Israel strikes multiple areas
in southern Lebanon with
phosphorus shells
August 22, 2:33pm
(PressTV)
Israeli occupation forces have launched a series of air and
artillery attacks on several areas of southern Lebanon,
with Lebanese state media reporting the use of
phosphorus shells.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported that
Israeli artillery fire struck the outskirts of Mansouri, the area
around Bayt al-Sayyad and the outskirts of Majdal Zoun,
early on Saturday.
It also reported extensive explosions
in the three areas --- overnight.
Bayt al-Sayyad sustained particularly heavy damage, with NNA
reporting that homes across the town had been extensively
destroyed ---- and that no house remained undamaged.
The attacks also affected Hadatha, Beit Yahoun and Aita
al-Jabal, where explosions were reported overnight.
Machine-gun fire was directed toward nearby valleys, while Israeli
drones continued flying over towns and villages in western and
central parts of southern Lebanon, according to the agency.
In a separate development, Israeli warplanes carried out two strikes
at around 6:45 a.m. local time (0345 GMT) on Ali al-Taher hill, north
of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, NNA reported.
The agency also said Israeli artillery shelled areas around Dawhat
Kfar Remman and Dabsha hill, as well as a wooded area near
Ali al-Taher, throughout the night and into the early hours
of Saturday, adding ------- that the shelling included
phosphorus munitions.
White phosphorus attacks put civilians at grave risk and
cause intensely painful injuries including necrosis,
acute lung injuries, severe eye damage, and
second- or third-degree burns.
The use of such weapons against civilian areas constitutes
a clear violation of international law, and the Geneva
Conventions. The international community... has
remained largely silent on these violations.
The latest attacks come despite the existence of a US-
brokered framework agreement signed in June that
ostensibly calls for Israel's gradual withdrawal
and a cessation of hostilities.
Instead of enforcing the agreement, the United States has been
applying pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm
Hezbollah, effectively siding with Israeli demands and
allowing the occupation forces... a free hand to
continue their systematic destruction of
southern Lebanon.
The framework agreement itself is deeply flawed, imposing
obligations on Lebanon, such as the disarmament of
Hezbollah and refraining from international legal
action against Israel, while offering Israel
no meaningful commitments.
Israel has exploited this imbalance, continuing its attacks
and even expanding its occupation of Lebanese territory.
Despite the ceasefire deal, Israeli forces now occupy several parts
of southern Lebanon, some held for decades, and have advanced
more than ten kilometres into Lebanese territory in recent years.
______________________________________________________________
US war on Iran - significantly
impacted global economies
August 22, 11:17am
(PressTV)
The rising cost of basic goods resulting from the US war of
aggression against Iran has impacted goods not only in
the US but also in Europe and around the globe. The
immediate impact may be on energy, but the long-
term price effects will happen in the short term.
That's when the real pain will be felt by the
population at large.
The US economy has accumulated so much debt that it pays more
interest on its loans than it spends on Medicare. Meanwhile, the
populations of both Europe and the US are unable to keep up
with the rising prices of basic goods, denting consumer
confidence and spending.
When the cost of basic goods is affected, the top 1% or even top
10% may be able to handle this, but the poor and the elderly
are the ones who will suffer the most.
Supply chains and factories have been gravely impacted.
Inflation and increasing prices of basic goods are a natural outcome
of the US war of aggression against Iran. But broken supply chains
will take time to recover or be replaced, which means inflation is
here to stay.
Price of basic goods rising in West
The cost of basic goods from the US war of aggression against Iran
has impacted goods not only in the US, but in Europe and around
the world.
In the US, soap, shampoo, deodorant and household products have
risen by 2-3%, with milk, fruit, bread, meat and vegetables having
increased by as much as 30%.
How can income keep up with the rise in prices?
This is a situation where US citizens are having a very hard time
keeping up with the rising cost of living ---- to the point where
affordability has become the buzzword and a major political
issue within both the two major parties, the Democrats
and the Republicans, and it is the number one issue
for voters going into the elections..... in a couple
of months.
