I've been seeing tweets that Mojtaba Khamenei is dead and was a war time feint so the US/Israel didn't blow up the real newly elected supreme leader. I asked Grok about it and:

quote:

No credible evidence from Iranian state sources, international intelligence, or major news outlets confirms Mojtaba's death or the use of a body double/fake leader. However, he hasn't appeared publicly since the announcement, which has fueled the speculation—especially given Israel's vows to target any successor and the regime's history of secrecy. Iranian officials have dismissed these rumors as enemy propaganda, and state TV has broadcast pledges of allegiance to him (using photos, not live footage).

In short, the core rumor isn't legit — it's a mix of wartime disinformation, AI fakes, and online jokes amplified by the chaos of the conflict. If new evidence emerges (e.g., a public appearance or official denial/confirmation), it could change, but as of now, Mojtaba is recognized as the living supreme leader by the regime and observers.

I uhh....

I'm uhh...

I...

https://x.com/EYakoby/status/2031476711645217011

Crud oil price.

Trump angrily smashing a turd and then crying on a toilet.

Alrighty.

Here's a response with something of similar...gravitas.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...FJlL6B5H8sfqNUo30%3D

Trump Admin Signals Iran Conflict Wrapping Up as US Forces Deliver Heaviest Day of Strikes

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said U.S. military operations against Iran will not turn into an ‘endless nation-building’ project.

President Donald Trump may be readying to declare victory in the military campaign against Iran, after nearly two weeks of U.S.–Israeli strikes on the Persian state.

At a press conference in Doral, Florida, on March 9, the president said that U.S. and Israeli forces were “winning very decisively” and that the joint military operation was “way ahead of schedule.”

During his press conference, Trump said the Iran conflict is “going to be ended soon.”

The president said the biggest threats Iran posed at the start of the conflict had been negated within the first two days of operations. He touted expansive strikes on Iran’s navy and air force.

The Pentagon has assessed that Iranian missile attacks have decreased by 90 percent from the start of the conflict and that drone attacks have decreased by 83 percent.

“As President Trump declared yesterday, we’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on March 10.

Hegseth deferred to the president on a specific timeline for the conclusion of U.S. operations.

“The president has set a very specific mission to accomplish, and our job is to unrelentingly deliver that,” Hegseth said. “Now, he gets to control the throttle. He’s the one deciding.”

As in previous press briefings during the Iran hostilities, Hegseth distanced the current U.S. military operations from those the United States undertook in Iraq in 2003.

“This is not 2003. This is not endless nation-building under those types of quagmires we saw under [President George W. Bush] or [President Barack Obama]. It’s not even close,” Hegseth said on March 10.

“Our generation of soldier will not let that happen again, and nor will this president, who very clearly ran against those kinds of never-ending, nebulously scoped missions.”

Trump had previously called for Iran’s unconditional surrender.

On March 10, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump isn’t necessarily expecting Iranian leaders to announce a surrender.

“When President Trump says that Iran is in a place of unconditional surrender, he’s not claiming the Iranian regime is going to come out and say that themselves,” Leavitt said.

“What the president means is that Iran’s threats will no longer be backed by a ballistic missile arsenal that protects them from building a nuclear bomb in their country.”
Most Intense Day of Strikes

During his March 10 remarks, Hegseth announced that U.S. forces were undertaking the “most intense day of strikes inside Iran” since the start of hostilities, involving the most fighters, the most bombers, and “intelligence more refined and better than ever.”
U.S. forces reported that in the first 10 days of fighting, they struck more than 5,000 targets, including 50 Iranian warships.

On March 10, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said U.S. forces were continuing to search for and strike Iranian mine-laying vessels that could impede commercial traffic through the Persian Gulf.

At a March 4 press briefing, Hegseth said U.S. forces were also working to achieve total air superiority over Iranian airspace and would reach that objective “in under a week.”

In their remarks last week, Hegseth and Caine said that gradual reductions in Iran’s air defenses would allow U.S. forces to transition from striking with longer-ranged weapons launched outside of Iranian airspace to using cheaper and more readily available bombs that can be dropped from within Iran’s airspace.

At the March 10 press briefing, Caine said U.S. bombers had recently dropped dozens of 2,000-pound GPS-guided gravity bombs to strike underground Iranian missile facilities in the south of the country.

The Epoch Times reached out to the U.S. Central Command for more details about the progress of the U.S. effort to gain air superiority over Iran but did not receive a response by publication time.

Thus far, seven U.S. military personnel have been killed in the course of hostilities with Iran.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told The Epoch Times that another 140 U.S. military personnel have sustained injuries. Parnell said most of the injuries have been minor, and 108 of those injured have since returned to duty.

“Eight service members remain listed as severely injured and are receiving the highest level of medical care,” Parnell said.
Trump Consulting With Netanyahu

Although he said during his March 9 press conference that the current hostilities with Iran would soon end, Trump said U.S. forces may once again be called upon to fight Iranian forces.
“If it starts up again, they'll be hit even harder,” the president warned.

In an interview with The Times of Israel on March 8, Trump said he would consult with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he moves to conclude U.S. military operations against Iran.

“I think it’s mutual ... a little bit,” Trump said. “We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account.”

