Iran

An unexpected war of words erupted between two sworn Middle-Eastern rivals over the weekend, when Saudi Arabia and Iran threatened each other with military action, if not outright destruction.

It started on Tuesday, when in "unusually blunt comments" delivered during a nationally-televised interview Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - the man who is now effectively in charge of Saudi oil policy - ruled out any dialogue with Iran and pledged to protect his conservative kingdom from what he called "Tehran's efforts to dominate the Muslim world."

According to reports from Fox News, Iran attempted to launch a cruise missile from a submerged Yono-class “midget” submarine in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday but the test ultimately failed.  Back in February, Iran claimed to have successfully tested a submarine-launched missile though it was not immediately clear if this week's test was the first time the Iranians had attempted to launch a missile from a submerged submarine.

The founder and CEO of Iran's satellite TV network Gem TV, Saeed Karimian, 45, who in 2016 was tried in absentia and sentenced to six years in prison by a Tehran court for "spreading propaganda against Iran", was shot dead in Istanbul.

Authored by Darius Shahtahmasebi via TheAntiMedia.org,

Prophetically foreshadowing the current crisis (and apparent action plan), leaked CIA documents from the reign of Bashar al-Assad's father in the 1980s show a Washington Deep State plan coalescing to "bring real muscle to bear against Syria," toppling its leader (in favor of one amenable to US demands) , severing ties with Russia (its primary arms dealer), and paving the way for an oil and gas pipeline of Washington's choosing.