces in 2011. Sanctions and Israeli attacks on Hezbollah are aimed at neutralizing Lebanon.

Reckless attacks today by Israel on Lebanon, Gaza and neighboring nations and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s open call for a “Greater Israel” is increasing the appetite for war and security, even as many Gulf nations are losing confidence in the U.S. military’s ability to protect them. Israel reportedly is setting its eye on Türkiye as the next target for conflict.

Ukraine, already at war with Russia, struck an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea; Iran vowed revenge. Saudi Arabia is exchanging fire with Ansar Allah (Houthi) forces in Yemen; a seaport in Egypt has been struck.

A vision-like experience

President Trump’s recent announcement to increase the stranglehold on Iran’s economy and threats of economic sanctions to any country that trades with Iran has created wariness among nations, including China, Iran’s largest trade partner.

“China has already stated many times that it firmly opposes illegal unilateral sanctions. China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its own rights and interests,” a spokesperson for Beijing told reporters, according to The Guardian newspaper.

President Trump can benefit from the advice Minister Farrakhan gave in his second letter to President Bush: “If the President of the United States seems to show no respect for world opinion or for the thoughts of the members of the Security Council of the United Nations, then, your actions will turn the nations of the world against you and against America,” he offered in an October 2002 letter.

Ultimately, the warnings delivered by Minister Farrakhan to U.S. presidents is rooted in a vision-like experience he had on Sept. 17, 1985, where he was told by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad on the Wheel (so-called UFOs) of a so-called meeting then President Ronald Reagan had with his Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan a war against an Islamic nation.

Minister Farrakhan publicly revealed his experience and said he came to believe the war was on Libya’s Muammar Gadhafi. He went to Libya to warn Brother Gadhafi, prior to a U.S. attack on the leader’s home.

But Minister Farrakhan said he also came to realize the war is on two fronts—Islamic nations in the Middle East and the Nation of Islam in the West, with a particular focus on Black youth.

He has said that everything he has done since that vision-like experience has been to warn Black America of the government’s plan, as well as to warn America of the consequences of her plan and get America to atone and, perhaps, extend her time as a power in the world. That was the main call of the 1995 Million Man March and the establishment of the observance of October 16 as a Day of Atonement.

Farrakhan’s consistent warnings

The Holy Qur’an, the Islamic book of scripture, says the duty of a messenger is to deliver the message. Minister Farrakhan’s words have shown him to be a friend and faithful warner to America and the nations:

“Whenever a nation becomes great and powerful by God’s Permission, as America has; whenever a nation becomes the undisputed ruler of the world, as America has, by Allah’s Permission; when a nation becomes the only remaining superpower, having the power to destroy other nations and people by the tens of thousands and millions.

As Allah has permitted America the power to do, and that nation then has a spiritual lapse and begins to sink into moral decline, the Qur’an teaches that Allah (God) raises a messenger, but he raises that messenger from among the poor and the abject to guide and to warn the great and the powerful.” Minister Farrakhan said during a press conference at Mosque Maryam on Sept. 16, 2001.

“I am trying to help America face the error of her ways and see the enmity she is sparking across the globe alongside a growing loss of friendship. This is not good for America, nor the world and only marches us steadily to acrimony, conflict and the final war of Armageddon spoken of in the Bible.

America can no longer act unilaterally in the world and be successful. Success can only come from righting old wrongs and purposing just and progressive policies,” he said in a 2018 statement from Tehran regarding his trip to the Muslim nation.

“I must lift up my voice and cry out, not just as one crying in the wilderness, but as one out of love who wants to see this nation avoid the pitfalls that have destroyed the great nations of the past,” he said in the first of two letters of counsel and concern to then President George W. Bush, who was contemplating a U.S. response to the Trade Centers attack. Is America listening today?

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Now her turn has come.

No one wants to trust her for friendship, for she has deceived many nations.”

—The Most Honorable

Elijah Muhammad, “The Fall of America,” from the chapter “America’s loss of friendship”The Trump administration appears desperate to find a face-saving way out of the six-month U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran following the Aug. 17 expiration of the 60-day, so-called Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), a 14-point pathway to peaceful settlement of the war that was violated weeks after the June 17 signing.

By all accounts, Iran is in the driver’s seat to dictate the course of the war. President Donald Trump can agree to their demands, which include lifting a naval blockade, withdrawing U.S. forces from the region, lifting sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian assets and paying war reparations.

Or he can escalate with more attacks, which already has been unsuccessful, resulting in a widely reported U.S. missile shortage to intercept the barrage of incoming projectiles from Iran on U.S. allies in the Gulf.

America’s stated goal for its Feb. 28 unprovoked attack with Israel was to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The Islamic Republic has always remained consistent in stating any uranium enrichment is for medical research and peaceful civilian energy, and not for nuclear weapons.

While Mr. Trump continues to state that as his goal, other objectives were regime change and to cause the Iranian people to revolt against their government.

The initial U.S.-Israel assaults succeeded in killing several levels of Iran’s leadership, including the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Komeinei, but destruction of the infrastructure and deaths of civilians, including 150 schoolgirls in classes, has apparently solidified the masses behind the resistance.

Within a few months of the joint U.S.-Israel attacks, Israel is no longer a participant, leaving the Trump administration to resolve a conflict that critics argue Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enticed him to enter. The war and the Trump administration’s subsequent actions are causing tensions and loss of friendship with U.S. allies.

Imad Hadad of the American Human Rights Coalition told The Final Call in an interview that the Iran war is a lose-lose situation for the U.S.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “the only beneficiary, and this war is more of a proxy war on his behalf and Israeli interests’ behalf,” he said. Escalation of the war invites anti-American sentiment and hostility against America’s interests in the region, he added.

The anti-American sentiment has perhaps been amplified by Mr. Trump. He has criticized U.S. allies in previous statements, but recently, using expletives, he has threatened to “bomb” U.S. ally Oman, whose coast borders the Strait of Hormuz and who has previously acted as a mediator for the peace process.

