There are memorandums of understanding that hold, and there is the one signed at Versailles on June 17, which lasted 21 days before the United States struck approximately 90 Iranian military targets overnight, Bahrain’s air defense systems “confronted, intercepted, and destroyed” Iranian aerial attacks Thursday morning, and Trump flew home from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on the old Air Force One rather than the Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8i, as a security precaution that he immediately disputed was a security precaution.
U.S. Central Command confirmed Wednesday night: “U.S. Central Command forces completed an additional round of strikes against Iran, July 8, to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. forces struck approximately 90 Iranian military targets including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline.” This followed 80 targets struck the night before, including more than 60 IRGC small boats, which Trump described Thursday by saying: “They had a nice new radar center. They were all set to go, and we blew it up last week. They have to start all over again for a third time.” He said this as though making someone start over a third time is a sustainable resolution rather than a description of a conflict that has now restarted twice.
Three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were confirmed killed in the strikes, per Iran’s Mizan news agency. Iran’s deputy governor of Bushehr province claimed a U.S. projectile struck the perimeter area of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, which the White House has not confirmed and which, if true, represents a significant escalation of the conflict that restarted 21 days after a ceasefire both sides declared a victory. Kuwait and Bahrain both reported coming under Iranian drone and missile attacks on Thursday morning. The Bahrain Defense Force stated its air defense systems had “confronted, intercepted, and destroyed several treacherous Iranian aerial attacks.” The ceasefire, which the MOU described as a 60-day roadmap, covered 21 of those 60 days before the strikes resumed.
The New York Times reported Trump departed Turkey on the older presidential aircraft as a “security precaution” tied to ongoing hostilities. Trump disputed this to reporters on Air Force One: “We sent this one in so that the Air Force base here is on the same exact line. Did you see the picture with hundreds of people?” When a reporter asked whether he was aware of any credible Iranian threat against Air Force One, Trump said: “I have a threat all the time. I’m number one on their list — before you. But if I go, you go. So perhaps one day we want to change professions.” He said this to the journalists on the plane he had just explained was safe.
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who died in March, is today burying his father in Mashhad. Mourners in Tehran this week chanted for Trump’s death. Iran’s parliamentary spokesperson threatened a “hard slap” in response to U.S. strikes. Trump told CNBC that Tehran had “agreed to just about everything we need.” Both of these things are true.
When the 60-day roadmap’s ceasefire lasts 21 days, Bahrain’s air defense is destroying Iranian drones on Thursday morning, and the president is explaining why the new plane was actually fine while flying on the old one, what exactly did the roadmap map?
Sources
Fox News Live: US-Iran war, Strait of Hormuz, July 9
Fox News: Iranian officials make threats as US military targets the Islamic Republic
Fox News: Trump says Iran lies and cheats
