Of Note: April 5, 2026

Dear Friends,

Here is the latest round of links to pieces dealing with the US-Israel war against Iran and related issues.

The Links

• Before you share that story about how troops were told the Iran War is for “Armageddon,” read this: I shared with you last month, a link to this article, which reported that military officials were framing the war with Iran as a holy war that is part of God’s plan. This article casts some doubt on that reporting, and it’s worth reading.
• The Fault Lines Shattering the Iranian Diaspora: This episode of On The Nose, the Jewish Currents podcast, is worth listening to for a sense of what’s happening inside the Iranian diaspora and how it connects to larger questions of resistance.
• An Iranian’s Dispatch From the Digital Darkness: The writer of this piece on New Lines Magazine compares the internet blackout imposed by the Islamic Republic in January to his time in solitary confinement in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison.
• Beyond the Binary: “It should be easy, but somehow it eludes many people, to condemn two things at once: The brutality of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the senseless violence of the current US/Israeli war.” The author of this piece, Ali Abdi, writes with conviction about the need to see humanity in those whose humanity we are encouraged to deny. Translated by Naghmeh Sohrabi.
• U.S. Can Only Confirm About a Third of Iran’s Missile Arsenal Destroyed, Sources Say: “The assessment, which has not been previously reported, shows that while most of Iran‘s missiles are either destroyed or inaccessible, Tehran still has a significant missile inventory and may be able to recover some buried or damaged missiles once fighting stops.”
• Who Dug the Tunnels? and From Water Tunnels to War Tunnels: These two pieces from the Substack Environmental Sarcasm: Where Water Cries and Politicians Lie, written by Nik Kowsar, are worth reading for the perspective they offer on the tunnels where Iran’s missiles and drones are held.
• What Would We All Say If Iran Razed MIT Because of Military-Related Research?: “Leaving aside the fact that nothing in Trump’s war of choice against Iran is justified, the U.S. and Israel’s purported grounds for targeting Iranian universities are hollow and cynical. It is true that both universities had ties to military research. Would American and Israeli leaders consider their own equivalent institutions fair game? Of course not.”
• Today’s War, Tomorrow’s Inflation: “The problem is not merely that war damages the economy. War reshapes the structure of the economy as well.” An Iranian economist thinks through the implications of the current war for what will happen to Iran socioeconomically afterwards. Translated by Naghmeh Sohrabi.
• Less Jesus, more Genghis Khan: How Netanyahu sees Israel’s place in the world: “There is nothing accidental about the analogies and examples that Israel’s prime minister draws from history.” It is telling that the leader of the Jewish State uses Jesus in the way that he is quoted as doing in this piece. It’s an analysis of his historical references that is worth reading.
• Popcorn, Rice Pudding, and Explosions: A Civilian Account from the War: This is Reza Akbari’s second translation of a war diary being written by Azadeh Sadeghi. It’s well worth reading.
• The Ghost in the Machine: Iranian Society and the Failure of Opposition Politics: “My focus here is on Iranian society, which spent years trying to prevent this moment and is now too often treated as a mere backdrop to a geopolitical drama. I argue that Iranian society has been made into a ghost in the machine: present, vocal, and costly in its resistance, yet repeatedly denied recognition as a political force in its own right. That denial is one reason the present catastrophe became possible.” This analysis is worth reading, especially if you have never been aware of the oppositional currents within Iranian society.
• This Is What a Genocidal Society Looks Like From the Inside: “Gov’s phrasing positions Israel purely as the target of aggression — no cause, no history, no agency. Just a ‘passive’ ‘besieged’ people ‘asking politely’ for a break. The fact that this society is simultaneously unleashing complete destruction in every direction...does not exist in Israeli TV’s alternate reality. It has been laughed away with a genteel little joke about manners.”
• Israeli police are violently suppressing our growing anti-war protests: “This expansion of our anti-war protests appears to have unsettled the Israel Police, which has responded with disproportionate and indiscriminate force.”
• ‘They already shoot us for no reason. Now they have a death penalty’: “On March 30, the Knesset crossed a new threshold, passing a death penalty law aimed squarely at Palestinians. For the occupied West Bank, the law mandates Israeli military courts to impose the death sentence on anyone convicted of killing an Israeli citizen or resident “with the intent of rejecting the existence of the State of Israel,” which means that in practice, only Palestinians will be targeted.”