Mr. Trump has distributed a “loyalty survey” to NATO allies, questioning their commitment to join in the war he started. Mr. Trump has even signaled to ally South Korea that the U.S. may not be as committed to its defense against China as previously agreed and praised North Korean leader Kim Jung Un.

Without official notice but only through a post on his Truth Social platform, President Trump instructed the Pentagon to shorten a recent South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise, alluding to South Korea’s refusal to join the Iran war.

The post described the joint military exercise as a signal to Kim Jung Un’s North Korea “that is totally inappropriate and hostile to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful.”

The three-page questionnaire, titled “Questions for NATO Allies & Other Key Stakeholders,” asked whether the NATO country has publicly supported U.S. foreign policy priorities and whether they previously allowed the U.S. to access their bases and air space to attack Iran.

It also asked if the country is willing to withdraw those restrictions, according to Al Jazeera. Use of bases and airspace became a contentious issue during the outset of the war.

Key to settlement in the war is the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a body of water through which 20% of the world’s oil and critical commodities travel. Traffic through the strait, which was open prior to the U.S.-Israel attack, has been reduced to a trickle and has damaged the world economy. Reopening the strait has become the administration’s immediate obsession.

The expired MoU called for Oman and Iran to develop a plan to reopen the strait. Oman and Iran recently announced they’ve reached an agreement and reportedly were preparing a public statement at Final Call press time. The Trump administration has firmly stated that Iran would not control the waterway.

“Until the United States fulfils its commitments under the agreement … the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen,” said Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

The Trump administration has been openly criticized for having no strategy to defeat Iran prior to the attack. Iran, on the other hand, has been preparing for such an attack for decades, according to observers of the U.S. destabilizing activities in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

Robert Pape is a University of Chicago political science professor and author of “Bombing to Win” and other books on war and terrorism. He also authors “The Escalation Trap” Substack on the Iran war.

He said on a recent Mario Nawfal podcast that Iran wants to coax the U.S. into escalation of the unpopular war so oil and other commodity prices stay high in the U.S., which will negatively impact Mr. Trump’s popularity. Keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed is critical to that objective.

“I think they have a fairly coherent political goal to break America’s will to attack Iran after the midterms by breaking the Trump presidency in the midterms,” he said regarding the prospect of Democrats taking over one or both houses of Congress, thereby presenting a roadblock to Trump’s agenda.

President Trump’s popularity has been declining in poll after poll. Most recently, an Aug. 17 Reuters/Ipsos survey showed Mr. Trump’s approval rating at 33% and his disapproval rating at 64%. The poll surveyed 1,166 U.S. adults and was taken Aug. 14-17.

The administration’s latest effort to force Iran to reopen the strait was an “Economic D-Day” pronouncement. Mr. Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a plan to put an economic stranglehold on Iran’s economy and threatened severe economic repercussions to any nation that does business with the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian government responded to America’s latest threat. “Tehran says U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘most crushing economic operation ever’ against the Islamic Republic is doomed to fail like previous Washington’s pressure campaigns against Tehran over the past 14 years.,” noted PressTV.co.uk, the country’s state-run media apparatus.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded firmly on X regarding Mr. Trump’s latest threats. “We have seen this movie before. Same bull. Different bullies,” he wrote.

Press TV also reported that its country’s foreign ministry condemned a new round of U.S. sanctions “stating that the measures amount to ‘economic terrorism’ and ‘crimes against humanity.’”

“Economic sanctions and pressure are the other side of the same coin as military war and aggression,’” the ministry said, stressing that Washington’s reliance on both policies has placed global peace and security at risk,” reported Press TV on Aug. 21

Mr. Trump’s “strategy” is not sitting well with many countries. “These most recent incidents build on previous fractures with traditional allies over the war,” wrote Deputy WashingtonBureau Chief Sara Ruthven in an Aug. 18 article published on TheNationalNews.com, titled, “Iran war leaves US increasingly isolated on world stage”

“The rest of the world has concluded they’re not going to continue following the United States down the rabbit hole,” Morgan State political science professor Wilmer Leon told The Final Call, adding that China and Russia are major supporters of Iran.

“Other countries have come to the conclusion that the war in Iran is lost, not over, but lost. And they have to start looking out for their own interests. But Donald Trump hasn’t gotten the memo. He still thinks he can bully his way through this.

“The problem is he had absolutely no plan going in, so failing to plan is planning to fail. And that’s exactly what has happened.”

The post Is America losing the war and friendships? appeared first on Final Call News.

“America and England deposited their little brother, Israel, on foreign soil, Palestine, which is Arab land. They deprived the Arabs of their own land and sent them into exile. This injustice against the Arabs is now costing America the power and authority that she once exercised in the East. She is on her way out of the Near East. This means bloodshed and plenty of it.”

— The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad “The Fall of America,” 1973 from the chapter, “The Destruction and Fall”

In a recent Israeli cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on a message to the Trump administration: “I have heard people saying: ‘You didn’t say it.’ So here I am saying it again: Israel does not accept the 15-point document.”

He spoke in response to a framework agreement reached months ago by President Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace in Washington, a document that lays out steps Hamas and Israel would take to end conflict: One being Israel’s gradual withdrawal from Gaza.

Mr. Netanyahu—whose country receives several billion dollars in U.S. military aid—added that Israel’s military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed.”

Hamas is the resistance group that functioned as the governing body of occupied Gaza. While some U.S. ideas in negotiations “are acceptable to us and some are not,” the prime minister added, according to an official transcript, “When I say the disarming of Hamas, it means heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry. And we are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament.”

Points in the plan include implementing a ceasefire, Hamas to disarm, and exclusion of Hamas from future governing roles. Mr. Netanyahu is facing an election in late October and his trial for corruption will continue after he leaves office.

