Iran will win. The West is going down. The mass migration from Muslim countries is destroying the fabric of the Western Civilisation. I do not expect a big crash, but a slow, but steady decline. Maybe there will be a civil war? Here in Austria a survey by a government agency showed, more than 80% of the voters want dramatic changes to the migration issues. But the government (and EU) keeps the doors open and gives the possible migrants a lot of incentives to come, of course, from taxpayers money. So either we see a Muslim take over, good for Iran, or we see a civil war, good for Iran, or just a collapse of the financial system, good for Iran.
The world has looked on with shock and horror at the Jewish bombardment of innocent civilians in Palestine since October 7th. As of this writing, at least 35,000 Palestinians have been murdered, 80,000 have been wounded and almost all of the roughly 2 million residents of the Gaza strip have been displaced and made refugees by the systematic Jewish destruction of their homes. Jewish officials in Israel have openly called for killing or expelling the entire population, and have been pressuring Arab states, the US and Europe to accept the Palestinians they have deliberately made refugees.
This is not the first refugee crisis Israel has precipitated.....
Pink Floyd reference. Wasn't it the Balfour declaration that started all the violence.
It was violent from the start, so yeah the ultimate divide and conquer crew set the standard.
The elite have gotten sloppy, at this point there are so many unfiled charges against the usual suspects only a major war will slow the vendettas from seriously altering the chain of command. Forever!
Who didn't have a hand in Covid for instance? All these freedom loving oligarchs and libtards backing Ukrainian Nazis? Really? With a straight face?
Not to mention some of the old stuff like 9/11. Far as I'm concerned the US will never heal from that open wound. Or JFK, RFK and MLK. Our heroes assassinated for wanting peace.
Along with Balfour there's the secretive Sykes-Picot agreement between the British and the French to divide the Levantine parts of the former Ottoman Empire between themselves, thus betraying the Arabs. It was about grabbing the Oil.
Yes but regarding your last paragraph, unfortunately most Americans still believe the official story for all these things - never question or use critical thinking
I don't think Americans who have succumbed to brainwashing count as loyal patriots. They are loyal to a globalist agenda that certainly would qualify as Fascist.
It is up to ethical Citizens to save their country from enemies foreign or domestic.
Your perfectionist comment only serves to dramatize the threats we face.
How the West would howl if Russia started knocking off public authorities and elites in Ukraine, the way the Israelis do in Iran. Like that dirty trick with the pagers.
So rather than a long protracted war, they do long dirty insurgency? When real war looms they get cold feet. Interesting observation Hans.
Ah insight into the Zionist mind. Then the stories from the states about Jewish people being killed, because 'someone' mistook them for being Palestinians, don't break your heart even a bit, do they?
Well, it looks like the score is about 997 people killed by the jews, and only about 22 by the Iranians.
And how many of the jews' best generals / IDF are included in those 22?
ZERO! A storm in a glass of water.
Israhell, unfortunately, has achieved more of their nefarious objectives.
When will Iran be able to create REAL deterrence? So far, ... zero, zilch, nada.
Enough with false bravery and pats on the back - for actions that are militarily INSIGNIFICANT. Even from a pure civilian infrastructure damage point of view, Iran felt inferior, UNFORTUNATELY.
It doesn't matter. The entire discussion is like listening to chest-thumping Americans talk about kill ratios in the Vietnam War.*
It doesn't matter how many more Vietnamese peasants were killed, it doesn't matter if the generals could have won the war if they only had X or were allowed to do Y or if the civilians just trusted them more or whatever - the United States still lost.
* or, for that matter, white supremacists bleating about the Rhodesian Bush War.
More importantly, what does tallying dead civilians as victory tokens say about you, the Israeli's and us Americans against the obvious consideration given to human life demonstrated by Iran?
What was the Soviet/German kill ratio in 1940's. It shows the motivation of oppressed people/slaves of tyranny. The Zionists won't fight to the last man! How can they when all they got are devils!
If Israel was winning they wouldn't have stopped. Their surprise attack gained them some advantages but these all evaporated when Trump played the joker on Netanyahu. Iran clearly achieved their deterrence goal and what did Israel achieve? A distraction from their genocide.
