The Iran War Rages On: Israeli Assassination Strikes, Steve Witkoff's Texts, and the Mounting Storm in the Strait of Hormuz

On Tuesday, Israel announced that it assassinated Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani and the head of Irani’s internal security force and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on Iranians to begin preparing to overthrow the government in Tehran. President Donald Trump and his senior aides claim that Iran’s ballistic missile and drone capacity has largely been decimated and that Iran is begging to negotiate an end to the war. Yet Iran continues to dominate access to the Strait of Hormuz and to launch strikes against both Israel and U.S. military outposts and bases across the Persian Gulf—and Iranian leaders say they will determine when the war ends.

On Drop Site’s weekly livestream, Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim discuss the latest developments on the 18th day of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, including yesterday’s reporting on how special envoy Steve Witkoff has been texting Iranian officials asking to resume talks, messages Iranian officials told Scahill they have ignored. The White House responded angrily to Scahill’s report, calling Drop Site “abhorrent,” and denouncing the publication as engaging in “America Last behavior.”

Scahill then speaks to Dr. Foad Izadi of the University of Tehran about Larijani’s reported assassination, Iran’s current position in the war and the prospects for civil unrest or armed battles inside Iran.

Finally, Grim speaks to Emran Feroz, a journalist and contributor to Drop Site, about the growing conflict on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and last night’s raid on a hospital in Kabul that killed 400 people and wounded about 250 others. Residents in the area told Drop Site News contributor Feroz that the hospital itself was struck during the attack. Pakistan has not immediately commented on the allegation.

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