Critics highlight his desperation to win election and pressure from the right wing of his government to end the Gaza peace proposal. The forceful push back by Mr. Netanyahu and President Trump’s subdued response have observers pondering the U.S.-Israel collaboration.

“It’s still within the interest of the Trump administration to pretend that they are trying to work for peace in Gaza and it’s in the interest of Netanyahu to say we’re going to conquer all of Gaza,” said Muhammad Sankari, an activist with the U.S. Palestinian Community Network.

“They’re playing to their base. It allows Netanyahu to say, ‘I do what’s best for us’ and it allows the United States to use Israel as a convenient scapegoat when they want to.”

He said the real issue is “what’s happening behind the scenes.” Israel is already clearing the rubble to build “essentially militarized ghettoes” for Palestinians, he explained.

“That’s big business, billions of dollars of contracts to military contractors, and not just American companies. It’s Israeli companies, but also other corrupt monarchy regimes … that have joined this, quote unquote, Board of Peace.”

Mohyeddin Abdulaziz, a Palestinian Arab American and co-founder of the Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance, agreed that Mr. Trump’s response was not surprising.

“The Zionist Alliance is not only Israel and the Israel lobby, mainly AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), but also it is made up of the White nationalists, the Christian Zionists, the, Jewish establishment, including organizations like the ADL (Anti-Defamation League),

All of whom collaborate with the Republican Party, the Trump administration, but also with leadership of the Democratic Party establishment,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s’ the state of our country.”

Coordinated, illegal measures

Critics have blamed Israel for drawing the U.S. into the Iran war and for the collapse of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), a 14-point plan signed by the U.S. and Iran as a framework for peace. Point 1 called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, which Mr. Netanyahu has vowed not to do.

As Mr. Trump struggles to reach an agreement with Iran to reopen vital shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz (see related story on page 3), Israel and other issues rise for his attention.

Civilians are still being slaughtered in Gaza, settler violence with government collusion in the West Bank is escalating, fighting in Lebanon continues, a new military pact among regional Muslim countries has been formed, other nations are entering the fighting—all of which do not bode well for peace.

The Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) reports that in one week—July 28 through Aug. 3—Israelis killed 45 Palestinians and wounded 21 in the Gaza Strip and wounded 21 in the West Bank. The total number of Palestinians killed between October 7, 2023, and August 3, 2026, reached 74,526, with 179,198 injured, the OIC reported.

The UN recently issued condemnation of Israel over its support of settler violence in the West Bank.

“What we are witnessing is a clear pattern of coordinated, illegal measures designed to entrench the occupation and alter the demographic and territorial realities on the ground and undermine the prospects of a Palestinian state,” said Pakistan’s permanent UN representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad during an Aug. 11 UN Security Council meeting.

“The expansion of settlements in the Crimson Thread project and the settlement activities in the heart of the West Bank are all part of a broader effort to fragment the Palestinian territory. This is accompanied by unprecedented settler violence,” he said.

The Crimson Thread is a separation wall inside the occupied West Bank designed to permanently sever the fertile Jordan Valley from the rest of Palestinian territory.

Settler violence in the West Bank has resulted in the destruction and/or occupation of Palestinian homes, theft of livestock, burning of trees and farm products, and physical violence against men, women and children. The violence often is accompanied by Israeli Defense Forces who often stand by or participate.

In an op-ed written by Fadi Zatari, published July 30, on the website of the Turkish publication Anadolu Agency, titled, “The West Bank: A quiet genocide,” he writes on the ongoing atrocities being perpetrated by illegal settlers and the IDF.

“The reality in the West Bank indicates a pattern of integration and complementarity between individual Israeli settler terror and Israeli army and state policy. Israeli settlers attack Palestinians ruthlessly, destroy their herds, and even burn their trees.

It is often the case that after the settlers’ assaults and terrorism against Palestinians, the Israeli army continues with extensive punitive measures against Palestinian communities, such as shootings, killings, arrests, sieges, and closures of cities and villages,” he writes.

Israeli Christians attacked

Father Bashar Fawadleh from the West Bank village of Taybeh told the Vatican News that Israeli settlers are creating a “climate of fear” for Palestine’s last entirely Christian village. The Catholic priest said Taybeh stands on the front lines of “preserving Christianity here in the Holy Land,” describing the village as a place Jesus chose to seek refuge before “his passion, death and resurrection.”

“It is a deliberate strategy of harassment designed to create a climate of fear and [to] pressure Palestinian families into leaving their land. The Israeli settlers come to cause harm and occupy the land,” he added.

The idea of Israeli expansion—or establishing a “Greater Israel” that annexes parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and other regional countries—is a goal expressed by Mr. Netanyahu.

A group of settlers who want to establish settlements inside Syria have been crossing into the neighboring nation only to be chased out by Israeli military that has occupied Southern Syria for more than a year.

Amos Azaria of the Pioneers of Bashan settler group told the Associated Press, “The entire Daraa district … must be cleared of the enemies seeking our destruction and instead be filled with Jewish settlement.” Bashan is a biblical region that includes parts of Syria and Jordan.

Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan recently announced a Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, a pact similar to NATO’s where an attack on one member is viewed as an attack on all. The countries stressed the pact is not targeted at any country and doesn’t replace any existing arrangements.

Some have speculated that the arrangement is a result of Gulf nations realizing the inability of U.S. military to defend them and to discourage any aggression by Iran as the emerging power in the region.

In response, Iran officials mostly focused on the decline of America’s role in the Gulf region and the need for Muslim cooperation. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said when Muslims stand together, “we can face every challenge by malicious outsiders head-on.”

“Time to rely only on ourselves and embrace true brotherhood,” he wrote on X.

An Israeli official said the defense arrangement was against them. “This alliance is aimed against Israel. Who do you think they are doing this against? Allow me to be skeptical when they say it is really aimed at Iran,” the official told Yeshiva World News.

