Trump mulling plan for 3 days of intensive strikes on Iran, reports NYTimes
Pentagon says execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed * US president says his comments about Iran wiping out Los Angeles were misinterpreted
Greens’ Zack Polanski loses parliamentary election to Labour candidate
Andy Burnham’s Labour Party wins an election for the parliamentary seat vacated by former leader Keir Starmer, fending off a strong challenge from the left-wing Green Party in a boost for the British prime minister.
Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, the leader of the local council, wins the by-election in the central London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras with 12,292 votes, compared with 8,928 for Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader and candidate.
Polanski, who is Jewish, is staunchly anti-Israel, and the Greens party earlier this week passed a highly controversial motion declaring “Zionism is racism.”
NYTimes: US preparing options to renew Iran war, including plan for 3 days of intense strikes
The New York Times reports that US President Donald Trump has ordered plans to be drawn up for options of returning to fighting against Iran, even as he said today that strikes would not restart before the midterm elections on November 3.
According to the newspaper, the president has asked the Pentagon to develop plans that would target Iran’s drone and missile arsenal, energy facilities and other military sites.
The report says that security officials have proposed on five occasions in recent months for the US to conduct major operations against either Iran or their proxy the Houthis in Yemen, but the plan has been vetoed by Trump every time.
Nevertheless, the NYTimes reports, Trump is again considering a new attack plan that was discussed last Friday at Camp David, and centers on “a short, intense campaign lasting about three days,” citing people briefed on the plan.
Trump says comments about Iran wiping out Los Angeles were misinterpreted
US President Donald Trump says comments he made that Iran could “take out” California cities had been misinterpreted and that he was instead referring to the need for people to tolerate higher gas prices.
Trump made the remarks at a political rally in Nebraska on Monday as he spoke about Americans’ wartime economic sacrifices.
“Remember, with the war, it’s just artificial, it’s a little bit high, it’s a small price to pay,” he said then. “It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, for keeping our country safe. They could take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon.”
California’s Democratic leaders and some fellow Republicans quickly rebuked the remarks.
“What I was talking about was that a temporary increase in the price of Gasoline is a small price to pay for Iran not having a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump writes in a Truth Social post.
“If you want to see a big price, can you imagine what it would be like if they bombed San Diego and/or Los Angeles?” he continues, saying he loves both cities.
Pentagon says execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed
The Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution would be “public.”
Hegseth, speaking to the conservative TV outlet Real America’s Voice News yesterday, said the execution of Hasan will take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3. Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting at the military base in 2009.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” Hegseth said.
Officials in the Pentagon clarify today that the execution will be livestreamed and that more details will follow.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, walked into a medical building where soldiers were were waiting in long lines to receive immunizations and medical clearance for deployment. He shouted “Allahu akbar” — Arabic for “God is great!” — and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun.
Hegseth said the military hasn’t executed a servicemember by firing squad since World War II. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging.