Smoke But No Cigar: US Breaks Ceasefire, Strikes Iran, Kills Three Indian Merchant Mariners, Retracts Threat to Strike Again, Claims Peace Deal is Near While Iran Pushes Back
Between Tuesday June 9th and Wednesday June 10th, US Central Command (CENTCOM) launched strikes on Iran, targeting military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites across the country. They claim they fired precision munitions on Iranian targets “that posed a threat to U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression.”
The grand irony obvious to anyone paying attention is that Iran has never exhibited any form of aggression towards the US unless US forces have attacked or aggressed first (which has always been the case).
Not only that, but US forces disabled three merchant ships in the Gulf of Oman this week that were allegedly violating a U.S. naval blockade of Iran. Strikes on a ship on Tuesday resulted in the deaths of three Indian merchant mariners, according to a statement from the union representing the mariners who were killed. On Tuesday, around 11:15 p.m., U.S. forces fired precision munitions into the engine room of MT Settebello (IMO: 9162916), a Palauan-flagged ship owned by Panamanian company Aqua Aurora Shipping Lines Inc. The International Maritime Organization lists three seafarer fatalities as a result of the strike, the first deaths from U.S. enforcement of the blockade.
President Trump began Thursday by threatening to bomb Iran for a third consecutive night and then seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub in the Persian Gulf. Hours later, he took it back, claiming that a peace deal was near. However, Iran insists that “nothing has been finalized.” Trump has claimed that “They will not have a nuclear weapon – they have agreed to that,” while Iran has not, in fact, agreed to any changes in its nuclear program.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/world/middleeast/trump-retracts-threat-iran.html
January 6 Rioter Works for Pentagon
The US Defense Department has confirmed that a convicted January 6 insurrectionist is on staff at the Pentagon in a role that comes with top-security clearance. Elias Irizarry, 24, is the special assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense Derrick Anderson, who oversees the US military’s Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict policy office, with a focus on irregular warfare and counterterrorism.
Irizarry was 19 years old when he joined the mob of insurrectionists that stormed the capitol on January 6, 2021, in protest of Trump’s election loss to former President Joe Biden in 2020. At the time he was enrolled at Citadel Military College of South Carolina as a freshman cadet, later expelled due to his participation, only to be readmitted and graduate from the school in 2024.
The Acting Pentagon press secretary confirmed Irizarry’s employment since early 2025, and described Irizarry as “a qualified, patriotic young professional” via a statement on X.
What set Irizarry apart from other insurrectionists, according to his lawyer and the sentencing judge—Irizarry pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 weeks in jail, which he and other convicted January 6 rioters were pardoned of on the first day of Trump’s second term—was his young age and display of remorse, disavowing his participation in what he considers a “disgrace.”
The judge viewed Irizarry’s actions as a dumb mistake that one makes in their younger years, as opposed to an adult decision to join a revolt against the government alongside right-wing fanatics, conspiracy theorists, and white supremacists, stating “life is like that, it takes us on strange journeys. You are at such an early stage in yours, you don’t know what road lies ahead for you. I suspect you are going to make something very remarkable of your life; I hope you do,” and offered to write a letter of recommendation if he wished to re-apply to the college he was expelled from.
This instance is one of a slew of examples that starkly reveal who in this country is considered well-intentioned but misguided regardless of the consequences of their actions, and who is perceived as guilty until proven innocent by their existence alone.
Sources:
https://www.newsweek.com/pentagon-hired-convicted-capitol-rioter-qualified-elias-irizarry-12023596
Israeli Soldier Kills 7-Month-Old Palestinian Baby in Hebron
An Israeli soldier opened fire on a Palestinian family’s car in Hebron, killing seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal and wounding his parents. The Israeli military claimed troops believed the vehicle was accelerating toward them. The baby’s father, Fahd Abu Haikal, said the car had already stopped when a soldier standing about 10 meters away fired through the windshield.
The bullet went through Fahd Abu Haikal’s arm before striking his baby in the head and wounding the baby’s mother. Israeli military officials later acknowledged that the family in the car were civilians. The military has not identified the soldier or said whether he remains on duty.
Infant Sam Abu Haikal was buried in Hebron on Saturday, his body wrapped in a Palestinian flag. Israel offered “deep sorrow” while the family rejected the claim that the shooting was a mistake. The Israeli military claims to now be investigating the killing.
Sources:
Federal Judge Strikes Down Anti-Asylum Immigration Policies
Judge John J. McConnell Jr., chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, struck down the Trump Administration’s halting of asylum grants, along with the bar on people from 39 different countries (predominantly in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Arab World) from receiving decisions on asylum, work permit, green card, and citizenship applications, among others.
McConnell called the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) policies “contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious,” in the opinion he wrote on the ruling. He attacked the USCIS for blatant disregard of federal law in refusing to stick to its legal bounds, provide necessary justification for its actions, and blatantly disregarding immigrant lives and wellbeing.
McConnell’s ruling will impact pending immigration cases from all countries targeted by the travel ban, not only those in the lawsuit. Immigration rights organizations celebrated this as a win for bringing countless migrants stuck in administrative limbo closer to security.
James Percival, the general counsel for the Homeland Security Department, the parent agency of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, protested the ruling as “sabotage dressed in legal clothing,” facilitated by “the left.” He made no comment on how the administration would respond to the ruling.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/us/politics/asylum-immigration-ruling.html
https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-asylum-citizenship-10591d120e5cb13da736d9eeb06757c8
Behind Enemy Lines 