The post Israel: The roadblock to Middle East Peace appeared first on Final Call News.

Mr. Trump announced a tentative agreement July 30 for Hamas to disarm, an announcement not signed by Mr. Netanyahu or the Israeli government. The resistance group has stated it will not disarm until Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza. But Mr. Netanyahu has declared no withdrawal until full disarmament.

Calling the agreement “a major milestone,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that the plan “will be carried out in carefully structured phases. As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s government had passed legislation for such a Force, including 200 soldiers from “friendly countries,” to work with new Palestinian law enforcement.

To the disappointment of observers, Mr. Netanyahu’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate chief Tzipura Hotovely said there was no pressure from the president in the meeting for Israel to move forward with the reconstruction of Gaza, nor was there pressure to withdraw IDF forces from Syria or Lebanon—appearing somewhat in contradiction to the announcement of progress with Hamas.

More countries entered the Iran conflict as the U.S. and Saudis launched a joint attack July 29 on groups in Iraq the U.S. alleges are affiliated with Iran, killing more than a dozen fighters. The attack was in response to missiles fired into Saudi Arabia, allegedly by Iraqi militias.

Saudi Arabia initially entered the conflict when Saudi missiles hit an airstrip on July 13 in Yemen as a plane carrying Ansar Allah dignitaries and Iranian security forces approached for landing. Ansar Allah (also called Houthis) struck back, hitting a Saudi oil facility and announcing a blockade of Saudi ships exiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, vital for oil exports.

The Saudi government has announced the formation of an international alliance to guard the Red Sea from attacks by Ansar Allah. At least three Red Sea countries have agreed to participate—Egypt, Djibouti and Sudan. The U.S., Pakistan, Germany, France, Türkiye, and others have also been invited, according to media reports.

Mr. Zelenskyy arrived in the U.S. with an agenda to acquire U.S. Patriot missiles, which he said are vital to defend his country’s airspace from daily Russian attacks. His country had been drawn into the conflict on July 25 after a Ukrainian drone hit an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea, killing one sailor. Iran vowed the attack “will not go unanswered.”

Analysts purport that reasons for Ukraine’s aggression are an Israeli effort to draw Europe and U.S. forces closer in the wars on Iran and Russia and a NATO effort to test the battlefield. Both scenarios would open new fronts of battle for Iran.

“It’s evident that the U.S. is pulling in vassal states,” said Ajamu Baraka, director of the anti-war Black Alliance for Peace North-South People(s) Centered Human Rights. He said Gulf states are realizing the U.S. can’t provide the security they imagined and may be considering different paradigms for peace in the region.

Mr. Baraka noted the “enormous amounts” of resources Gulf states have in Western financial institutions and questioned where they would go except to China, something Mr. Trump would take note of. He added that Mr. Zelenskyy “wanted to demonstrate his loyalty” to President Trump through his attack on the Iranian vessel.

“U.S. warmongering has consequences for us,” he said. “Trump feels it’s more important to fight wars with public resources than to address the public’s needs” to lower costs of gas and food.

U.S. poll: ‘Stop the War!’

With upcoming midterm elections to determine control of Congress approaching, American citizens are expressing disapproval of Mr. Trump’s “war of choice.” Roughly 75% of Americans think the war should be stopped immediately, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

A quarter of those polled think military action should continue. Roughly 3 in 10 want to pause military action while seeking a renewed ceasefire, the poll, conducted July 23-27, reported.

During a message to the International Training Conference, a martial arts gathering in a Chicago suburb July 25, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, expressed dire concern for the lives of armed forces in the combat zone and the possibility of igniting a global conflict.

In an appeal for peace streamed on the internet, Minister Farrakhan repeated words of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam:

“My teacher told me that this war was going to start with conventional weapons and it will end with nuclear weapons,” he said. “I say this as warning before the war gets hot. Stop and think. Precious lives are on those ships. But God can maneuver the water in such a way … and sink your ships. Nothing can stand against the forces of nature when it is unleashed,” Minister Farrakhan warned.

He cautioned President Trump: “An aggressor is a loser because God is never with those who are aggressors, oppressors, tyrants, bullies who love to make people afraid. Don’t be a bully. Find a better way to solve a problem.”

In chapter 27 of the book “The Fall of America,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad also warned: “America goes abroad and makes war against other people. Then she charges them with making war against her when she is the one who is guilty of the war-making. The Bible says Allah (God) will destroy those who delight themselves in making war.”

International leaders have also called for a halt to the unprovoked U.S.-Israel attack on Iran that began in February. An open letter signed by hundreds of politicians, lawyers, academics and other influential leaders in Jordan called for the U.S. to withdraw military forces from the country, a letter described as a rare public challenge to ruling figures.

“We maintain that their presence exposes Jordan to security, political and economic risks that serve no national interest and increases the likelihood of our country being dragged into a regional conflict to which it is not a party,” the letter states.

Iran’s Press TV reported a response to the people of Jordan from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp: “Noble and discerning people of Jordan, your sincere solidarity and cooperation, especially the forthright positions taken by groups of Jordanian intellectuals, have narrowed the enemy’s room for maneuver and left them frustrated and desperate.”

Jordan hosts around 4,000 U.S. troops and has served as a key hub for the American military, which Iran says gives their country justification for attacking U.S. bases. Jordan has also helped to intercept Iranian missiles and drones targeting the Israeli-occupied territories.

Reports circulated July 29 that Iran had signed a contract with China to purchase 400 Chinese shoulder-fired air defense missile launchers. The purchase is valued at $60-70 million, Reuters reported.

China’s Foreign Ministry called the report “completely groundless,” and President Trump expressed amazement, saying China’s President Xi Jinping had vowed not to sell arms to the Islamic Republic.

Imad Hadad, director of the American Human Rights Coalition, told The Final Call, that Mr. Netanyahu and Israel’s pursuit of regional superiority would be the only winners in the conflict. He cited that Mr. Netanyahu was allowed to visit the U.S. as a “war criminal” wanted by the International Court of Justice.