As you say Israel floated that two week timeframe because they knew they'd be limited by resources. They either underestimated Iran's strike power or overestimated the US appetite for a head on with Iran. I'd say it's the latter as True Promise II showed how a stand off.battle would progress. I guess Netanyahu rolled the dice hoping the Iranian leadership would implode.
And totally agree that Israel are still moving ahead with their machinations. Ofc so are the Iranians. I'd say their support for Yemen will increase.
Dump is of course a rodeo clown but under mafia Don's 'leadership', this is the very first presidency where the Zionist entity has gotten a serious "beat-down". Finally, some street justice...
Israel's best general's, Ha! These guys are nothing but terrorists with medals on their chest awarded for their assassinations of innocent men, women and children. The coward's go to kill methods.
Don't just see the official casuality numbers. Add to that how many people left their respective countries for other supposedly safer nation with intentions of not ever returning again.
He probably missed that detail the same way you always miss questions about the Dniper bridge, and some other like ones, to your posts on Russia-Ukraine.
The Zionists have made it a crime to film any of the results of the counterattacks lest they serve to assist the Iranians in fine tuning their targeting so the truth may never be known to us.
The fact that they are even arresting anyone cheering on the strikes and their incessant shrieking that we pull their fat out of the fire indicates they have been dealt some painful blows.
To this day, the IDF continues to incur losses in Gaza alone so any total tally given by Israel is almost certainly under reported and the true figures are covered up.
On the subject of under reported aspects the Greater Israel project is the ethnic cleansing of some of the world's oldest Christian communities in post-Assad Syria.
Truly sickening that so many heretical "Christian" Zionists here are either ignorant or indifferent to all the Orthodox and Maronite Christians, including some within Hezbollah's ranks, that have lost their lives.
Yesterday the IDF lost 7 men killed and over 17 wounded in an ambush. This level of casualties is leading to growing desertions and demoralizing its troops conducting the genocidal war in Gaza.
Even with boots on the ground, it were 64k US vs. 3.5M Vietnamese killed. The US lost anyway. And there is no evidence that Iran even tried terror murders like Israel did.
A people fighting for its land is very difficult to defeat. That is also the reason why the genocidal fascists, who infiltrated Palestine like the vermin they are, cannot win because it is not their land, their land is Khazaria, a.k.a. the Ukraine today.
I was hoping that Iran would fight as Vietnam did - no compromises - sending a message to the US (which only respects strength), such that Americans shudder at the thought of another war with Vietnam. Vietnam was not too proud to seek help - from China, then the USSR. They did not carefully inform the US in advance of attacks, or place faith in ceasefires or a negotiated peace. Vietnam and North Korea are the honey badgers of international politics.
I hope that Iran understands the ceasefire is not a victory, any more than Minsk 1 or 2 were, merely a pause for the US to rearm Israel, ship in more supplies, upgrade the air defenses of their bases and intensify efforts to destabilize Iran.
Iran wanted to show what it could do alone to Israel. And ot has shown it very well, making the terrorist entity face something it never faced. This short war has consolidated the Iranian society and exposed the real face of West to Iranian proWest liberals. Iran now needs to work on its weaknesses and deficiencies along with its partners in the so-called axis of evil.
If the Iranians are smart, they will take advantage of the military partnership offered by Putin and the Russians. Iran's AD needs big improvements and Russia can help them massively. Iran took too long to respond to Russia's offer and it hurt them in this conflict.
There will, of course, be another war at some point. Or this one will reignite. Either way, Iran needs to be ready and it needs to improve its AD as well as its offensive capabilities.
Iran also needs to get nukes. There is no other option for them or they will be attacked by the US at some point. The US has NOT given up on regime change, what is happening now is a respite because the Israelis were in deep trouble, and the US cannot currently even sufficiently build enough gear for itself, never mind Israel as well as Ukraine.
Look no further than Kim in North Korea. He was smart, and he knew that he needed nukes or he risked the same fate as Gaddafi and Saddam. Now, nobody is stupid enough to screw with North Korea. Compare that to Iran, which also stupidly tried to meet the West halfway and got attacked for it as a reward. Now the Iranians know that the game is rigged, and nothing they do will please the West or placate Israel. Only a complete regime change would do that, and that would be the end of the Islamic Republic.
So nukes are now on the table for Iran, and for any other country that doesn't want to be attacked by the US.
