Katie Zacharia leaked in her first statement since being fired as Press Secretary that the U.S. is about to occupy Iran’s Kharg Island…. https://t.co/Y8Kdpy9yey

— Chase Geiser (@realchasegeiser) October 17, 2026

by Jason Ditz, antiwar.com

US-born Jewish photojournalist had been covering Israel since 1983

Violence against Palestinians and the press has been on going problem in Israel in general for years, but the level of such incidents in the occupied West Bank has reached a fevered pitch in recent months, with Israeli settlers attacking people with virtual impunity.

At least 350 Palestinian children currently face “harsh conditions” in Israeli prisons.

aljazeera.com

On Tuesday, Israeli forces arrested at least six children from Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the report said.

The organisation said information regarding the number of children arrested in Gaza is unclear, given the thousands of missing persons in the besieged Gaza Strip, including children, and the ongoing policy of enforced disappearance.

Andrew Day , theamericanconservative.com

Trump is now joined in that ill-advised effort of mixed messaging by America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who recently gave an intellectual twist to Trump’s hostility to Iranian civilization. Predictably, the Islamic Republic pointed to Rubio’s remarks as further evidence that the U.S. is at war with Iran’s people and indeed its entire history and culture, not just its government.

Update(1240ET): Iran state IRIB reports a new thermal anomaly detected near an oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia's Yanbu region, suggesting Saudi East-West oil pipeline has been targeted once again.

However, any further information or confirmation has not been forthcoming. Regarding the Ukraine war, Russia's Ryazan oil refinery, about 200 km southeast of Moscow, was hit again overnight and is reportedly on fire.

Oil prices extend gains.

middleasteye.net

As Israel's elections draw closer, the establishment of a Palestinian state has taken centre stage in the campaigns of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his leading opponent, former army chief Gadi Eisenkot.

The two politicians have traded barbs, accusing each other of supporting a Palestinian state.

The US still hasn't admitted to bombing the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School, an attack that killed at least 120 children

by Dave De Camp, antiwar.com

I’ve had this article sitting in storage waiting for the right moment to publish it. Tonight, Mario Nawfal hosted a debate on Iran that featured Robert Barnes and Matt Tardio. Matt put out so much disinformation and falsities that I believe now is the time to set the record straight about what happened to the JCPOA. I was tempted to attach the prefix, “RE” to Matt’s last name but decided not to go down the ad hominem path. Instead, let’s just deal with the facts.

President Donald Trump, seeing the success of the U.S. Navy’s operation in the Strait of Hormuz in blocking most of Iran’s imports and oil exports while restoring some of the non-Iranian oil trade through the strait, evidently does not regard the conflict with Iran as stalemated.