The invitation to Netanyahu causes “anti-American sentiment to increase and it invites hostility against Americans, as an American nation, and against our interests in the region,” he said.

Trust in the U.S. and the administration’s word has already been damaged by breaking previous agreements toward ceasefires, he said, adding Israel continues to sabotage efforts to stop the war.

“Everybody knows that President Trump and the administration are the only party that can compel Israel to back down. However, I don’t think President Trump has full authority and control.

“Israel continues to exercise tremendous political pressure. While we’re talking about the U.S.-Iran war, Israel continues its occupation and its killing machine in Lebanon, destroying more villages, more towns in the West Bank, the same in Syria,” he concluded.

The post The Troubled America Can U.S. find way out of ‘war of choice’ before other nations join? appeared first on Final Call News.

The protocols Iran implemented regarding authorized passage through the Straight of Hormus were being violated. Iran took deterrant measures to respond to these violations. America used that as justification to restart the attacks on Iran.

Ansar Allah, the Yemeni resistance group also known as Houthis, entered the fray July 13 when they launched missiles into Saudi Arabia in response to the Saudi bombing of a Sanaa International airport runway, forcing a plane carrying Houthi and Iranian officials returning from the funeral of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to divert to another airport.

Houthi forces called for an embargo on Saudi ships, effectively blocking them from using the Bab al- Mandeb Strait to put their oil on the high seas. The Saudis had diverted their ship traffic to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait from the Strait of Hormuz that had been closed by Iranian forces.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates between 12-15% of global maritime trade passes through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the India Times reported. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz sees about 20% of global oil consumption pass through the strait.

Both waterways are vital to the global economy.

The Strait of Hormuz has been shuttered to most ship traffic by Iran as a result of the breakdown of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed to by the U.S. and Iran to start a process for peace talks.

At Final Call press time, Saudi Arabia had launched more strikes on Hodeidah, a city held by Ansar Allah resistance fighters, according to media reports.

President Trump, in an ever-increasing effort to find a way out of the war, has warned Iran to return to the negotiating table or face a hail of missiles.

Activist Muhammad Sankari of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network sees the only peaceful way out of the war with Iran is America withdrawing forces from the Gulf. Mr. Trump has instead decided to escalate attacks because he can’t admit to defeat, he said. The Memorandum of Understanding was an admission of defeat, he said.

“The only options in front of him are escalation or capitulation. For Trump, I think capitulation is political suicide,” Mr. Sankara told The Final Call. “He can’t say this was a useless war of choice,” so escalation is his only option, and escalation brings an escalated response, he said.

The MoU, which President Trump violated several times prior to the latest escalation, was viewed positively by the American public. On July 20, the president posted a Big Data poll on his Truth Social site to demonstrate the popularity of his actions and to promote a “Trust In Trump” narrative.

The poll was published on June 29, prior to the latest unpopular escalation of hostilities. The American public has consistently opposed the U.S.-Israel unprovoked war on Iran and the president’s disapproval rating has consistently hovered around 60%.

Media reports increasingly reveal costly destruction to U.S. military bases in the Gulf region as a result of Iranian attacks. The war also cost 17 service members’ lives and hundreds of injuries.

The New York Times and the Intercept have reported that hundreds of casualties have not been reported by the administration has drawn outrage from Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

“American servicemen and women are dying, and gas and fertilizer prices are soaring. It’s time to end this war,” Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican opponent of the war, wrote on X on July 23, following the passing of a non-binding War Powers Resolution vote to end the war.

Ohio Republican Warren Davidson, a former U.S. Army Ranger, has posted that the Constitution “gives Congress the solemn responsibility to authorize military action.”

“When American service members are put in harm’s way, Congress should debate the mission, define the objective, and ensure our servicemembers know that their elected representatives have their back.” President Trump consistently has sidestepped Congress in pursuit of the war.

The damage to military bases has sparked conversations about moving U.S. facilities in the region to Israel. A broader and more controversial discussion has started about a joint U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation bill in Congress.

The relocation conversation started after extensive damage by Iran to at least 20 U.S. sites in the Middle East, the Jerusalem Post reported, with an estimated $400 million required to rebuild the Naval Support Activity (NSA) base in Bahrain.

The U.S. is also considering moving command centers underground, according to the Times of Israel.

Opposition to joint operations

The controversial U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative is more concerning on Capitol Hill. The proposal, Section 219 of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), calls for expanding the two nations’ defense cooperation in research and development, weapons production, supply chain integration and long-term planning.

Some opponents of Section 219, initially introduced as Section 224, suggest that it was Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that persuaded Mr. Trump to launch the joint attack on Iran. They also argue it would damage U.S. sovereignty and make it harder to measure than direct military aid, arms sales or appropriations that Congress votes on separately.

“Codifying the integration of our military technology and supply chains with those of any other country is dangerous,” said Rep. Massie on theintercept.com. “Enshrining this broad agreement and the permanent position it creates in legislation removes the flexibility of future presidents to withdraw from such an arrangement.”

Morgan State political science professor Wilmer Leon questioned if “saner minds” in the administration would “want to be beholden to the wishes of Mossad,” the Israeli intelligence agency.

“If the United States were to tie itself to the Israeli military and Israeli intelligence to that degree, we move from being allies to being operatives, and I don’t think they’re willing to do that.”

In early June, military.com reported that the Pentagon had raised the “Israeli spy threat” to “critical,” its highest level.

The threat level was raised because “U.S. officials reportedly believe Israeli intelligence services have intensified efforts to collect information regarding internal American deliberations involving Iran and conflicts in the Middle East,” military.com reported.

The White House and Israel have denied the allegations described in those reports.

A letter from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Rep. Marlin Strutzman (R-IN) expressing appreciation for endorsing “my plan” to shift defense cooperation “from aid to partnership” suggests Israeli policy objectives, military.com reported.