Yes, it's so prosaic to point at BP, Exxon, Shell and US energy hegemony as culprits. It's so much more interesting and fun to investigate the history of mysterious secret cabals and to blame the British.
If they are it's a bit late John, unlikely they would be able to clean up the situation up. Look at the efforts in Syria not once did they protect IRGC or SAA from Isreali air strikes nor attacks on Syrian military positions either.
I truly feel they are part of the kabuki theatre and only have oligarchical business dealing as a priority.
Absolutely. That marks another fail for globohomo: they failed to take down a major BRICS player and disrupt the alliance's internal trading and communication routes.
Really? Are the Russians really an ally? If the Planes attacked from the Caspian Sea, then this leads to some conclusions. I would advice the Iranians to act carful and do not trust the Russians.
When reading "7 seconds to die", I was shocked how close Turkey and Israel were obviously working together, and Russia was standing just beside, doing nothing. On the other hand the EU is doing everything to be on good terms with the Azeris. The helicopter crash of the Iranian President was when returning from Baku. There is a lot of oil and gas involved and like in Libya, BP is an important player. But when we say BP, then the MI6 is not far away. But what it the Israeli component here?
Israel has set up smart villages in Azerbaijan at the border with Iran. Azerbaijan sells cheap oil/gas to Israel through Turkey and used Israeli weapons amd tech against Nagoro Karbakh. Iran is as surrounded by NATO as Russia is but I don't understand why Iran is not more sceptical and cautious about Azerbaijan and Turkey.
This is more complicated. Assad was removed by a crippled economy. And when looking at Iran, it is more China that helps. The will to help might exist, but the economic power is only with the Chinese, not the Russians. And China is dangerous too; they helped Iran (and will help!) because of energy, not because of some moral thinking. Sanctions work! And in the case of Assad, the US physically occupied the land where the oil and wheat fields are.
The West is literally kidnapped by weirdos handing out Golden Pagers. Russia is making sincere efforts to become part of the West since Peter the Great and that is over 300 years ago. As things stand in the last decades, the 'West' needs Russia more than anything else to remain sane and functional.
Indeed. I believe that if Iran decides to develop a nuclear arsenal, that would be a mistake and a certain guarantee of attack by israel/US. They would have to have developed a massive number of nukes and demonstrated delivery systems in order to wave off potential strikes by the US and israel. I believe their best bet is to go into an arrangement with Russia and China that would immediately bring them under the nuclear umbrella both of Russia and China.
Or Pakistan. Start ordering J10s and other Chinese fighters, surveillance and bombers from China delivery ASAP, and payment pending. Also, what happened to Iran's increased influence in Iraq? Sadly missing. No Iraqi militia attacking US bases in Iraq? Maybe start infiltrating soldiers and material into Iraq now to push back the US/Israel forces.
Besides having a....rather testy relationship with its Shia minority and with Iran in general, The United States has considerable leverage over Pakistan.
Iran already has the best fighters Russia builds, it doesn't need Chinese planes. Although those long-distance air-to-air missiles would be a blessing.
Won't be long now before it occurs to some smartasse egg-head to attach them to drones for aerial denial outside of borders with little risk.
On the final days, Iran absolutely FLATTENED the Israeli border posts on its land crossings - the Iraqi militias were likely tooling up to join with Jordanian Palestinian militant and head for the crossing.
You think Ben Gvirs women and child-murdering militias would have lasted more than a few hours?
Another of the reasons that Israhell and USA was panicking.
The Iraqi militias had also causing a LOT of damage to the US bases in Iraq during this conflict, little reported in Western media (I simply cannot imagine why), and there's not a single Sunni regime in the area who is not looking nervously at their own populations right now.
Don't write off the Arabs so easily. They may not have achieved independence like the Persians did, but they have shed infinitely more blood for their freedom than Europeans and Americans have for ours, against the same enemy.
and perhaps in the making: "...One option floated by some analysts [....] would be a full security partnership with Russia and perhaps China, with Iran positioned under their nuclear umbrella [...] the Empire war is fundamentally a war against BRICS...' (Pepe Escobar) - https://www.unz.com/pescobar/empire-of-chaos-takes-war-on-brics-to-next-level/
This whole "we do not believe in bloc polítics" is getting very old and starting to stink. Because bloc politics is coming for all of them, time to get real 🧐🙄🤬
It was the wiser Raisi who initiated the defence treaty, and Israhell assassinated him. Pezeshkian is learning... far too slowly. Iran cannot afford to have a BBC-brainwashed well meaning fool at this time.
