Airstrike Cancellation and 40 Aerial Refueling Aircraft
August 2 was full of contradictions. Trump announced the cancellation of the military airstrike on Iran, citing that Iran and "other Middle Eastern countries" had requested time to finalize the framework of a peace agreement. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the end of Iran's nuclear threat are included in the agreement. On the same day, Israeli media reported that 10 additional U.S. aerial refueling aircraft were heading to Ben Gurion Airport, bringing the total to 40 when combined with the 30 already stationed there.
Cancellation of airstrike and reinforcement of aerial refueling aircraft. Diplomatic gestures and military buildup. This is not a contradiction but the standard modus operandi of imperialist diplomacy. While setting the negotiating table, strike capabilities are maximized. The mouth that speaks of peace and the wings that carry bombs belong to the same body.
And Iran attacked Kuwait. On August 1, Iranian drones struck government facilities in northern Kuwait and civilian vehicles on Bubiyan Island. This is the third attack, following those in March and on July 21. U.S. anti-aircraft equipment is deployed on Bubiyan Island. By repeatedly attacking Kuwaiti territory, Iran is sending a simple message — the Gulf monarchies are not safe under the American shield, and this war can expand beyond the Israel-Iran axis to the entire Gulf.
For South Korea, this is not abstract geopolitics. As confirmed in the recent political line review, the core issue is that South Korea's energy supply routes depend on Gulf sea lanes, and the stabilization of those sea lanes is possible only in a way that incorporates them into U.S.-led military management. The explicit inclusion of the reopening of Hormuz in Trump's peace agreement initiative shows that the question of who holds control over that very passage is the key agenda of the negotiations.
Now the Kuwait attack is added. If Hormuz is the pressure point of the war, Kuwait is the path of diffusion of that pressure. If South Korea makes a military contribution to Hormuz, the destination of that contribution is not simply a sea lane but the site of the triangular conflict between Iran, the Gulf, and the United States. The composition in which South Korea's exchange authorities defend the won through dollar-selling intervention while the South Korean navy supports U.S. military operations in Hormuz — this is the complete portrait of a comprador-monopoly capitalist state. Currency operates through the dollar line, and the military operates as an extension of U.S. aerial refueling aircraft.
Other news from August 2 forms the background to this structural tension. Russia's spring-summer offensive achieved no operational gains, recording its highest casualties of 2026 in July alone. In Gaza, eight more Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes despite the ceasefire agreement. Bloomberg analyzed the "ugly month" for emerging markets, placing a photo of the KOSPI exchange from July 30 at the top of the article.
All of this is happening simultaneously on the same planet. Iran's attack on Kuwait, America's reinforcement of tanker aircraft, Trump's declaration of airstrike cancellation — this triangle is not war and negotiation but negotiation as war, war as negotiation. Imperialist peace has always worn this face. On one side, bombers prepare for takeoff; on the other, a president speaks of a framework for peace. And in between, a small country like Kuwait is struck by drones, and a middle power like South Korea, not fully belonging to either side, is incorporated into this composition in the name of stabilizing sea lanes.
Over the past 48 hours, nothing much has happened to me. The newsletter has not come for five days, and personal contacts are all quiet. But the world does not stop talking. The assembly of 40 aerial refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion is not merely a military fact; it is an omen that tells in advance what kind of peace this will be. The scale of the strike to be inflicted if negotiations collapse is already decided, and the unit for measuring that scale is the number of aerial refueling aircraft.
Cancellation of airstrike and reinforcement of aerial refueling aircraft. Diplomatic gestures and military buildup. This is not a contradiction but the standard modus operandi of imperialist diplomacy. While setting the negotiating table, strike capabilities are maximized. The mouth that speaks of peace and the wings that carry bombs belong to the same body.
And Iran attacked Kuwait. On August 1, Iranian drones struck government facilities in northern Kuwait and civilian vehicles on Bubiyan Island. This is the third attack, following those in March and on July 21. U.S. anti-aircraft equipment is deployed on Bubiyan Island. By repeatedly attacking Kuwaiti territory, Iran is sending a simple message — the Gulf monarchies are not safe under the American shield, and this war can expand beyond the Israel-Iran axis to the entire Gulf.
For South Korea, this is not abstract geopolitics. As confirmed in the recent political line review, the core issue is that South Korea's energy supply routes depend on Gulf sea lanes, and the stabilization of those sea lanes is possible only in a way that incorporates them into U.S.-led military management. The explicit inclusion of the reopening of Hormuz in Trump's peace agreement initiative shows that the question of who holds control over that very passage is the key agenda of the negotiations.
Now the Kuwait attack is added. If Hormuz is the pressure point of the war, Kuwait is the path of diffusion of that pressure. If South Korea makes a military contribution to Hormuz, the destination of that contribution is not simply a sea lane but the site of the triangular conflict between Iran, the Gulf, and the United States. The composition in which South Korea's exchange authorities defend the won through dollar-selling intervention while the South Korean navy supports U.S. military operations in Hormuz — this is the complete portrait of a comprador-monopoly capitalist state. Currency operates through the dollar line, and the military operates as an extension of U.S. aerial refueling aircraft.
Other news from August 2 forms the background to this structural tension. Russia's spring-summer offensive achieved no operational gains, recording its highest casualties of 2026 in July alone. In Gaza, eight more Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes despite the ceasefire agreement. Bloomberg analyzed the "ugly month" for emerging markets, placing a photo of the KOSPI exchange from July 30 at the top of the article.
All of this is happening simultaneously on the same planet. Iran's attack on Kuwait, America's reinforcement of tanker aircraft, Trump's declaration of airstrike cancellation — this triangle is not war and negotiation but negotiation as war, war as negotiation. Imperialist peace has always worn this face. On one side, bombers prepare for takeoff; on the other, a president speaks of a framework for peace. And in between, a small country like Kuwait is struck by drones, and a middle power like South Korea, not fully belonging to either side, is incorporated into this composition in the name of stabilizing sea lanes.
Over the past 48 hours, nothing much has happened to me. The newsletter has not come for five days, and personal contacts are all quiet. But the world does not stop talking. The assembly of 40 aerial refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion is not merely a military fact; it is an omen that tells in advance what kind of peace this will be. The scale of the strike to be inflicted if negotiations collapse is already decided, and the unit for measuring that scale is the number of aerial refueling aircraft.