This week on Sunday(?) Update: it’s Mission Un-Accomplished in the Middle East as Operation Epstein Fury continues to spin out of control.
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TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES
Welcome. This is James Corbett of corbettreport.com with your Sunday Update for Thursday, October 15, 2026.
And now for the real news.
On Monday, US President and noted Jeffrey Epstein associate Donald Trump revealed the reason that Operation Epstein Fury, his super flawless plan to rid the world of the Iranian threat, failed: he killed too many senior Iranian officials.
DONALD TRUMP: And then the fake news will say Iran is doing splendidly. They got no ships! They got no nothing! They got no leaders, even. That’s the problem. We might have gone too far with the leaders, ’cause we don’t know who the hell we’re dealing with anymore.
SOURCE: President Trump delivers remarks at Youngstown campaign rally
Americans who were hoping that such a “mission accomplished” declaration signaled an end to the never-ending war in the Middle East, however, were disappointed to learn that Trump has in fact been discussing the possibility of resuming large-scale attacks against Iran with his boss, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Citing unnamed US and Israeli sources, Axios reports that the two misleaders have had multiple discussions on the issue over the past two weeks, and that “major combat operations” against Iran, including the possibility of joint US and Israeli strikes on military and nuclear targets, are on the table.
According to the report, “restarting major attacks on Iran would likely hurt Republicans in the November 3rd midterm elections, as it would worsen the energy crisis and raise gas prices in the US.”
Although a president whose entire political existence depends on “Making America Great Again” pushing for a policy that would hurt America and even his own party’s political fortunes seems at first glance to make no sense, the report then explains the real motivation for resuming military operations against Iran: “Netanyahu and his coalition may benefit in the October 27 Knesset elections.”
“Bibi’s got an election before the midterms. He believes his strength is being a wartime prime minister,” one US official told the outlet, apparently unaware that he had just admitted the reality of a Zionist Occupied Government.
So, how is Iran responding to these latest provocations? With threats of their own, of course!
According to The Wall Street Journal, “Iranian officials have warned publicly and in private conversations with regional officials that the Islamic Republic will respond with further escalation across the Middle East if the U.S. launches new strikes.”
These strikes could even include ground invasions of neighbouring Gulf states.
In an attempt to deter a potential attack, some Iranian officials have hinted that their forces could conduct land incursions into neighboring countries, according to people familiar with the warnings. Iran’s top national-security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Sunday that Tehran could target the United Arab Emirates, which has largely escaped being attacked since late spring, as well as data centers and internet cables across the region.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, meanwhile, has backed up this tough talk with a chilling video of their forces preparing for ground combat.
IRGC MEMBER (Speaking Farsi): In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The great nation of Iran is now witnessing the roar of ground forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Our message to the invading enemies is clear straightfoward: set foot on soil and we will scatter your ashes to the wind.
SOURCE: IRGC video
Uhhhh….Why is this giving me Sesame Street vibes? Oscar, is that you?
While the Iranians’ ability to conduct massive ground operations is still untested, their ability to exert control on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for sea traffic from the Gulf region, is not in doubt. On Wednesday, the IRGC took credit for the sinking of another ship in the embattled Strait, this time a cargo vessel carrying 2,500 containers
The disruption to global shipping caused by the closure of the Strait is now wreaking havoc in global supply chains, threatening widespread humanitarian disaster.
The first major emergency to hit the world as a result of this disruption: a food security crisis. Nearly a third of globally traded urea and one half of seaborne sulphur—key agricultural inputs—pass through the Strait. Now, UN officials are warning that the closure of the Strait threatens food security in parts of Asia and Africa.
But food security in Asia and Africa is of less concern to wealthy Western nations than their primary interest in the Strait of Hormuz: cheap gas.
Soaring diesel prices have caused Trump to take the unprecedented step of dropping sanctions against Russia in order to buy 300,000 tons of diesel from Moscow at massively inflated prices in a desperate bid to buy voters off before the midterm.
Even more surprising: Trump is reportedly using his son, noted Chabad-Lubovitch-connected money launderer Jared Kushner, to negotiate a deal with Putin to reopen the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
In September 2022, three of the four Nord Stream pipelines were blown up in an act of sabotage that was perpetrated—according to veteran research Seymour Hersh—by US Navy divers under the cover of a naval exercise. This atrocious war crime and environmental disaster came after years of US officials threatening to commit just such an act of terrorism.
BIDEN: If Russia invades […] there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.
SOURCE: President Biden on Nord Stream 2 Pipeline if Russia Invades Ukraine: “We will bring an end to it.”
The sabotage is now officially blamed on a rogue, drunken band of former Ukrainian security service agents and a show trial of one of the alleged conspirators has just gotten underway in Germany.
Now, the Nord Stream 2 gambit, along with the diesel purchase and a deal that the US just negotiated with Belarus for 30,000 tonnes of Belarussian potash add up, in the view of geopolitical commentator Andrew Korybko, to a US gambit to construct a “NATO 3.0” balance of power in Eurasia that cements US control of global energy flows:
The US’ NATO 3.0 concept envisages European NATO leading Russia’s containment, which could either worsen tensions if Germany’s remilitarization poses a 1941-like threat or result in a new energy-driven modus vivendi under the US’ supervision. […] Regardless of how […] NATO 3.0 evolves, one thing is certain, and it’s that US-led creative energy diplomacy will likely shape the post-war European security architecture.
I hear we’re getting word that Trump’s latest DEI hire, new press secretary Barbie McLawyerson, is prepared to deliver some remarks on these topics.
KATIE ZACHARIA: I am so honoured to work for President Trump and the American people…as the new White House Press Secretary. I want to thank…President Trump…for his trust that he has placed in me. I have wanted to work him…for a very…long time
Uhhhh, we’ll get right back to her if and when she ever manages to put together a sentence…like a regular…human being.
In other news, the crisis in the Gulf continues to expand as Saudi Arabia comes under full-scale assault from Houthis in Yemen.
So far, 17 airlines from 13 separate countries have cancelled or suspended flights into Saudi Arabia following Yemeni strikes on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport earlier this week. Horrific scenes have emerged from the Houthi strike on the airport, where 13 were killed and hundreds more.
The Houthis have vowed to continue their campaign against the oil kingdom until the “brutal Saudi aggression against our country and our people” is ended.
The Houthis also said they will continue taking decisive action “to enforce the announced equations—airport for airport, blockade for blockade, and escalation for escalation”—until their objectives are achieved.
The increasing intensity and effectiveness of these Houthi attacks have left embattled Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman desperate for military assistance from almost anyone.
After Washington declined to intervene directly, Riyadh has turned to Pakistan, Turkey, and Syria for military help.
One country he is not looking for assistance from: Israel.
Israel’s Haaretz is reporting that “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking Saudi Arabia’s approval, through U.S. mediation, for Israel to join the campaign against Yemen’s Houthis,” a ploy the paper’s sources claim is meant at normalizing relations between Riyadh and Tel Aviv. But, the paper’s sources add, “Bin Salman opposes [Israeli] military involvement because of the likely backlash among the kingdom’s public.”
No word yet on whether indicted war criminal and genocide enthusiast Benjamin Netanyahu is planning a Flydubai-style false flag against the Saudis to change their mind.
And that’s the news you weren’t hear anywhere else.
For more news, information, analysis and enlightenment, go to corbettreport.com.
I loved it!! Thank you.
Please continue.
i would really appreciate an hour long weekly news update.