Mario Nawfal
@MarioNawfal · Public intellectuals, authors & commentators
Mario Nawfal is an entrepreneur and host of a high-reach current-affairs program on X.
🇺🇸🇪🇺 The U.S. reportedly went to its NATO allies with a pretty wild ask: Help dismantle the International Criminal Court. U.S. Amb. to NATO Matthew Whitaker told all 32 allies in a closed-door meeting to pull out of the Rome Statute and STOP supporting the ICC. And he apparently ended with: “We will be watching closely who stands with America.” There’s a pretty big problem with that request. Every NATO country except the U.S. and Turkey is actually a member of the ICC... France and the Netherlands immediately pushed back and made clear they weren’t going anywhere. Washington’s beef with the court goes back years, including its investigation into alleged crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan. But Israel is a big part of the fight now too, with the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The U.S. has already sanctioned ICC officials. Now it apparently wants its allies to start walking away from the court, too. Source: Politico / Writer: Daniyal
🇮🇷 Reports of explosions are coming in from around the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media says blasts were heard in Sirik, Minab and Qeshm Island, with authorities saying some appeared to come from the direction of the sea. Sirik was reportedly hit by “hostile projectiles.” Who’s firing is still unconfirmed. In Hormuz right now, that distinction matters quite a bit. Sourcve: Anadolu Agency / Writer: Oliver
🇾🇪🇸🇦 Houthi commanders just walked the western coast they say they took, promising the rest of Yemen is next. Mocha (Al-Mokha) is on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, ~50–70 km north of the Bab al-Mandeb. Holding it, plus the nearby coast, gives the Houthis greater leverage over Red Sea shipping and a path toward the strait. They framed the visit as the start of a campaign to drive out the Saudi-backed PLC and “liberate” the whole country. Source: @TabzLIVE on TG / Writer: Samuel
Trump vs. Reality No more forever wars. Starts a war with Iran America First. Israel First It will be a quick 6-week war. The war won't end until after the midterms We're in charge of Hormuz. Iran is still calling the shots Oil is coming down. Oil hits $100 a barrel You've heard of Inverse Cramer? Well, now we have Inverse Trump Writer: Ian
🇮🇷🇨🇳 Iran has reportedly been turning sanctioned oil into billions of dollars of Chinese goods without sending the money through the international banking system. Around $2–2.5 billion allegedly moved through the barter-like system over the past year, converting Iranian oil proceeds into credits used to buy Chinese medicines, vehicles, and communications equipment. Sources say the mechanism was also used at least once in connection with millions of dollars in air-defence contracts. China, meanwhile, said it's unfamiliar with the arrangement as it reiterated its opposition to unilateral sanctions not authorized by the UN Security Council. Source: Reuters
🇺🇸 🇯🇴 One Iranian volley may have gutted American air defense stocks in Jordan, and nobody in Washington will say how badly. Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar runs the arithmetic that keeps turning against the U.S.: "Iran is poised for another round of this and another round after that and another round after that." Interceptors get fired once. Launchers reload. Tehran can keep buying rounds in a game where every American answer costs more than the shot that provoked it.
