Trump has put MAGA in such an impossible position, He’s not asking them to bend a little - he’s asking them to entirely reconfigure themselves into a new kind of balloon animal.

 R_P wrote:

I guess that this is where the rubber hits the road.  Just did some checking on this and other then the AP and some other sources there is no reporting on this on CNN, MSNOW or Fox.  Interesting that as big of a deal that this is there is silence across the MSM video board.

The major escalation comes alongside reported impacts on other oil and petrochemical facilities in the Assaluyeh area of Bushehr province, according to multiple reports.

IRGC-linked Tasnim News issued an urgent warning urging people to immediately leave major oil and gas sites in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, saying they had become “direct and legitimate targets” that could be struck within hours. They listed:

➤ Samref Refinery — Saudi Arabia
➤ Al Hosn Gas Field — UAE
➤ Jubail Petrochemical Complex — Saudi Arabia
➤ Mesaieed Petrochemical Complex — Qatar
➤ Ras Laffan Refinery — Qatar

The report added: “Previously, clear and repeated warnings were given to your rulers about entering this dangerous path and gambling with the fate of their nations.”

“We regarded Witkoff and Kushner as Israeli assets that dragged a president into a war he wants to get out of.”

1. Israel is trying to literally kill off Trump's off ramps: Larijani was not only a key figure within the regime who had emerged as the chief consensus builder, but also kill off Trump's off ramps literallys someone who favored talks with the US and who could build consensus within the system for an Iranian off ramp at some point. He also favored de-escalation with the GCC states and supported Pezeshkian's message on that point (though not the apology). There had been some efforts by Larijani to speak directly with senior Trump officials in December, for instance, to prevent the war. The Israelis want the war to continue to degrade Iran's military capabilities further to shift the balance in the region in Israel's favor for years to come. They have fought for more than two decades to get the US to go to full war with Iran, and having finally achieved that goal, they do not want Trump to cut the war short. Without figures like Larijani in the Iranian system, Trump's pathways to ending the war just got narrower.

2. The US/Israeli strategy may be shifting back to regime decapitation. The reason for this is that it's becoming increasingly clear that reopening the Straits of Hormuz militarily is simply too risky, and there is no international coalition willing to support Trump. But the Straits must be reopened from Trump's perspective because of the impact on energy markets, which eventually will impact gas and food prices in the US, and push Trump's own base to turn against this war. But if he cannot open it militarily, then the original idea of regime implosion may prove another path. As such, the killing of Larijani may have been seen as a second bite at the apple. The first bite, the assassination of Khamenei, did not yield results. But a few more assassinations of key figures may, the thinking would go.

3. Opportunity: The assassination may have also simply occurred because the opportunity presented itself, rather than having been motivated by either a shift in strategy or a sabotage effort by the Israelis to kill off Trump's off-ramps.

Either way, while this undoubtedly is a significant tactical blow to the Islamic Republic, it is difficult to envision it considerably impacting Tehran's war execution.

Plans for these eventualities had already been established during the June war. Moreover, when relatively moderate voices have been killed by Israel, they have more often than not been replaced by a younger generation of more hawkish voices who opposed Iran's policy of "strategic patience", who opposed the June ceasefire, and who currently oppose any de-escalation or ceasefire.

Whether this was Israel's intent or not, the most likely outcome, nevertheless, is the destruction of potential off-ramps for Trump.

This guy is worth following. He's a retired Aussie general.

Two Iran wars, two theories of victory 

Here's another reason for the MAGA lemmings (and other riffraff) to hate Iran