ALT MEDIA

RACHEL BLEVINS—Reports say President Trump is considering deploying thousands of U.S. Troops to the Middle East, with air and naval forces to target the Strait of Hormuz, and ground forces to attempt to seize Iran’s Kharg Island. This, as the Trump Admin requests $200 BILLION in funding for the war they just launched. Brian Berletic, a geopolitical analyst and Host of The New Atlas, noted that the war in Iran has been decades in the making and was never meant to just be a four-day operation. He pointed out that the U.S. has its eye on its biggest competition: China.

JM—Iran also damaged an oil refinery in Haifa. Israel has only two and Haifa is its largest. You might think that this benefits the US LNG industry. Maybe yes. Also less than you think.

For example, Japan is hugely dependent on LNG. If it can’t get it from the ME, it must get it elsewhere . It already gets some from Russia. And has contracts with the US, but it has shifted its focus to Canada.

The LNG Canada Project in British Columbia in Kitimat, is partially funded by Mitsubishi Corporation (15% stake) shipping 2.1 million metric tons of LNG annually to Japan since 2025. The project aims to add 14 million tons of capacity annually, expanding over time. And there are other projects under construction. Japan and other Asian countries prefer Canadian LNG because it offers a shorter transit time (approx. 10 days) compared to Middle Eastern or US Gulf routes. This makes its economically competitive, despite higher production costs than, say, Qatar or even the US.

EI—Mar 19, 2026 #TheElectronicIntifada #TheElectronicIntifadaPodcast

Ali Abunimah, executive director, provides his analysis of what comes next after Israel bombed Iran’s South Pars gas field, one of the world’s largest, marking a serious escalation, as well as Iran’s response.

DW—The discussion addresses the possibilities and challenges of deploying ground forces, particularly US Marines, noting that while Israel and the US contemplate ground operations, significant obstacles exist, including the unwillingness of Kurdish groups to engage and the heavily fortified Iranian positions around the Strait of Hormuz. Freeman suggests that US Marines might instead target the Lesser Tunbs islands, a contested territory between Iran and the UAE, as a strategic move to bolster UAE ties.

The war’s complexity is further underscored by the Gulf Arab states’ precarious position. Despite heavy reliance on US military support, these states face severe vulnerabilities due to their economic dependence on oil and gas revenues, which are threatened by the ongoing conflict and Iranian attacks. Freeman highlights the Gulf states’ dilemma as they struggle to maintain internal stability while caught between Iran’s military pressure and their reliance on US arms sales, which have delayed deliveries.

DL—In the early morning of March 20, 2026, Dimitri Lascaris crossed the Turkey-Iran border by land. He then entered the Iranian province of West Azerbaijan. From there, Dimitri and the foreign journalists travelling with him drove by car to the Iranian city of Tabriz. Tabriz is one of Iran’s largest cities. The U.S. and Israel have bombed it repeatedly since the start of the war on February 28. In this report (his first report from Iran during the ongoing war), Dimitri describes what he has seen and experienced during his journey to Tabriz.