🇺🇸 George W. Bush just implied that the Iraq war was "very wise." 🤣 "If you look back, you say we overreacted. But at the time, I don’t think we overreacted. We were very, very wise about how we dealt with these threats that came in." If Wisdom involves thousands of dead American soldiers, trillions of dollars lost, and the rise of ISIS, I sure hope we get a lot of stupidity. Writer: Mhedi https://t.co/LJBK2UwUew
🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran's cluster-missile swarm over Jordan was a rehearsal, and the ships guarding the carrier can't reload where they're fighting Picture last night's volley over Jordan aimed at the George Washington instead. That's the scenario Bobby Jones can't stop running. A destroyer captain with a limited magazine will spend it defending the carrier, five thousand sailors and eighty aircraft, before he defends himself, and when the cells run dry there's no reloading at sea. The ship has to sail far out to a staging base, which may put it out of position for days. The interceptors those ships carry, the SM-3 and SM-6, were drained first because they were the most proven, used for defense they were never meant for. The doctrine says shoot down the arrow, then kill the archer. Nobody is killing archers. Why hasn't Iran taken the shot? Because a burning American warship is the USS Maine in Havana, the moment that would put boots on the ground and worse on the table. So Iran hits tankers instead and builds what Bobby calls its future: "Welcome to the world's biggest toll booth"
🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump is increasingly tying some of his biggest promises to one date: the midterms. On Iran, he now says the war will end “immediately after our election.” On energy, he has repeatedly promised gas prices will plunge once the war ends, recently predicting $3 a gallon and eventually below $2. He has also been telling Republicans that the economy and prices will improve and that voters should judge his record at the ballot box. Trump is basically loading every promise onto the midterms at this point: end the Iran war, bring gas prices down, get the economy moving. November 3 is starting to look a little desperate. Writer: Sol https://t.co/wFlAnhQ2J4
🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump was asked if a nuclear deal with Iran might no longer be on the table: “I'm doing much more than a nuclear deal. We're going to have nuclear. But there's going to be a lot of other things on the table that wouldn't have been on the table three months ago.” Trump clearly thinks Iran needs a deal more than he does. Writer: Daniyal https://t.co/0ZFJIZhq2M
🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump was asked how he explains oil jumping back above $100 to Americans waiting for prices to come down: “Well, I think it's very easy to explain to America. All you have to do is say, ‘Will you let Iran have a nuclear weapon?’ And the answer is no. And they're doing very poorly. Their country is in shambles right now.” Whereas America's doing just great... right Writer: Daniyal https://t.co/MOpOYvTOX5
🚨🇮🇶🇮🇷🇵🇦 Seems we have an update on this... A Panama-flagged oil tanker called New Andros was hit in Iraqi waters at around 6AM local time... The tanker was carrying about 2 million barrels of Iraqi fuel when it was hit, setting the vessel on fire. According to Iraqi port officials, there were no casualties among the 22 crew members, thankfully. Source: Reuters, Jerusalem Post / Writer: Michael
🚨🇮🇱🇵🇸 Israeli FM Gideon Sa’ar: "Who is responsible for the victims in Gaza? Hamas is responsible for the victims of BOTH sides: Israelis and Palestinians." Hamas is partly to blame, that much is clear, but 70,000+ people are dead, 20,000 of whom are kids... To suggest Israel bears NO responsibility for that flies in the face of common sense and common decency. Writer: Samuel https://t.co/uEctY6oids
🇮🇱 Israeli FM Gideon Sa’ar: "The demonization of the only Jewish state directly contributes to antisemitism." Sorry, but that "demonization" was self-inflicted... You can't kill, maim, or destroy nearly everything and everyone in Gaza and play that card to avoid the repercussions. Writer: Samuel https://t.co/xlkpjFuAxI
🇬🇷🇮🇱🇹🇷 Greek Foreign Minister Gerapetritis: "We have the defense cooperation we have developed with Israel, which, as you know, has grown significantly. We will not define our international alliances based on the wishes of other countries. Let that be clear." Essentially, Greece is telling Erdoğan to shove it... Writer: Michael https://t.co/WtwfKTW58x
🇮🇷 At least 75 ships have been hit around Hormuz in just over 6 months, with 21 seafarers killed. But the damage is not contained on the vessels themselves. The container ship Safeen Prestige sank on March 4, with an oil slick detected afterward. The tanker Olympic Life was damaged on May 26 and discharged fuel into the sea. Then on June 30, the Caroline Bezengi, carrying an estimated 800,000 barrels of oil, leaked into the coastline. It's always been one of the world's most critical energy corridors. Now it's also one of the deadliest. Source: Al Jazeera, MarineTraffic, IMO / Writer: Julie