Prof. Leon said many of President Trump’s foreign policy mistakes can also be attributed to his emasculation of the diplomatic corp.

“Donald Trump doesn’t have any diplomats. He’s decimated the State Department,” he said. “Steve Witkoff isn’t a diplomat. He’s a mediocre businessman. Jared Kushner isn’t a diplomat. He’s a mediocre businessman.

The Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) isn’t a diplomat. They are … ideologues that only know militarism,” he said, referring to Mr. Trump’s special envoy, son-in-law and secretary of state, respectively.

Mr. Sankari said the “fundamental strategic misunderstanding” by the Trump administration was that Iranians would “just roll over and accept subservience.”

“The Iranians view this as the survival of their revolution and sovereignty. No nation wants to be subservient to a colonizer. That was Trump’s fundamental misunderstanding of the Iranian people. So now, the United States and the West are stuck,” he said.

The post An American Quagmire? What will U.S.-Israel war on Iran cost in dollars and lives? appeared first on Final Call News.

Now in its fourth month, the fighting once again shut down ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which had recently reopened due to an agreement that both parties hoped would lead to long-term peace.

NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a collective security and defense agreement among North American and European countries. Unlike most U.S. presidents, Mr. Trump has more harshly criticized and sent mixed relationship signals to his European allies that continued at the summit, held July 7-8.

He declared “there was a lot of love in that room, a lot of unity” as he emerged from a closed-door meeting with NATO leaders. The day before that meeting, he publicly berated European leaders for not joining his attacks on Iran that shut down the vital global shipping waterway for months.

President Trump also singled out Spain, calling it a “terrible partner” and announcing a cessation of trade with the country for refusing to allow U.S. aircraft to use its military bases, even after other member states eventually conceded to his demand.

“I was very disappointed with NATO,” the president said upon his arrival to the summit.  “Frankly, if it (the summit) weren’t held in Türkiye where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended,” he said, referring to President Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye.

President Trump continued his criticism of NATO members for not paying their fair share in defense spending and reiterated his desire to take control of Greenland.

Adding to the tension, Mr. Trump announced that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worked out with Iran as a process toward peace was “over.”   His remark came after Iranian drones struck several ships attempting to pass through the Strait. 

Iran has stated that a decision on how the Strait will be controlled will be determined by coastal states Iran and Oman as described in the 14-point MoU. According to reporting by Al Jazeera, Iranian officials have argued that the memo allows Tehran to assert influence over how ships transit the Strait of Hormuz, therefore justifying attacks on vessels that do not comply.

The U.S. responded to the attacks with missiles striking numerous sites in Iran. PressTV.ir reported on July 10 that, “Iran’s top security official says any attack on the country’s infrastructure will be met with reciprocal action.”

Iran’s retaliatory attacks targeted U.S. bases in several countries in the region.  Iran also warned that any attacks on its infrastructure would not be tolerated and that it does not view the U.S. as trustworthy negotiators.

“Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf says Tehran harbors no trust in the United States, emphasizing that only those who are prepared for war can engage in negotiation with Washington,” PressTV.ir reported. Mr. Qalibaf, is one of the top negotiator in talks with the U.S.

Addressing the tenuous Gulf situation prior to departing for Türkiye on July 6, Mr. Trump said, “We’re either going to make a deal or we’re ​going to finish the job. And it won’t  be tough to finish the job.  I’d rather make a deal, because I don’t want to affect 91 ​million people.”

In the opinion of analysts, to “finish the job” could mean U.S. boots on the ground, a situation political science professor Gerald Horne, Ph.D., says the only winner will be the military-industrial complex.

He pointed to President Trump’s leaning toward selling F-35 jets to Türkiye and his demand that NATO countries spend more on military equipment to defend themselves, as he signals a reduction in the U.S. troop presence in Europe.

“The U.S. military industrial complex is salivating at the idea of selling F-35 planes to Türkiye, just as the U.S. military industrial complex is the major beneficiary of Mr. Trump’s demand that member states spend more on their military,” Professor Horne of the University of Houston told The Final Call, adding that “most of the military material that they buy will be from the United States of America.”

He said Mr. Trump’s renewed interest in helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian attacks is “a profit-making venture once again” for the military industrial complex. The president signaled agreement to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missiles to defend its airspace.

Dr. Horne described NATO as a weakened or a potentially dismantled entity, citing NATO’s “internal contradictions,” including America’s oversized financial contributions and contrary remarks about the Alliance. The U.S. has caused member states to move closer to each other against Mr. Trump’s remarks about taking Greenland and making Canada America’s 51st state.

“They don’t see [Trump] as being contradictory or inconsistent. They see him as representing something much deeper in the U.S. body politic and culture. Even if Mr. Trump decides to leave office, ‘Trumpism,’ as they see it, will be with us for some time to come. And I think that their perception is accurate.”

Asked to define “Trumpism,” Dr. Horne said, “neo-fascism, billionaires and trillionaires ruling with a substantial settler descendant working class and middle-class base, police terror, anti-Blackness.”

U.S. ally Israel has expressed alarm at President Trump’s suggestion to allow F-35 jets to be sold to Türkiye, arguing that it would “upset the power balance” in the region and that Mr. Erdogan has called for the “annihilation of Israel.”

President Trump banned Türkiye from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program during his first term in 2019 because the country had acquired a Russian S-400 air defense system.

Israel has vehemently opposed any ceasefire agreements between the U.S. and Iran and continues to violate the MoU, which calls for withdrawal from Lebanon, where the settler colonial state has attacked Hezbollah resistance fighters.

Withdrawal from Lebanon has been a red line for Iran in the peace process. A separate ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas resistance fighters in Gaza also has continuously been violated by Israel.

Hamas has agreed to dismantle its government apparatus as called for in the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement, according to recent reports. Hamas has refused to disarm, however.

