The Wire - March 25, 2026

0:00This is the wire for 1900 Zulu, March 25th, 2026. Presidents' routine, information cut off is 1800, bottom line up front. War escalates again in the Middle East, as Israel and Iran begin more routine targeting of each other's nuclear power plants, multiple FPVs during attacks reported in Baghdad, US Army raises enlistment age 242 for new recruits, beginning with international events, in the Middle East multiple escalations of the conflict took place overnight. Following Israeli and American bombing yesterday, Iranian forces retaliated by striking multiple U.S. bases and positions in Kuwait. In Israel, strikes were also reported at the Oraj Rabin power plant in Haderah, however the munition appears to have missed the generation facilities by Narrow Margin. Another Iranian strike targeted fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport overnight, and similar strikes were reported in Tel Aviv, which resulted in unknown damage. In Iraq, multiple significant events occurred overnight, as the PMF begins more deliberate offensive operations. Yesterday morning, the United States conducted air strikes at the personal residences of

1:01PMF leadership in Al-Habaniyeh. This strike killed Saeed al-Baiji, an operations chief, and subsequently resulted in an intensification of targeting efforts on American positions throughout Baghdad. As a result of this targeting of PMF leadership, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani has authorized PMF militia groups to retaliate against American forces, analyst comment. This is a major escalation that could effectively open up another front in the war. The popular mobilization forces or PMF are a semi-autonomous, highly organized militia group that serves as one of Iran's major proxy groups outside their own borders. Technically, they are linked to the Iraqi government, but in practice, they mostly just do what they want while being supplied by the Iranians. The official Iraqi government stating that they will let them off leash, while not entirely surprising, is in effect a return to the Jewat era, but this time the Iraqi government is openly endorsing their attacks on Americans. Also in effect, battle lines are being drawn, and the Iraqis are now taking the side of Iran, depending on how kinetic PMF operations become American forces may face more contested

2:02airspace over not just Iran, but Iraq as well. Otherwise, this week has witnessed an escalation of the war as FPV drone attacks have become more commonly carried out at Camp Victory by insurgents targeting American forces. In a video released yesterday evening, one HH60 helicopter was targeted along with a sentinel radar array, analyst comment. The success of these strikes is not known, but the Iraqi militias conducting these attacks have significantly improved their targeting efforts with the lessons learned from Ukraine, or probably more accurately Russia. One of the FPV drones recorded the other drone attacking the radar side before flying off to find another target. However, while searching for other targets of opportunity, the idiots accidentally targeted a meta-back helicopter, which is evidenced by the video being edited to blur out the giant red cross-painted on the side of the aircraft. After reviewing the tape, the militia group probably realized that this makes them look bad, so they blurred the footage themselves. In Kuwait, civil defense authorities have begun producing informational videos for the general public regarding what to do in the event of a nuclear incident at a power plant in a neighboring country, such as if the Israeli or American forces were to target the

3:05active reactor building at the Bush Air nuclear power plant. Analysts comment. All eyes are on Bush Air. The Israelis drive to munitions in the parking lot a few days ago, probably as a warning, but in retaliation, the Iranians hit the residential buildings housing scientists said Dimona yesterday, and this morning they hit an unknown target immediately adjacent to the Haderra plant. In response to this, the IAEA said that the Israelis hit Bush Air again last night, with unknown impacts. As a result of these constantly rising threats when it comes to the Bush Air nuclear power plant, most GCC states are now actively assuming that this facility will be struck within the next few days, which will probably result in a release of radioactive material. On the home front in Washington, D.C., yesterday the Pentagon published the newest changes to the regular Army and Reserve components enlistment program. These changes raise the maximum enlistment age from 35 to 42, and also remove the need for a waiver for recruits who have a prior marijuana conviction. Analysts comments for this wire. This decision was probably made some time ago, but it is now just coming into effect to do to the long-term effects of poor recruiting efforts over the years.

4:08Turns out the reports of recruiting goals being met were probably inaccurate and increasing the enlistment age window by a substantial margin is interesting, although most of the other services already had an age limit of 42 years for enlistment. So in effect, this is probably just an administrative pencil whipped policy. However, this policy change coming about right now during a time of war is certainly a case of exceptionally poor timing. In wartime, everyone defaults to the worst case scenario. Even if this was a benign policy decision in the context of this coming to light in the same week that the 82nd airborne is being deployed to the Middle East, most people will think this is not exactly a good omen, and there's no real way to smooth things out when the Pentagon is not really interested in alleviating concerns themselves. This concludes the wire for a 1900 Zulu, March 25th, 2026.