The fighting with Iran has reignited clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which has been designated by the United States as a terrorist group and has long been considered an ally to Iran’s Shia Islamic leadership.

Israel’s military has reported striking dozens of Hezbollah targets across Lebanon. The Israeli military has reported that several of its troops have been injured in the fighting.

As of March 9, Netanyahu’s office had identified two Israeli soldiers killed in the course of fighting along the Lebanon border.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Weekend at Bernie's!

Hey, it worked for 3 and a half years for the Bidet Administration.

On a slight tangent, I am looking forward to seeing how much the conflict in Iran affects the war in Ukraine. Iran was a major supplier of drones to Russia, which is obviously seriously diminished. Russian-language news reports my better half listens to are saying that drone attacks in Ukraine are down significantly. The kink in their report being that the attacks are down because Russia is supplying Iran with drones to attack us, not that Iran is not supplying Russia to attack Ukraine. Who knows, maybe an auxiliary side benefit to taking out Iran is to put Putin in a tighter position on Ukraine.

.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...pDFjSSuKVqWEgTu3k%3D

IEA Agrees to Release Record 400 Million Barrels From Reserves

Global oil prices pared their gains following the organization’s announcement.

Members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed on March 11 to release 400 million barrels of oil from reserves.

This is the largest withdrawal on record as governments attempt to mitigate the spike in global energy prices.

Global oil prices pared their gains following the organization’s announcement.

With global crude demand totaling approximately 100 million barrels per day, the latest supply injection is expected to be enough to cover about four days of consumption.

This is a developing story. Please check back for further updates.

Ummm...
Any ship can be a mine-sweeper, ONCE.
We need to FIRE about 200 Navy Admirals for lying to their chain of command, the rot is deep...

quote:

Everyone...there is no need to panic about mines.

The US Navy has kept four mine countermeasure vessels in the Persian Gulf for the past 35 years. These ships and crews have trained for this very circumstance.

WAIT...what is that?

The minesweepers just arrived in Philadelphia yesterday to be decommissioned, but we have three Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) that took their place.

https://x.com/mercoglianos/status/2031460764545081729

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:

We need to FIRE about 200 Navy Admirals for lying to their chain of command, the rot is deep...

What did they lie about?

To play devil's advocate, of the three swappable mission modules that were supposed to be available on the LCS ships, the mine countermeasures module is apparently the most mature and developed. All three of the LCS's in the ME are equipped with the mine hunting package.
https://news.usni.org/2025/03/...termeasures-packages

I'm not a fan of the LCS, I believe it was poorly conceived & executed however, if it's mine countermeasure set-up works, than use them. My understanding the MCM's that got removed were barely holding together similar to the LPD's and Tico-cruisers that are rapidly being de-com'd

In response to 6guns post above, I hope none of the reserves being released are from OUR SPR! the SPR is not there for vote buying via gas prices!

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Shit, I don't even know anymore. Now we've got a Kardboard Khamenei

The Babylon Bee says:

TEHRAN — The newly-minted Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei tragically died this morning after being accidentally left out in the rain.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
What did they lie about?

To play devil's advocate, of the three swappable mission modules that were supposed to be available on the LCS ships, the mine countermeasures module is apparently the most mature and developed. All three of the LCS's in the ME are equipped with the mine hunting package.
https://news.usni.org/2025/03/...termeasures-packages

I'm not a fan of the LCS, I believe it was poorly conceived & executed however, if it's mine countermeasure set-up works, than use them. My understanding the MCM's that got removed were barely holding together similar to the LPD's and Tico-cruisers that are rapidly being de-com'd

I'm skeptical, to say the least, of the effectiveness of the modules vs MCM, and the Littoral overall as well. I REALLY don't trust most of the process surrounding the Littoral development.

I sure sure hope those admirals were right, because they were wrong about almost everything else regarding the capabilities of those ships.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Shit, I don't even know anymore. Now we've got a Kardboard Khamenei

The Babylon Bee says:

TEHRAN — The newly-minted Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei tragically died this morning after being accidentally left out in the rain.

quote:

Originally posted by BOATTRASH1:
In response to 6guns post above, I hope none of the reserves being released are from OUR SPR! the SPR is not there for vote buying via gas prices!

The good news is there has been no release from the SPR (checked their website and news), but the bad news is you're living in fantasy land if you think it's not a political tool especially in an election year.

The SPR is sitting on 415.4 million barrels combined between the 4 sites which is 58% full assuming everything is in service (i.e. a huge assumption considering it's all 35 to 40 years old and gov't managed). They've only purchased a measely 1.9 million barrels in 2026 and none in March.

EIA posts the US refining capacity at 19.5 million barrels per day if everything is operable, but all of the SPR is located in the Gulf Coast where the refining capacity is 10.65 million barrels per day. We have ~21 days total US refining capacity in SPR but the more realistic number is ~39 days Gulf Coast refining capacity.

Can’t we also use AMCM using MH-53s?

quote:

Originally posted by Patriot:
Can’t we also use AMCM using MH-53s?

I don't think they deployed them. Also, as I understand it, which admittedly is not complete, it would depend on the type of mine/detonator style used.

I didn’t say they wouldn’t release any. I’m not living in fantasy land. I said what I said and I’m standing by it.
And yes I know your in the oil business.