Enjoy the Party while it Lasts; More Pain Ahead with America's Possible Involvment in Escalating Middle East Tensions

$Meta Platforms, Inc.(META)$  $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$  $Advanced Micro Devices(AMD)$  $SUPER MICRO COMPUTER INC(SMCI)$  $The Magnificent Seven ETF(MAGS)$  

Markets may appear green for now as buyers buy back their over sold positions on Tue prior to FOMC's conclusion on Wed. However, in light of 'August's Curse' / 'Cruel Summer' and the 'Escalating Tensions in Middle East' that will likely involve America, there will be more pain ahead. 

Enjoy the Green Party while it lasts, because more bloodshed may be on its way.

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE MIDDLE EAST RIGHT NOW?

😡 Hamas says that its political chief Ismail Haniyeh, 62, was killed in an Israeli missile attack in Irann's capital, Tehran, shortly after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iran's newly elected president.

😡 Having grown up as a refugee in Gaza, Haniyeh lived the Palestinian experience. In the 2006 legislative elections, Haniyeh was nominated as Hamas's top candidate for the legislative council, and after an electoral victory, he was appointed prime minister.

😡 Haniyeh's children and grandchildren were among the tens of thousands of victims of Israel's genocide. Haniyeh was assassinated like his predecessors, and it is possible that his successors might also face a similar fate. Yet it remains clear that decades of these assassinations were unable to thwart Palestinian resistance, and their capabilities continue to develop and tip the balance of power in the region.

😡 Lebanon has been bracing for retaliation from Israel since a strike on Saturday in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights killed 12 children and teenagers from the local Druze community. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack.

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

WHY HANIYEH'S DEATH MATTERS? 

😡 The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh has plunged Masoud Pezeshkhian, the newly inaugurated Iranian president, into a major crisis in his first days in office as he faces internal demands to respond to what amounts to a humiliating targeting of an ally while visiting Tehran to attend his own inauguration – even as he seeks better ties with the west.

😡 Pezeshkhian vowed his country would 'defend its territory' and make the attackers regret their action.

😡 The choice of Tehran, as opposed to Qatar, where Haniyeh mainly resides, or Turkey which he regularly visited, is likely to be about more than just opportunity. It is also a chance to show to a global audience that the IRGC cannot defend its most prized political assets, even in its own capital.

😡 Worse still, is the fact that Haniyeh was in Tehran with 110 other foreign delegations, including leaders of the supposed 'axis of resistance', to attend Pezeshkian's inauguration, underlining to others how little protection the IRGC can, in practice, provide to its dearest diplomatic allies. 

😡 And this in itself, is humiliating Iran on a global stage. As such, Iran vows to fight back.

😡 Avenging Haniyeh's assassination is 'Tehran's duty' because it occurred in the Iranian capital, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said the country will "defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act".

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES ARE SAYING?

😞 China: "This act was a blatant attempt to sabotage peace efforts. [China urges Israel] to halt all its military operations in Gaza and immediately stop its collective punishment of the people in Gaza."

😞 France: "We call for the utmost responsibility and restraint in order to avoid a regional conflagration."

😞 Guyana: "The history of colonialism has shown us, Mr President, that no people consent to subjugation and certainly not of the kind that Israel has visited on the Palestinian people. The desire for freedom is innate."

😞 Malta: "Efforts towards an immediate and permanent ceasefire to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza must not cease."

😞 Russia: " The political assassination [of Ismail Haniyeh] … strikes a serious blow, primarily for the mediated negotiations between Hamas and Israel aimed at a ceasefire in Gaza"

😞 United States: The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the US was not involved in or made aware of the assassination of Haniyeh. "This is something we were not aware of or involved in. It's very hard to speculate," Blinken said in an interview with Channel News Asia during a visit to Singapore.

😞 Qatar:  The foreign ministry called the killing a "heinous crime" and "shameful assassination". 

😞 Turkey echoed the condemnation. 

😞 Egypt said Israeli escalation indicated a lack of political will from Israel for de-escalation, after the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran. 

