U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee sent a memo to embassy staff sheltering, joking that if the extended lockdown leads to a baby in nine months, they should “name the little bugger after me,” adding, “If it’s a girl, Michelle is a nice name too.”

The U.S. and Ecuador conducted a joint military operation against drug cartels in Ecuador.

The U.S. military only provided advisors, intelligence, and planning support, while Ecuadorian forces carried out the actual ground and air operations.

Israel is airstriking Iran’s internal security forces—including the IRGC, Basij militia, police units, and intelligence agencies—to weaken the regime’s ability to suppress protests and encourage a popular uprising against the government.

However, analysts say airstrikes alone are unlikely to cause regime change, since Iran’s government still controls most weapons and security forces.

Source: WSJ

Canadian PM Mark Carney on Iran:

Canada has long supported the imperative of neutralizing this grave global threat.

Canada stands with the Iranian people in their long and courageous struggle against the regime’s oppressive rule.

Which is why we support efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security.

Canadian PM Mark Carney on Iran:

The current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order:

Despite decades of UN Security Council resolutions, the tireless work of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the succession of sanctions and diplomatic frameworks, Iran’s nuclear threat remains.

And now the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the United Nations or consulting allies, including Canada. So where to from here?

With a rapidly spreading conflict and growing threats to civilian life, Canada reaffirms that international law binds all belligerents. We condemn the strikes carried out by Iran on civilians and civilian infrastructure across the Middle East.

And we implore all parties, including the United States and Israel, to respect the rules of international engagement. Canada calls for a rapid de-escalation of hostilities and is prepared to assist in achieving this goal.

Trump:

Zohran has come a long way embracing, of course, the Declaration of Independence while at The Oval Office — Big progress!

Reza Pahlavi:

It's almost like D-Day for us. Now the playing field has been equalized.

At least we have a real chance now to succeed and take back to the streets and ultimately take the country over.

Reza Pahlavi:

Horizon is so near. I can even smell it and taste it as of now.

Israeli Defense Minister Katz:

Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people—will be an unequivocal target for elimination.

It does not matter what his name is or the place where he hides.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Netanyahu:

The issue of Bibi is interesting, because he’s got his own domestic issues. He’s trying to stay out of jail. He’s got an election coming up. He’s potentially on the ropes.

He’s got folks, the hardline, that want to annex the West Bank. I mean Friedman and others are talking about it appropriately sort of an apartheid state.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom:

We’re talking about regime change?

For two years, they haven’t even been able to solve the Hamas question in Israel.

Q: Do you think, looking down the road, that the United States should consider maybe, you know, rethinking our military support for Israel?

California Gov. Newsom: It breaks my heart, because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path where I don’t think you have a choice about that consideration.

Iran will hold a three-day farewell ceremony for Khamenei starting Wednesday at 10 p.m. (1830 GMT) at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini prayer ground.

Funeral procession details will be announced once finalized.

Source: Reuters

Asian markets tumbled Wednesday, led by a record 12% plunge in Seoul, as investors dumped semiconductor stocks and braced for an oil shock from the widening Middle East War.

South Korea’s benchmark index has lost over 18% in two days, while the won fell to a 17-year low. Japan’s Nikkei dropped 3.9% and Taiwan stocks fell 4.3%.

Source: Reuters

Argentina's President Milei posted this video on his Instagram account.

CIA Weighs Arming Kurds Against Iran

In recent days, the CIA and Trump administration have discussed arming Iranian Kurdish forces operating along the Iraq-Iran border to spark unrest in Iran, CNN reports, as the IRGC conducts drone strikes and Kurdish leaders seek U.S. political assurances.

READ MORE

Zohran Mamdani on Iran:

I've said before that the Iranian government has engaged in systematic repression of its own people, even killing thousands of Iranians who were seeking to express the most basic forms of dissent earlier this year. It is a brutal government.

And I've also said that while I may be a young mayor, I am old enough to remember the devastating consequences of our country pursuing a war with the intent of regime change in that very same region not that many years ago.