Notice the headline.  “Missing Airman Raises Concerns That Iran Could Gain Leverage Over the U.S.,” NYT, 4-4-26.  The sub-headline is “Since 1979, Iran has repeatedly used Americans and Europeans detained on its territory to win concessions over more powerful adversaries.”  Can we please rephrase the headline to be more accurate?  Something like, “Missing Airman Raises Concerns That Iran Could Hold Him as Hostage,” or “Iran Will Most Likely Follow Practice of Holding the Found Pilot Hostage.”  Let’s call a spade a spade, a terroristic, pirate act as such.  They have held hundreds of hostages and have received hundreds of millions of dollars in ranson from multiple countries.  BTW, based on what the Obama and Biden administrations gave in cash to the Regime at hostage release times, I predict that if Iran finds the F-15 crew member the asking price will be $2 billion.

MEK, arrested two years ago.  “Iran executes two linked to opposition group, media say,” Reuters, 4-4-26.

China targeting U.S. forces, it’s not just Russa.  “Chinese firms market Iran war intelligence ‘exposing’ U.S. forces,” WPost, 4-4-26.  “Beijing has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into supporting private firms developing AI with practical defense applications under its civil-military integration strategy, and last month announced plans to supercharge those efforts as part of a broader five-year national strategy.”  (Remember, in China the private-government distinction is not really present.  China uses these groups to save the government money but also to feign non-responsibility for their actions.)  “Private firms have long used open-source data — including flight trackers, satellite imagery, and shipping data — to generate market intelligence. But the growing AI capability of Chinese firms is making these tools more powerful, underscoring the growing challenge of concealing U.S. military movements from adversaries.  “The proliferation of more and more capable private sector geospatial analysis companies in China will augment China’s defense capabilities and ability to contest U.S. forces in a crisis,” said Ryan Fedasiuk, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.  MizarVision, a Hangzhou-based firm founded in 2021, is one of the companies that uses a mix of Western and Chinese data filtered through AI to catalogue activity at U.S. bases in the Middle East, track naval movements and identify the position and number of specific aircraft and missile defense systems. Images sourced to the firm — which is not part of China’s military but holds a National Military Standard certification required for firms supplying services to the People’s Liberation Army — and posted on Chinese and Western social media, for example, detailed the buildup of U.S. forces in the Middle East on the eve of the launch of Operation Epic Fury, including the passage of the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike groups. It also shared detailed breakdowns of the number and types of aircraft massing at Israel’s Ovda Air Base, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base and Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base. “In the lead-up to the escalation of tensions in Iran in 2026, we quickly identified the locations of weapons and equipment deployed in the Middle East,” and “exposed” the refueling patterns of U.S. carrier groups, MizarVizion’s website claims. Elsewhere on the site, it claims to have tracked U.S. military escalation ahead of the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “months in advance” and says it can “track the entire transport process” of U.S. medium-range missiles in the Asia Pacific “in real time.” MizarVision … does not disclose the sources of the data it analyzes — including satellite imagery, ADS-B flight data and ship AIS data — though Chinese state media reports, an analysis of images posted online and accounts from two users of the company’s platform suggest it draws on a mix of Chinese and Western sources.”

“Iran’s ‘new’ regime looks much the same, only harsher,” CNN, 4-4-26.  If so, let’s don’t give them Hormuz.  If not, let’s not give them Hormuz.  Either way, let’s not give them Hormuz.

“IDF believes Iran still has over 1,000 ballistic missiles that can reach Israel, intelligence officer says,” Times of Israel, 4-4-26.  “The Israeli military believes that Iran still has more than 1,000 ballistic missiles that can reach Israel, an Israeli Air Force intelligence officer tells Channel 12 news. “The Iranians have more than 1,000 missiles that are capable of reaching Israel,” says Lt. Col. “Tet,” who leads the research on Iran’s missiles and drones in the Air Intelligence Group, the IAF’s intel unit. At the start of the war, the IDF assessed that Iran had 2,500 ballistic missiles. Iran has since fired over 500 missiles at Israel, as well as hundreds at other countries in the Middle East, and potentially hundreds of missiles were destroyed in strikes. Iran’s missile fire on Israel has slowed to around 10-15 missiles a day in recent weeks, down from around 90 on the first day of the war.”