Iran War Day 21 — Nowruz: Iran Strikes Haifa Refinery, Oil Hits $119, UN Votes on Hormuz and Netanyahu Says Regime Change Needs a Ground Force

Today is Nowruz. The Persian New Year began this morning at the spring equinox. Iran marked it by striking an oil refinery in Haifa. Saudi Arabia halted exports at Yanbu. Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery burned. Brent crude hit one hundred and nineteen dollars a barrel — up sixty-five percent since the war began.The UN Security Council passed a resolution thirteen to zero demanding Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Russia and China abstained rather than veto. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister said the kingdom reserves the right to take military action against Iran. A Saudi royal family member warned the response will no longer be merely declarative.Trump told Japan's Prime Minister to send minesweepers, then invoked Pearl Harbour when asked why the US didn't warn its allies. Netanyahu said you can't make a revolution from the air — there must be a ground component. DNI Tulsi Gabbard confirmed under oath that Mojtaba Khamenei was seriously injured in an Israeli attack. The Pentagon asked Congress for two hundred billion dollars more to fund the war.Treasury Secretary Bessent suggested unsanctioning one hundred and forty million barrels of Iranian oil already on the water to stabilise markets — using Iranian barrels against the Iranians. Israel dropped twelve thousand bombs on Iran. The Rafah crossing reopened for the first time since the war began.In Tehran, streets are empty, Nowruz gatherings are banned, and Iranians send messages through the blackout describing fear, defiance, and the silence after explosions that the cawing of crows breaks.Three weeks in. No ceasefire. No negotiation. And the bombs do not stop for the New Year.