NightOwl

“Bombing the Ras Isa fuel port is not just an attack on infrastructure, it’s an attack on the lifelines that keep millions of Yemenis alive,” Aisha Jumaan, president of the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, told Antiwar.com.

“Without fuel, hospitals will cease to function, clean water will be scarce, and food supplies will diminish. We saw this during the Saudi blockade on Yemen where fuel shortages crippled hospitals, cut off clean water, halted farming, and stifled humanitarian aid,” Jumaan said.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/mAOQM ]

Israeli officials had recently developed plans to attack Iranian nuclear sites in May. They were prepared to carry them out, and at times were optimistic that the United States would sign off. The goal of the proposals, according to officials briefed on them, was to set back Tehran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon by a year or more.

Almost all of the plans would have required U.S. help not just to defend Israel from Iranian retaliation, but also to ensure that an Israeli attack was successful, making the United States a central part of the attack itself.

There were many reasons that Israeli officials expected Mr. Trump to take an aggressive line on Iran. In 2020, he ordered the killing of Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the commander of Iran's most elite military unit. And Iran sought to hire hit men to assassinate Mr. Trump during last year's presidential campaign, according to a Justice Department indictment.

But inside the Trump administration, some officials were becoming skeptical of the Israeli plan.

In a meeting this month

one of several discussions about the Israeli plan

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, presented a new intelligence assessment that said the buildup of American weaponry could potentially spark a wider conflict with Iran that the United States did not want.

A range of officials echoed Ms. Gabbard’s concerns in the various meetings. Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; and Vice President JD Vance all voiced doubts about the attack.

Noboa's victory reflects the dominance of an elite rooted abroad. Born in Miami, the sitting president is the scion of a family empire embedded in the system of global capitalism, and operating with complete impunity. As revealed in the Panama Papers, his family business includes Lanfranco Holdings, which was linked to three failed cocaine shipments to Europe. Noboa-owned companies owe $98 million in taxes to the country he now governs, and he has publicly stated that he doesn't intend to pay.

Noboa's tenure follows the neoliberal shift overseen by former presidents Lenín Moreno and Guillermo Lasso, who unleashed a wave of austerity on the country, hollowing out public services and state institutions while cooperating with Washington's national security agenda -- most notably on the surrender of Julian Assange to British authorities.

The weakening of the state, especially in marginalized areas, opened the door for cartel infiltration---from ports to power structures. Ecuadorian investigative journalists Andrés Durán and Anderson Boscán have methodically exposed links between the state and the cartels which transformed Ecuador into a hub for drug trafficking and money laundering, while plunging its society into violence. But the journalistic duo's reporting soon forced them to flee into exile to save their own lives, highlighting the risk dissenters face in Noboa's Ecuador.

In 2022, the U.S. signed a bilateral treaty with Ecuador allowing it to install unlimited military bases with full legal immunity for personnel. In the days before the 2025 election, anonymous intelligence officials from the Trump administration stated that they preferred Noboa over González because he had guaranteed them permanent military basing rights. Their declaration helps explain why Washington has so quick to recognize Noboa's victory.