I have little doubt the IRGC and Grand Ayatollah are shouting at him a LOT these days.
Others regimes, less merciful, would find him accident prone himself.
Pezeshkian is a doctor. Such people can be very estimable personally, but are a comprador class by definition. They are pharma's pushers and have the ideological blindness to match. They should be kept very far from power, every where and almost without exception.
I wouldn't have agreed a few decades past... experience teaches.
While there ARE some good doctors - John Campbell fx, who has done such good work exposing the Covid scams, and other such shenanigans, all too sadly 'the exception tests the rule'.
I wouldn't trust a "Psychiatrist" anymore than I would a Guantanamo torturer.
Nothing more than legal drug-pushers, and even more damning, drugs that are CONSIDERABLY more harmful than anything Nature provided us with... which are "Illegal" since the last century.
There is that old rule of thumb - never buy a product from a pusher they haven't/wouldn't taken themselves. I'm guessing a lot of 'Psychiatrists' would forego all those golfing holidays if it was THEM resulting in a lifelong addiction to a mentally-destructive and experimental drug that made them permanently suicidal. Just a guess, mind.
I think that was clear to most sane people from the time of Hiroshima and Nagasake. Which the kindest democracy and the most humane army and air force in the world (no, not the IDF) needlessly inflicted on Japanese civilians.
>If the Iranians are smart, they will take advantage of the military partnership offered by Putin and the Russians. Iran's AD needs big improvements and Russia can help them massively. Iran took too long to respond to Russia's offer and it hurt them in this conflict.
It might be too late.
How many advanced AD systems do you think Iran needs to protect that vast territory and what is Russian production capacity, especially given that Russia has a war to fight itself?
China might be a better bet in terms of production capacity, and their AD systems are derivatives of Russian designs anyway, so there might be some compatibility. But that would require them to really step up.
And there is very little time -- the next war might happen in just a few months.
>Iran also needs to get nukes.
Won't be enough on its own, they will have to also demonstrate delivery capacity against the continental US and the willingness to use the nukes even in case of a conventional attack. This means ICBMs and an absolutely ruthless ultra-trigger-happy launch-on-warning posture. Do you see the current Iranian leadership as being capable of that?
Otherwise they will continue to trade strikes with Israel despite both countries having nukes, and over time they will be degraded (as Iran doesn't have the untouchable rear that the US and the EU are to Israel).
>Look no further than Kim in North Korea
Note that Comrade Kim has ICBMs that can reach anywhere and nobody doubts that those will be fired the moment the country is attacked. Iran already had the capacity to send Israel to the stone age even just conventionally -- hitting the TPP in Ashkelon, the refineries, and the five desalination plants would have sufficed -- but they only hit one of the refineries.
you can drive an S-300 battery into an area and get to work almost immediately, Iran already has guys who can run stuff like that. They should be able to really shore things up, if not perfectly, in a month or two.
Exactly. Iran could have already crushed, or severly damaged, the israeli society. They abstained. What says they will have the balls to do it when they have nukes?
One can argue that Iran hesitated to take out the NPP and desalinations plant because they knew Israel would launch nukes against Iran.
With same logic you can say, once you have nukes, there would be no attacks threatening your existence. That logic fails when you look at Russia. Although you can say that Russias existence has not (yet) being in threat.
They have declared that. And they better not have nukes. Nukes is of no use if you are not commited to use them. Iran had 1000 of missiles they didnt use.
A weapon used is a weapon lost. Even if Pezeshkian is an idiot, the IRGC isn't. This war is NOT over. They have to keep a reserve for the next outbreak.
Many in the government do, and apparently lots of articles last year in the paper supported getting nuclear weapons. There must be pressure mounting for the Ayatollah to remove the fatwa.