This, of course, has been generally a longstanding economic issue
in the United States that predates the war, but the war in Iran and
the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the economic crisis that
is really just beginning for US citizens is only making this long-
term historical trend, where it's very difficult for ordinary
people, ordinary working class, and middle-class
US citizens, to make ends meet, it's only
exacerbating this issue, and it's....
only going to get worse.
Ted Rall, American Columnist, Political Cartoonist, Author
War on Iran... pushes US debt toward
$40 trillion as borrowing costs surge
The US national debt... is set to cross $40 trillion - earlier than
previously expected - as higher oil prices, inflation concerns,
rising government borrowing and uncertainty over massive
AI investments drive long-term bond yields higher across
major economies.
The US government --- officially posted its largest July budget deficit
in history, at $432 billion, due to an acceleration in federal spending.
The interest on US debt - increased by $26 billion from last July's
levels - to an alarming $118 billion for the month. This puts total
interest expenses for FY 2026 --- up to $1.17 trillion in FY 2026.
As a result, interest expenses have now officially surpassed, both
national defense and Medicare spending. In other words, the US
government now spends more money just on interest than it
does to fund the entire US military or provide healthcare
for seniors.
Another problem is that some of the price
increases.. have yet to become manifest.
The worst is yet to come. I mean, at this point, look at gasoline
prices at service stations in the United States. Before the war,
it was just under $3 per gallon. Now it's just over $4 a gallon,
and the oil's futures markets and the traders don't seem to
have really responded to the fact that Brent crude oil has
already been as high as $100 per barrel, and it could
easily go higher as this goes on.
And there's no end in sight at this point, my personal take is
that the traders have been entirely too optimistic in terms
of thinking that the crisis is going to be put behind us.
Even in the extremely unlikely event that a peace agreement
were to be arrived at very quickly, the ripple effect that's
going to go through the economy ---- is going to go
through many months - and probably years.
We see that even now, we're having aftereffects still, of the COVID
pandemic five years ago, six years ago. So obviously, the current
ongoing and escalating situation in the Middle East, which now
involves 14 nations, is only going to have a tremendous effect
on all costs of goods and services in the United States,
because everything relies on electricity and power.
Ted Rall, American Columnist, Political Cartoonist, Author
The Trump economic fiasco of the past year and a half
The US war against Iran ------ has affected everyday
products in the US as well as the rest of the world.
In the US, soap, shampoo, deodorant and household products
have risen by 2-3%, with milk, fruit, bread, meat and
vegetables having increased by as much as 30%.
How can income keep up with the rise in prices?
In June 2026, four months after the start of US attacks on Iran, there
was an estimate that the average US household was paying $1,000
extra on top of what they would normally pay to survive.
$1,000 is a lot of money for the average US household that's already
kind of living paycheck to paycheck, and wages have not kept up
with the rises in prices, I think in May of this year, wage growth
was slower than inflation, for the first time in three years.
So that means - quite clearly - that the increase in wages is not
keeping up with the increase in prices that we're seeing
everywhere. In general -- in the system that we live in,
you know, wage increases come after cost of living
increases, and so, definitely, the costs to the
average household are increasing.
But it's also worth noting that when we're paying more for,
you know, soap or shampoo or food, that money is not
just disappearing into thin air, right?
It's going directly out of the workers' pockets and into the
ruling class's pockets, the pockets of the corporations
and the investors in those corporations that are
profiting massively off of this crisis by
artificially raising their prices ----
because they know they can.
Sachin Peddada, Economic Analyst
The US just sold 30-year bonds at 5.22 %, the highest borrowing
cost since 2001. The day before, 10-year notes went at the
highest since 2007.
It's a big deal because the national debt is near $40 trillion, larger
than the whole US economy, and all of it has to be refinanced at
these higher rates, over time.
The government now spends more on
the interest than on national defense.
When the government pays 5.22% to borrow for 30 years, the rate
pulls up everything else. You borrow against your mortgage and
your car loan included.
Financial consequences of the US War on Iran
The decision by US president Donald Trump - to break the
memorandum with Iran and potentially return to war- has
exacerbated economic instability, with inflation surging
by 31% since 2019.