“Hamas has been a governing body that operated within the context of a military occupation,” said attorney Terek Khalil, a spokesperson for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). “It’s not a governing body that is independent, that is sovereign, that is exercising the sovereign rights of a state or a people that is not being suffocated by another state. That has not been the case in Gaza.”

Hamas ceded power in line with the agreement because “the people have suffered enough. This is a measure to alleviate the suffering so that Israel does not create a pretext for mass onslaught in Gaza again.”

Hamas was founded in 1987 after many decades of occupation, displacement, land theft, denial of basic rights guaranteed under international law, and denial of self-determination. All of that together, he said, fomented and created the impetus for the creation of Hamas.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, has consistently warned Muslim leaders about America’s desire to cause division among Islamic nations as a divide-and-conquer strategy. 

“We are Muslims and as Muslims we are commanded by Allah that when Muslims quarrel, make peace between the brethren. We have to make peace in this region, otherwise great war will spread in this region,” he reiterated in a message from Iran on Feb. 10, 2016.

“The beautiful cities that I have been blessed to see in the Middle East due to oil revenue, the enemy is envious at what Allah has blessed the Muslims to do with their cities and their countries. The enemy would love nothing more than to bomb them.”

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In the mind of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the state of Israel extends well beyond its current borders. Referred to as “Greater Israel,” the concept calls for Israel to annex more of Palestine and parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.

The colonial settler state attempted to occupy parts of some of those territories in the past, withdrawing from them after intense fighting from resistance forces and international condemnation.

The state’s current occupation of Lebanon and Mr. Netanyahu’s ultimate dream of the “Greater” annexation have observers wondering if Iran will be another “forever war.”

“You have two proxies of the U.S.-Israel and Lebanon,” Dr. Wilmer Leon, radio host and political science professor at Morgan State University, told The Final Call. “The concept of ‘Greater Israel’ and its stated objective of the elimination of Lebanon, Iran and Palestinians, as well, you can’t negotiate with that.”

By many accounts, President Trump, who campaigned on no more “forever” wars, was encouraged by Mr. Netanyahu to join Israel in an unprovoked attack on Iran on February 28. Iran and its support of Hezbollah in Lebanon are the primary obstacles preventing Israel from exerting full dominance in the region.

America’s war on Islam came to light when retired Army General Wesley Clark revealed in 2001 that the U.S. planned to take out seven Muslim countries. The last of those countries still in the way is Iran.

Late last year, Mr. Netanyahu raised concerns about his expansionist ideas in an interview when he stated he “very much” identifies with the vision of a “Greater Israel,” framing it as a “historical and spiritual” mission, according to the middleeasteye.net and other news outlets.

In February, U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee caused an uproar when commentator Tucker Carlson, in an interview, asked the ambassador if he supported Israel controlling historical lands described in the Bible as belonging to Jewish people, which today includes parts of other nations.

“It would be fine if they took it all,” Mr. Huckabee said. The Trump administration later said the comment was taken out of context.

But it is one held by many in the conservative wing of the Israeli government. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said that he would support “anything that will allow the Jews a large, broad, strong land and a safe haven for us.”

“Zionism is based on the Bible. Our mandate over the land of Israel is biblical, [and] the biblical borders of the land of Israel are clear. … Therefore, the borders are the borders of the Bible,” Mr. Lapid reportedly said.

“The whole cause of the strife is due to the ideology of Zionism that eventually developed into the state of Israel,” countered Rabbi Yisroel D. Weiss of the Neturei Karta orthodox Jewish community to The Final Call. “They use the Jewish religion as a facade, a cover for nationalist endeavors.”

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) framework to discuss peace between the U.S. and Iran calls for a total ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.

Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to neither leave Lebanon nor stop fighting Hezbollah. A recent “agreement” between Lebanon and Israel, however, signals possible compromise.

Lebanon agreement raises concerns

According to the framework, Israel will withdraw from two “pilot zone” areas in southern Lebanon, transferring the sites to the Lebanese military, under the proposal signed in Washington on June 26.

Much of the agreement focuses on establishing “sovereignty” of the Lebanese government and disarming Hezbollah resistance fighters. The governments “commit to establishing a military coordination group, with U.S. support and participation, to ensure overall implementation” of the agreement.

Also, the Lebanese government “welcomes the readiness of the United States to support” militarily such efforts in disarming “all non-state armed groups.”

The signing prompted protests in the streets of Beirut, Lebanon, with many displaying flags in support of Hezbollah.

Critics of the proposal point out:

• the role of the U.S. as a potential dishonest broker;
• the inability of the Lebanese military to effectively defend the country against future Israeli aggression;
• the agreement may pit the army against Hezbollah if they do not disarm.

Critics also note that Israel will pull out of Lebanon pending the “verified disarmament” of non-state armed groups.

“The United States is unlikely to act as a neutral mediator and will almost certainly align with Israeli positions whenever disputes arise over the interpretation or implementation of the agreement,”

Said Karim Emile Bitar, a professor of international relations at the Saint Joseph University of Beirut, in an article posted on Aljazeera.com. “This creates a fundamentally asymmetric negotiating environment in which Lebanon has little leverage and few effective guarantees.”

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers will remain in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, Al Jazeera reported.

Imad Hamad, director of the American Human Rights Coalition, told The Final Call the Hezbollah resistance “was not formed in a vacuum.” At one point Israel occupied Lebanon for more than 20 years and has a history of invading Lebanon, he said, adding, “that’s why the resistance was formed.”

Muhammad Sankara of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) suggests Israel and the U.S. are playing a game of divide and conquer. He said language in the agreement could pit the Lebanese Army against Hezbollah if carried out as written. He also said Israel doesn’t currently occupy the two “pilot zones” they agreed to withdraw from.