Articles in the paper are propaganda - who actually talks to the Iranians- not the US we just project our beliefs on them aka propaganda to legitimize demonizing them for enriching uranium with no proof that this is for making a nuclear bomb- DJT supposed peace president would be better off pushing for a reduction of nukes and elimination of nukes in every country starting now - peace does not come from war - Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not necessary kill sights - the war was over - we had the weapon and we used it on a culture and race we hated because we could - reality sucks, we bombed Dresden into rubble post WWII because we could - power plays extraordinaire. Then we put 700 hundred bases around the world to control the west because we could- NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization - a war club - see Ukraine proxy war brought to the world by the NATO club because we could . We have been aiding and abetting Israel
for 77 years in ME, not to protect the Jews, but to have a
beachhead in ME that we control because we could.
The fatwa will remain the Ayatollah hopes to
remind the world that their is one place on earth where religious beliefs take priority
They can't USE nukes against Israhell. They would kill mass numbers of Palestinians, for a start, Let alone breaking the fatwah/Shariah injunction against innocent civilian casualties.
As GM said, for the Iranian nuke threat to work, they have to be able to hit US cities.
In fact, there is no evidence that Israel has more advanced AD systems left than Iran. Latest interception rate was 50%, against a mix of most advanced and older ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, even drones.
And interception was not Israel alone. Attacks on Iranian missiles started right after launch from Persion Gulf located US destroyers, US AD in Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan SA missiles and warplanes with AA missiles, even helis , Red Sea destroyers, and finally Mediterranean sea based AD, US as well as British.
It was not the "Iron Sieve" alone failing, but all of NATO AD.
Granted Israel retained attack capabilities. But unability to defend counts a lot.
You are putting your finger on an important point. The more so as AEGIS backed by ciws is the one NATO system that seems able to protct itself at least.
"Won't be enough on its own, they will have to also demonstrate delivery capacity against the continental US and the willingness to use the nukes even in case of a conventional attack. This means ICBMs"
No, it doesn't mean ICBMs. That's a myth that you'd think all the recent examples of incursions deep into big countries has dispelled. The Israelis had a small army of operatives in Iran building and dispatching very big drones against local targets and the Kiev junta sends entire trucks equipped with terrorist gear across nine time zones.
With millions of foreigners walking across loose borders and narco-gangs shipping hundreds of tons of dope through (literally) hundreds of sophisticated tunnels and many thousands of containers being delivered to US coastal cities, you don't need an ICBM to bring a nuclear explosive the size of a largish microwave oven into the US. Heck, if you want to bring in a multi-megaton *thermonuclear* explosive the size of an apartment refrigerator that's easy too.
In point of fact, you don't even need to bring the device into the US. Many key US cities are port cities where all you need do is deliver a container into the port where it awaits clearance by customs. That's close enough to wipe out New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Baltimore, LA, Seattle, San Francisco and other cities.
But with a tiny bit of thought it's easy to bring nukes into the US and then truck them around to wherever you want them, keeping them in the target ready to explode whenever you want. The technical term for that is "pre-positioning." So when anybody tells you Iran or anybody else needs ICBMs to incinerate US cities, ask them to spell "pre-positioning" for you.
By the way, all the talk about NEST teams and radioactivity detectors to prevent pre-positioning is propaganda for morons. During a congressional hearing back in the day a nuclear expert from one of the US's labs was asked what tools he would bring with him to detect a pre-positioned nuke. His answer: "a screwdriver." When asked why he'd bring a screwdriver, he answered, "To pry open any crates to see what was inside."
Nobody in government talks about pre-positioning because the moment you apply common sense and consider the reality of that strategy it makes it clear that all the idiotic trillions proposed to be spent on Star Wars and Golden Domes and other pork projects are a total fraud. Any serious enemy will already have nukes in key locations in the US and no Golden Dome fakery is going to stop them.
Thanks for stating what should be the obvious John. If volume coke and fentanyl can be moved across our borders, what would be so hard about doing the same with nukes? Nothing hard about it at all is the answer.
They could employ you, you know, to make sure they are “smart”. I’ll bet you can help them out of this imperialist attack on the friendly administration of Iran. Long live the ayatollah
>So nukes are now on the table for Iran, and for any other country that doesn't want to be attacked by the US.
Guess what happens then -- first Ukraine, then Turkey, then Poland, then Germany, Sweden (which had a nuclear weapons program once upon a time), Japan, etc. will get nukes.
Depends, although with these lunatics in Ukraine you never know.
Ukraine having a nuke ‘could’ freeze the conflict at the current frontline and maybe we could go back to normality.