😞 Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said he condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the assassination of Haniyeh, calling him a "valiant advocate for his people".

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

WHAT ISRAEL SAYS OF IRAN

🤔 Israel's representative, Jonathan Miller, has told the UN Security Council that its emergency meeting had been called for by the world's greatest 'sponsor of terrorism', Iran.

🤔 "Iran is not merely a sponsor of terrorism, it is the very machine driving the engine of death and destruction that threatens us all," he said.

🤔 "We urge the international community to hold Tehran accountable for its crimes," Miller added, citing the recent rocket attack on Majdal Shams as an example. The Iran-backed Hezbollah group has denied responsibility.

🤔 By contrast, Miller said Israel conducted a "precise strike against a Hezbollah commander, a senior terrorist with the blood of Israelis and many others on his hands."

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

IRAN: HANIYEH'S ASSASSINATION SHOWS ISRAEL INTENDS TO EXPAND THE WAR TO THE ENTIRE REGION

😡 The Iranian ambassador to the UN has addressed the UN Security Council. Here are the main points made by Amir Saeid Iravani during the emergency meeting: Haniyeh's assassination is another manifestation of Israel's decades-long pattern of terrorism and sabotage targeting Palestinians and their supporters.

😡 Israel was also pursuing the political goal of disrupting the first day of Iran's new government.

😡 Iran condemns in the strongest possible terms this terrorist act and the most serious violation of international law and national security.

😡 This is a serious breach of peace and security that requires immediate action by the UN Security Council.

😡 The strike drew threats of revenge and stoked further fears of a wider escalation in Israel's war on Gaza. It also suggests that Israel's intention is to expand the war to the entire region. 

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

ISRAEL: Did not formally comment on Haniyeh's killing as yet. However, several Israeli ministers reacted on social media. 

🤦‍♀️The heritage minister, Amichay Eliyahu, celebrated his killing, writing on Twitter/X: "Haniyeh's death makes the world a little better" and that this is the "right way to clean the world from this filth". 

🤦‍♀️ Shlomo Karhi, minister of communications, wrote on X: "Yes, all your enemies will perish, O God", although the post appeared later to have been deleted. 

🤦‍♀️ Amichai Chikli, minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, posted a video of the Hamas leader on X with the caption: "Careful What You Wish For".

🤦‍♀️ Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel will "make anyone who is against us pay a very heavy price." The Israeli prime minister did not mention Haniyeh's killing, but said his country is "prepared for any scenario" and stands "determined against any threat".

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

MEANWHILE, AMIDST RISING TENSIONS...

🔥 The UN security council is holding an emergency meeting in efforts to keep tensions in the region from boiling over. UN chief António Guterres said the airstrikes in Tehran and Beirut were "a dangerous escalation".

🔥 The UK's foreign minister, David Lammy, and defence minister, John Healey, travelled to Qatar to help drive efforts to end the conflict in Gaza and call for de-escalation in the wider region, the UK government said on Wednesday.

 🔥 The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, has warned about the risk of escalation in the Middle East and urged Australians to leave Lebanon. In a video message, Wong said: "Now is not the time for Australians in the region to wait and see what happens. Now is the time to leave."

 🔥T he UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has advised against all travel to Lebanon. In a social media post on Wednesday, the FCDO also advised any British nationals in Lebanon to register their presence on Gov.uk.

🔥 Flight cancellations to the Middle East are taking place at the moment:

- Two US airlines (Delta and United Airlines) suspend flights to Tel Aviv / Israel  

- Greece's Aegean Airlines cancelled flights to Beirut

- Germany's Condor and Lufthansa Group Carriers cancelled flights to Beirut

- Air France cancelled flights to Beirut

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

FACTORING THESE IN MIND...

How will US stock market play out?

Will oil and gold stocks rise to new ATHs?

Will more sell-offs happen in the tech sector?

Will there be more pain ahead, given how 'cruel' markets are in the summer?

What do you guys think?

@TigerPicks  @TigerStars  @Tiger_Earnings  @MillionaireTiger  @Daily_Discussion  @TigerPM   

🩸🩸🩸Bloodshed🩸🩸🩸