It's not just a temporary disruption that's going on. This is a
structural shift that we're seeing that's rippling throughout
supply chains ------- the foundation of the global economy.
Oil prices have gone up, I think, by a record since the
start of the US war against Iran, even higher than
the price increases that we saw in 2022 after
the war in Ukraine started. And it's worth
noting that, first of all, in the immediate
term, what we're seeing is that these
corporations.. are able to take
advantage of a crisis --- to
raise their prices --- and
increase their profits.
One of our colleagues, Isabella Weber, talks about sellers' inflation
in the context of the war in Ukraine, and this is a good example of
that. But as in the case of Ukraine, this.. is also a sustained thing.
These prices are never going to go back down, so the prices are
artificially increased ...for a sustained amount of time.
There are downstream effects and long-term
effects of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
So ---- first, with the energy sector, 20% of global consumption of
energy is suddenly cut off from, you know, travel, and there are
oil terminals that Iran has struck in the region that are no
longer producing, but instead of investing their windfall
profits into increasing production, oil companies are
sitting on their cash, so they are not even trying to
increase their production, which means that the
price increases are something that they're
banking on for the long term ---- by
restricting their output.
Fertilizer costs are already increasing by 31% according to the World
Bank. Nitrogen prices are almost double what they were before the
war, and higher input costs, mean that the costs of all food
production - go up.
The third case I think that's interesting is helium, which is not really
talked about all that much, but helium is a major byproduct of gas
refining, and Qatar produces roughly, I think, a third of global
helium supply. And their facility was struck in March - and it
hasn't been repaired yet. And so the East Asian companies
that are making semiconductors, helium is an essential
component to semi-conductor manufacturing, and so..
a lack of helium means, that electronics, everything
that we use that has a semiconductor in it, is going
to be a lot harder to produce, which also includes
military technologies that the US will be relying
on, and so that also puts a strain on, not only
households but also on the state apparatus
that is, and then on the corporations that
are profiting off of the crisis.
Sachin Peddada, Economic Analyst
Trump's war on Iran triggers energy crisis,
recession fears, with $39 trillion debt
ticking like a bomb
It is common knowledge that the US war of aggression against Iran
and its illegal blockade have led to price increases and inflation
overall. But what specific items have been impacted in the
US and Europe in particular?
Rising gasoline prices have a direct and significant impact
on the cost of food and other essential goods.
Higher fuel prices increase transportation and distribution costs
across the country. Trucks that deliver food, vegetables, dairy
products, and other daily necessities... become more
expensive to operate, and these extra costs are
quickly passed on to the consumers.
As a result, the prices of basic food items and everyday goods rise,
adding further pressure on household budgets already strained
by inflation. Price increases are everywhere.
Coffee, for example, has risen by 35 percent, and gas by 34 percent,
a direct outcome of the US blockade. Ground beef, which used to
be one of the cheapest items of food that you could buy, has
gone up by 23%, Orange juice by 23%, and steak by 21%.
The price of utilities has risen by 8-12% as a result of the war
of aggression in Iran; airfare has increased by 12%.
Then there is sugar, which has gone up
by 9%, and chicken breasts... by 5.3%.
One of the cheapest items before the war, fruits and vegetables,
have increased by 5.2%, and clothing by 5 percent.
The World Bank estimated that the war could push overall
commodity prices about 16% higher, with energy prices
up about 24%. Which segments of the population
would you say will get hurt the most?
Perhaps in raw numbers, wealthy people will lose higher stock
portfolio value in the aggregate simply because they own
and control a bigger part of the economy.
But in terms of the pain and how it will be affected and how people
can ride it out or not ride it out, obviously the burden is going to
fall hardest upon the poor, the working class, and then, to a
lesser extent, the lower middle class and the middle class,
because these are those who live paycheck to paycheck,
and a 16% increase in costs, which I personally think
might be conservative, is just something that most
people can't do because every single penny that
comes into their paycheck, they spend as soon
as they receive it.