At the same time I think NATO will not br happy Ukraine having nukes. Too much of a risk of escalation to a full nuclear war that NATO also will not survive
The average Japanese citizen is vehemently opposed to building their own nukes. A Japanese nuclear arsenal would only be required if they needed to deter an invasion by China. And, that, is highly unlikely since China is already their largest trading partner.
Col. Macgregor is quite correct when he stated that neither China, Japan, either of the "two" Koreas or Taiwan are interested in armed conflict. It is only the satanic pedophiles who have infested the U.S. government who are interested in starting a war in Asia. And just about everywhere else, I would add.
As far as Iranian nukes, that is solely for them to decide. As part of the BRICS' multi-polar worldview, neither Russia nor China is going to interfere with their internal decision making but neither will they refuse any assistance, if asked.
Just need to make sure Africa and South America (especially Brazil) also have nuclear weapons. The US will lose big time. EU would be surrounded by nuclear neighbours. Maybe peace will increase. Why would Russia be the biggest loser? They don't need any more land or resources. Russia doesn't plan to invade the EU.
You're backsliding in the quality of your comments. Suggesting Russia would ever tolerate nukes in Ukraine is just plain nuts. Japan already has nukes (Japan has the largest stockpile of plutonium in the world, courtesy of their breeder reactor fuel cycle). They're just undeclared.
I was thinking about the same, but what exactly would Russia's response be if Ze declares he has a nuke, and via those Neptune missiles has a way to deliver it. What is Russia's next move if they don't exactly know where that 1 or more nukes are, or even if he is bluffing - would that not push Russia to negotiate?
I mean at the start of the SMO I thought there was allot that Russia would not tolerate but I am just not sure they would start nuking things, or bombing NATO or would they dare him to use it?
It should absolutely never have been allowed to get to this point.
Which is why it was existentially important that the whole of Ukraine be placed under Russian control immediately in the beginning of the war.
But Putin didn't want to do it and didn't mobilize the necessary resources, then continued to refuse to do for four years, and still does. We don't need to go over all the catastrophic decisions (and indecision) yet again.
What I do need to point out once again is why that happened -- Putin does not serve the interests of Russia the country or the Russian people, he is the CEO of Russia Inc., the shareholders of which are the Russian oligarchs. The composition of the shareholders may have changed somewhat, but the essential fact of that being how the country is run has not.
And the Russian oligarchy firmly didn't want to:
1) Place the country on wartime footing because it would mean a reduction in their power once the state took over the economy
2) Pay for the reconstruction and reincorporation of Ukraine
3) Hurt short-term profits on commodity exports
4) Destroy relations with the West long-term, which also would have reduced their power automatically.
5) You can add the Israel factor too -- half of those oligarchs are dual-passport holders and a defeat of NATO in Europe means a strategic defeat for Israel because NATO in Europe is Israel's rear.
All of the above is grand treason. What Putin the person thinks is irrelevant, the actions are what matters. And those constitute grand treason by any reasonable definition of the term.
For which Putin, most of the current leadership, and most of the oligarchs should literally hang. Publicly.
But that cannot happen as long as the majority of the Russian people are brainwashed into thinking Putin is their savior. Not all of them think that way, there is a growing awareness of the real situation, but it is not safe to say the truth openly, and it is still a minority without any power, because the state apparatus is much more focused on cracking down on such dissent than on fighting the Ukronazis.
The "alternative media" in the West being almost entirely Putin sycophants does not help at all either.
>Japan already has nukes (Japan has the largest stockpile of plutonium in the world, courtesy of their breeder reactor fuel cycle). They're just undeclared
I am well aware about the plutonium, but they don't have delivery systems
>Suggesting Russia would ever tolerate nukes in Ukraine is just plain nuts
What are they going to do about it when presented with the fait accompli?
>Trump says Iran cannot have a nuke, if they say they have one what will the usa do?
If they have a nuke but not ICBMs, Trump will nuke them.
>In the case of Russia, I am curious why Ukraine does not already have a nuke.
They might in fact already do and that might explain some of the way the war is (not) fought. They didn't return all warheads after the collapse of the USSR, this is a little secret of theirs.
