Dubai: On one of the holiest days on the Islamic calendar, Iran fired on Israel and energy sites in neighbouring Gulf Arab states, insisting that it can still build missiles and issuing a new threat, to deny safety to its enemies in “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide. Israel meanwhile pounded Tehran with airstrikes as Iranians marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
The US military is deploying three more warships and roughly 2,500 more marines to the Middle East, where there’s no end to the war in sight despite three weeks of US and Israeli air strikes that have decimated Iran’s military and leadership. The Pentagon’s request for another $200 billion to fund the war would need congressional approval as the US national debt hits a record $39 trillion.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will stop attacking the gas field that Iranians depend on for most of their electricity at the request of US President Donald Trump. Iran responded to Israel’s attack on the field by intensifying targeting of energy infrastructure in other Middle East countries, sending oil and gas prices soaring.
The death toll has risen to more than 1,300 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 US military members in the region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Georgia has become the the first US state to suspend fuel taxes as pump prices soar due to war in the Middle East. The average gas price nationwide has risen from $2.93 a gallon on Feb. 20 to $3.91 today, motorist group AAA says.
Republican Gov Brian Kemp signed into law Friday a 60-day suspension of the state’s 33-cents-per-gallon tax on gas and 37-cents-per-gallon tax on diesel.
That’s $5 or $6 per tank for a typical passenger vehicle, and could mean forgoing $360 million to $400 million
fuel taxes.