So it's not like they have a cushion. It's not like they are doing
particularly well. This is a country, the United States, which
has had rising income disparity, as many Western European
countries have had for the last few decades or more, so
yeah, the pain is going to disproportionately fall upon
the people who can afford it the least.
Ted Rall, American Columnist, Political Cartoonist, Author
Cost For Europe?
Looking at the latest available European data, the biggest
direct increases have been in energy and fuel. There has
been a significant increase in the price of electricity, as
well, adding to the cost of living for Europeans overall.
Price increases in food and groceries have been small up to
this point, but are still rising. The important caveat that we
need to focus on right now is that not all of the increase
can be attributed to the war on Iran.
There are other factors that need to be considered, for
example, weather, the Russian energy disruption, and
other factors that are also contributing to the price
increases at present.
In both Europe and the US, food hasn't exploded in price yet.
So, if you're standing in a European supermarket today, the
Iran War has not yet produced a 10 to 20 percent across-
the-board grocery shock.
Farmers and food producers first absorbed higher costs
for diesel, fertilizer, electricity, refrigeration,
packaging, and transportation.
Those costs....... can take months to reach supermarket
shelves, and there are now warnings that food inflation
could accelerate later in 2026 as the combined effects
of the Iran War, Ukraine War, and also weather and El
Nino conditions.. work through agricultural markets.
The price increases discussed so far appear
to be just the tip of the iceberg.
There appears to be no relief in sight when it comes to the
closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and also the disruptions
that we have witnessed and heard about when it
comes to the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Add to that the natural pressure points like the Russian war
and the impact of the weather, the situation will get worse.
US consumers have an affordability crisis
When it comes to the US illegal aggression against Iran, the
collapse of the MoU will only add to the mounting defense
spending, economic costs, geopolitical damage, and
humanitarian costs.
Maybe the top 1% can handle this but
what about the poor and the needy?
Absolutely, the lower income segments of the working class
and the poor in the US are the most affected, but it's worth
noting that actually this crisis affects all of the working
class in the US. I think a couple of years ago, over 80%
of an average US worker's income was spent on basic
necessities: food, housing, energy, and the other less
than 20%, was what they had as disposable income.
So it's not like these households, even in the better off
segments of the working class, really have that much
flexibility to absorb these higher prices. And so yeah,
definitely the poorest segment of the population will
suffer the most because they have so little room to
work with, but even better off workers are also not
going to be able to keep up with the rising costs
of everything, as a result of the war.
And it's also worth noting that inequality is at a fever pitch
at this point. Research by a colleague, Gregor Semieniuk,
shows that the top 1% of US households were owners of
more than 50% of the shares in oil corporation profits.
So, more than 50% of oil company profits after the war
started went to only 1% of US households --- and the
bottom 50% of US households only accounted for,
I think, less than 1% of the profits that were
realized by these oil companies.
And so, very clearly, we're seeing that the wealthy ----- are enriching
themselves by taking money away from people who have a lot less,
so the top 1% had this increase in stock revenue --- that offset the
cost of inflation. For the bottom 50% --- or for most of the working
class, if not the entire working class - there's basically no offset
for the inflation cost, and so ---- inflation hits the workers harder
..than it hits the ruling classes. To say nothing of the Congress
people who are choosing to send us into these wars of which
there's been study after study, report after report, showing
that Congress people ---- are enriching themselves to the
tune of hundreds of millions of dollars based on wars in
Ukraine, in Iran, elsewhere, and so it's a real situation
where already conditions are so fraught - to then be
taking even more money out of the majority of the
population's pockets ------- to enrich a very small
minority; this won't end well..... for that
small minority.
Sachin Peddada, Economic Analyst
The US has announced that it will apply the worst
economic sanctions in its history on Iran in order
to choke Iran's economy.
Iran has experienced this for decades, called
maximum pressure by Donald Trump, which
has failed.
The US fails to comprehend that its naval blockade, set to
continue indefinitely, only means that there will be rising
energy prices and an untenable increase in the cost of
basic goods, within the US, Europe, and indeed, the
whole world.