Episode Details

Three senior Iranian officials killed in forty-eight hours. Yesterday, Ali Larijani and the Basij commander. Today, intelligence minister Esmail Khatib — confirmed dead in an Israeli strike. Israel's military has been given a standing kill order: eliminate any senior Iranian official, no further political approval required.

Israel struck Iran's South Pars gas field — the world's largest. Iran retaliated by hitting Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City, the world's biggest liquefied natural gas export terminal, causing extensive damage. Iran published a list of named targets across the Gulf and told workers to evacuate. Trump threatened to massively blow up the entirety of South Pars if Qatar is struck again. He also said: we don't need the help of anyone. The Hormuz coalition is dead.

An Iranian cluster munition killed three Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank — the first time Iranian missiles have killed people in the West Bank in this conflict. Israel issued its widest Lebanon evacuation order since twenty-oh-six. More than one point two million Lebanese are displaced. The IMO held an emergency session for twenty thousand stranded sailors.

The Trump administration lifted Venezuela sanctions to fill the oil gap. Brent crude is up fifty percent since the war began. And Mojtaba Khamenei, the Supreme Leader who has not been seen in public in twenty days, issued his first written statement through Telegram, vowing the killers will pay.

Nowruz — the Persian New Year — begins tomorrow. Iranian pilots told Iranians over open radio to celebrate. In Tehran, they are holding funerals instead.

Day twenty. The energy war is here.