There might be a better option for Iran than building their own nukes. Refining uranium can be used for energy and uranium, but a nuke just sits quietly in the basement as a threat. Since the Russians and Chinese already have nukes, I would rather see the 'nuclear umbrella' revived.
It is like the major German and Italian gold deposits at the US Federal Reserve. The news says the gold might be there but it is also possible that it was already shipped to the only democracy in North Africa. In an age when wars have prearranged conclusions smaller nations can be and are sold by the pound by the superpowers.
even a few baby sized tactical nukes should be enough to deter the zionists and their golem. A dozen 12kt warheads is hardly the nightmare proliferation disaster that tiny, nonviable Israel poses with its huge H-bomb arsenal.
“Yes” on getting Russian AD; “no” on getting nukes.
These are most likely mutually exclusive choices. Russia is adamantly opposes to nuclear proliferation, and will supply AD on condition that Iran does not seek nukes. Between these two choices, I would go for AD. To the commentor below who says Iran is too big and cannot implement full AD coverage in time: it doesn’t need to. All it needs is to protect key assets and civilisn centers and credibly threaten to be able to shoot down attacking planes, because neither US nor Israel is willing risk their over-priced and over-hyped hardware.
Russia is helping to build more than one nuke reactor in Iran. I was curious if Iran formally left the IAEA, would Russia pull out of that construction given that Putin is a stickler for law.
Good question. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I would expect Russia to cut Iran some slack for the time being, in light of the fact that the IAEA was literally acting as a spy for Israel and the US, passing on info that allowed Israel to murder Iranian scientists, and promoting AI-generates ‘intelligence” unconnected to any real evidence to justify Israel’s strike. Until the IAEA restores its own credibility, the NPT is basically a dead letter.
Legally, IAEA presence in Iran has nothing to do with Russians building nuke power plants in Iran.
As long as Iran is a member of NPT, it has the right to have any kind of nuke power plants it is able to get and there's absolutely no reason to deny them to Iran.
Also of note, Russia has no problem with building nuke power even in non-NPT countries, like in India for example
When I first read this I thought you were probably wrong. I thought Russia would oppose, and Iran would not seek to obtain nuclear weapons. But now I think you’re right. What changed my mind was this brilliant analysis by Arnaud Bertrand.
For several years now I have wondered why countries like Iran and Russia pine to be loved and deal with the West. It can't just be about money. I moved from the West to SE Asia 22 years ago because I had enough of the climate bullshit and burgeoning woke madness. Russia seems to have gotten the message. Maybe Iran will now as well.
The entire climate hoax. There is no science to it. "Scientists" paid to come up with far fetched, ludicrous claims about how humans and CO2 are killing the planet. Greta Thunberg cultists. I'm old enough to have seen the propaganda in the 1970's that due to CO2 emissions we were entering a new Ice Age. 1980's - hole in the ozone layer, 1990's some other bullshit, first decade of the 2000's change again, now global warming. All fake news. When the very wealthy and global elites stop buying ocean front property and then flee inland is when I might start to worry.
You are scientifically illiterate, and a paranoid constancy nut. You man made climate deniers love to bring up Greta Thunderberg, so you can fixate on her and deflect. There was never “propaganda that “We are entering a new ice age” due to CO2 that is a basic misunderstanding of what global warming is. Also the hole in the ozone has nothing to do with global warming. I am old enough to remember when the weather in the UK was colder. We should be in a planetary cooling cycle, but global average temperatures are rising. You sound like “Not muh taxes” right winger.
You are singularly a complete moron. You probably believe and believed all the bullshit about Covid-19 and the clot shots as well. There is ZERO evidence as to the climate changing any more than it ever has for eons. You have fallen for the propaganda. Better go clutch your pearls and drive your EV which causes far more emissions to build and mine all of the components to go into it than any internal combustion engine vehicle. It's always something with the doomsday climate crowd. You better move from the UK because your shitty island will be under water by this time next year.
I love this projection, calling people morons, from those who saw through 'covid' and jabs BS (I'm team no pandemic no virus BTW) but who have fallen hook, line and sinker for the propaganda deliberately fed to them, for obvious reasons, by big oil and big animal ag via the Heartland Institute, that climate change is a hoax.