“It’s clear the U.S. and Israel are hoping to launch Lebanon into a civil war with Hezbollah,” Mr. Sankara told The Final Call. Their plan follows the “Gaza model” used against Palestinians: destabilize, disarm and make Lebanon a colony of Israel.

He described the Lebanese military as an “underdeveloped, under resourced, glorified police force armed by the U.S. with pre-1980s military equipment.”

Not face-to-face yet

While still debating control of the vital Strait of Hormuz and whether there will be fees charged to pass through, mediators for Iran and the U.S. reportedly reached agreement in Doha to release $6 billion of Iran’s frozen assets.

The indirect talks were mediated by Qatar and Pakistan even though the U.S. had sent envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to the region. Iranian authorities have said its negotiators will not sit down for peace talks with the Trump administration until all the points in the MoU have been upheld.

Terms of the MoU expire 60 days from its signing, which occurred on June 17. Mr. Trump said he went to war to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Professor Leon said those goals already existed before the U.S.-Israel attack.

“Everything Donald Trump claims he was trying to accomplish already existed in the JCPOA,” Professor Leon said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated in 2018 by President Barack Obama. “Whether it’s a non-nuclear Iran, an open Strait of Hormuz, all of that was already agreed to.

“Resistance forces are winning,” he concluded. “If they weren’t winning, the United States and Israel would not be talking about negotiations. They don’t negotiate when they have the upper hand.”

Will Netanyahu’s expansionist goals commit U.S. to continued conflict?

The post Another ‘forever war?’ appeared first on Final Call News.

Conflicting messages continue to be fired across the bow as the war enters its fourth month. Previous declared “ceasefires” never stopped missiles from being fired. The 14 points, or “understandings,” outlined in the MoU are interpreted differently depending on who’s doing the talking.

Shortly after signing the MoU, President Donald Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz open to ship traffic and that there would be no tolls charged for passage now or in the future.

Iranian authorities announced ships seeking to pass must get their approval and a permanent decision about the Strait, as stated in the MoU, would be decided by Iran and Oman, the two countries that border the waterway.

On June 25, Iran reportedly fired on a ship trying to navigate the Strait. A day later, the U.S. military fired on positions in Iran in response.

The MoU calls for a ceasefire “on all fronts,” including Lebanon, where Israel has continued to fire on Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group of resistance fighters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he has no intention to stop firing on Hezbollah or withdraw from Lebanon, which is a potential peace dealbreaker for Iran.

The MoU stipulates that Iran’s frozen assets would be made available to the Islamic Republic for use “upon implementation” of the MoU. Mr. Trump had declared that any funds would be spent to purchase agricultural and medical products from U.S. farmers and manufacturers. Iran declared it would spend its money as it pleases.

The Trump administration said it attacked Iran to destroy its capacity to develop a nuclear weapon. Shortly after the first negotiations between the U.S. and Iran on June 22, Vice President JD Vance announced that Iran had agreed to allow international inspectors back into the country.

But Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said there were no such plans, according to the BBC. President Trump posted on social media, “If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations.”

Many argue that Iran won the deal … and the war to this point. Tensions have arisen between Mr. Trump and representatives of the Republican Party, over whom he has exerted considerable control.

Several Republicans joined Democrats recently to pass a War Powers Resolution, a mostly symbolic effort that calls on the president to get approval from Congress to continue the fighting. Shortly thereafter, another vote sided with the president when a few legislators voted differently or abstained from the vote.

The president’s approval ratings have fallen to the mid- to upper-30% range since the unpopular war started, according to polls. The drop is mostly attributed to disapproval of the war, rising gas prices, and the cost of food and other necessities. Even Gulf allies are souring on Mr. Trump, according to a recent Washington Post article.

The article reveals that government officials from the UAE tried to dissuade Mr. Trump against the war and they publicly lavish praise on him. Privately, however, one official expressed they got “played.”

One businessman told the Post of excitement around Trump’s announcement of a $2 trillion investment deal in the region, and a campaign promise to be a “no war president.” That changed, however, when war threatened tourism, the economy, regional security and danger to infrastructure. “We got played,” the businessman told The Post.

Phyllis Bennis, program director with the Institute for Policy Studies, told The Final Call Mr. Trump’s MoU is a ceasefire agreement, while the JCPOA agreement negotiated by the Obama administration was a nuclear inspections agreement, one that Mr. Trump tore up during his first term.

The MoU calls for opening the Strait of Hormuz, which was not closed before the war, she pointed out.  “The urgency to end the war was crucial,” she said. “The MoU was designed to be done quickly, so they left out clarity. Instead of the impossibility of going for a nuclear agreement, Trump went for a ceasefire.”

Ms. Bennis said the biggest threat to the MoU is Israel’s determination to stay in Lebanon to fight Hezbollah, an opinion activist Ajamu Baraka, agrees with.

The attacks on Iran and Lebanon are efforts to undermine the only state in the region that can challenge Israel, Mr. Baraka told The Final Call. He postured that U.S. strategy is to exert hegemony in the Americas through its invasion of Venezuela, thus hurting China’s economy by disrupting its access to Venezuelan crude, as well as consolidating power with Israel in the Middle East.

“Trump had called for unconditional surrender from Iran,” said Mr. Baraka, director of the Black Alliance for Peace Centered Human Rights, adding he feels “the MoU was Mr. Trump’s way of pausing the conflict.”

On a recent 1A broadcast on National Public Radio, Al Monitor news Editor in Chief Joyce Karam speculated that Iran is paying attention to the negative polls and the waffling of some of Mr. Trump’s Republican legislators.

“We’re at half-time,” she said of the fighting. “Iran got themselves a sweet deal and the (Trump) administration is in a tough spot. They want to end the war but don’t have enough cards to pressure Iran. [Iran] knows the American public wants an end to the war.”

She added that President Trump is “playing a divide-and-conquer” strategy by sending Vice President Vance to talk to the Saudis while sending Secretary of State Marco Rubio to talk to Gulf state allies.

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