🇷🇺🇺🇸 Moscow may have worked out that America can't fight two wars at once. Geopolitics expert Brandon Weichert sketches the opening Russia could take while Washington is consumed by the Gulf: "It wouldn't surprise me if there is an interim period where the Russians escalate, escalate, escalate in that fortress city region, take what they want in the fortress cities and then they say, okay, we're done." Grab the ground, stop on your own terms, and leave Washington to describe it however it likes. @WeTheBrandon
🇺🇸🇮🇷 The Pentagon sat on a captured unmanned submarine until Iran posted the photos and forced the admission. Four tankers struck, evacuation warnings issued to vessels tied to Bahrain and Kuwait, and geopolitics expert Brandon Weichert says the official version keeps arriving after the footage does. "Most of what you're hearing coming out of Washington as it relates to the war is complete bullshit." Tehran has learned it can set the record simply by publishing first. @WeTheBrandon
🇮🇷🇺🇸🇯🇴 Iran unleashes ballistic missiles toward U.S. bases in Jordan Footage reportedly shows Iranian ballistic missiles tearing through the night sky as they head toward U.S. bases in Jordan. Source: @TabzLIVE / Writer: Val https://t.co/LwgDwqBJR7
🇬🇧🇮🇱 Twelve countries banned trade with Israel's settlements, and Israel answered by shutting Britain's consulate in Jerusalem and backing Argentina's claim to the Falklands Britain moved first, then France, Canada, Spain, Poland and seven others followed with a joint ban on goods from the settlements. Israel's reply took hours. The British consulate in Jerusalem is closing, twelve Britons are barred from entering, and London is out of the US-led Gaza peace mission. Smotrich demanded the ambassador be expelled tonight. Ben Gvir went further, calling the Falklands occupied Argentine land and accusing Britain of stealing its oil, this from a government running settlements in the West Bank. Then Washington joined in. A Florida congressman warned British firms could be punished under state anti-boycott laws, and Ambassador Huckabee told the BBC a US response was coming: "without a doubt" America is now threatening its closest ally on Israel's behalf over a rule Europe wrote for itself. @WeTheBrandon
🇮🇱🇺🇸🇬🇧 Rep. Randy Fine, a U.S. congressman from Florida, is inserting himself into a UK-Israel matter... Where does he get off? What the HELL does this have to do with the State of Florida? Maybe worry about the 6th District, Congressman... Source: Rep. Randy Fine / Writer: Michael
🇸🇦 Smoke is rising from energy facilities in southern Saudi Arabia after an attack this morning, and oil prices are already moving. The Saudi Ministry of Energy confirmed the strikes sparked fires at several sites, forcing a temporary halt to some operations while crews work to contain the blazes and secure the area. A number of citizens and residents were injured, and medical teams are treating them as authorities assess the damage. Brent crude has climbed to $98 a barrel, WTI is near $91, both pushing toward multi day highs as markets react to the risk out of the Gulf, once again. Source: Saudi Ministry of Energy / Writer: Julie https://t.co/xyQFzLiEuu
🇺🇸🇮🇱 Evangelical groups in the U.S send Israel around $129 million every year!! They start indoctrinating their kids by getting them to empty out their piggy banks for Tel Aviv How many of those kids are paying towards children being bombed in Gaza or the propaganda campaign to try and whitewash Israel's reputation? Writers: Mhedi, Ian https://t.co/sm88hC3b9G
🇮🇱🇺🇸 Israel’s UN ambassador is already going after Zohran Mamdani before Netanyahu even gets to New York. Danny Danon accused the mayor of “sowing chaos” after Mamdani encouraged New Yorkers who are angry with Netanyahu to protest when the Israeli prime minister comes to the UN later this month. And these two sides already really don’t like each other. Mamdani has called Netanyahu a “war criminal” and previously promised to have him arrested if he came to New York, although he’s since admitted the city can’t actually do that. Netanyahu, meanwhile, says he’s coming anyway. He’s already called Mamdani a “hate-spewing elected official” and says he’ll “speak the truth” when he gets there. And a meeting between the two? Danon pretty much shut that down: “I don’t think the prime minister wants to meet with him.” Netanyahu isn’t even in New York yet and they’re already going at each other. Source: Fox News / Writer: Daniyal
🇺🇸🇮🇷 The Iran war has cost American households $100 billion in energy alone, and the cheapest way out is the toll Washington won't allow A million dollars every two minutes. That's the pace, by Axios's count, at which the war has been draining American wallets since February, $100 billion so far, about $760 per household, with Texas, California and Florida hit hardest. Raymond Zucaro sees the bill climbing further, because the Gulf exported refined fuel, not just crude, and the world's refineries still run at half their pre-war pace. On top of that, insuring a tanker through the strait now costs TEN TIMES what it did, so a cargo from Canada to China is cheaper to cover than one through Oman's lane. His fix is the one nobody in Washington will say... let Iran and Oman charge their toll. A fee on every ship would cost the world less than what it's paying now, and Oman was ready to sign until the pressure from Washington arrived. @RayZucaro @WeTheBrandon
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