Some day Haywood, Greta will finally get a boyfriend and porcine Al Gore will lose 75#s and the climate "crisis" will be geo-located, simmering, to the back burner of our collective hand-wringing until resurrected in the interest of SAVING THE PLANET...again! If there was a bonafide "crisis"...suburban moms wouldn't be driving to Starbucks in F150s for a double plus good, 36 oz Chai Latte. With oat milk. War and our carbon gulping Dep't of Offense would be defunded etc etc...if any of this was real. The best handle on this fraud is exposed by comedians. In our freaky-fun-house world, you have to listen to comedians to really find out "what's actually happening" out there.<<link>>
"For several years now I have wondered why countries like Iran and Russia pine to be loved and deal with the West."
A good question. Short answer - soft power works.
A degree from Georgetown opens doors, even in Russia, that a degree from Moscow State University does not. Local oligarchs fight for trophy properties in London, not Karachi. Hollywood films may insult my intelligence, but they are viewed around the world. Even collectors of African art seek plaudits from western cultural institutions and not African ones. Opinions of western pundits are treated as oracular, no matter how many times they prove wrong.
"A degree from Georgetown opens doors, even in Russia, that a degree from Moscow State University does not." Nonsense. A degree from Georgetown is laughed at in Russia.
"Local oligarchs fight for trophy properties in London, not Karachi." Ah, no they don't, because they know the Brits take their property whenever they want. Hundreds of billions of dollars in oligarch wealth have been repatriated and reinvested in Russia as a result of Western confiscations of oligarch yachts, real estate and other trophy assets.
These days oligarchs in Russia are fighting for trophy properties in elite settings in Moscow and down South, along the Black Sea coasts of the mainland and Crimea. Buying and developing elite wineries is particularly "in."
"Hollywood films may insult my intelligence, but they are viewed around the world." By people with limited intelligence. In Russia there's been a huge resurgence of truly outstanding Russian films. The Hollywood stuff is not just too boring stupid for words, it's also offensively woke (still).
"Even collectors of African art seek plaudits from western cultural institutions and not African ones." Nope. Perhaps *Western* collectors of African art seek plaudits from western cultural institutions, but not Asians and Russians. Nobody seeks plaudits from African institutions, but that's a result of Africa being far behind the curve, not because a staggeringly corrupt and intellectually bankrupt West has somehow become vital again.
"Opinions of western pundits are treated as oracular, no matter how many times they prove wrong." This is a joke, right? Propaganda for morons continues to work on morons, as always, while intelligent people in the Global Majority have taken to ridiculing the West.
"Funny, I have a degree from Georgetown and it certainly opened Russian doors...." Perhaps in the 90's and early 2000's but certainly not today.
Did you take classes with a real Jesuit or one of the hired help?
And no, I know more than one genuine, 100%, dollar-billionaire Russian oligarch and they don't give a shit about London property trophies anymore.
"Kidding" myself? About what? Nobody gives a shit about western pundits, and that's certainly true in Russia, China, India and the rising economic powers of southeast asia. They're all looking East man, and if you don't know that you're kidding yourself.
Of course, there are no oligarchs other than Russian, the London high end property market is going begging, etc..
When I lived in Ukraine, there was a fashion to denigrate the West, wester institutions. The moment Club membership was dangled out like a treat to a dog, all was forgotten, all was forgiven.
That's because—contrary to popular perception—the Iranian regime is not quite as authoritarian as it's often portrayed in Western media. It is certainly unpopular in many quarters, but the political landscape is more complex than a simple dictatorship. There remains a deep divide within Iran between those loyal to the pre-1979 monarchy and those aligned with the ideals of the Islamic Revolution. Among the younger generations - Millennials, Gen Z, and now Gen Alpha - there's a strong sense of global identity rather than the insular nationalism of the past. Many of them are culturally pro-Western, even if politically disillusioned.
Interestingly, patriotism still runs deep, especially when the country is under external threat, like in the recent flare-ups with Israel. But at the same time, there’s widespread belief among people on the ground (I’m Persian myself and spoke with friends in Iran just yesterday) that some kind of internal deal has been struck to preserve the current regime, even as underground support grows for a restoration of the Shah - something openly promoted by certain Israeli information campaigns.
What complicates matters further is the geopolitical chessboard behind the scenes. The UK, for example, owes Iran billions in frozen assets - a debt that might be called in if a pro-monarchy government returned. There’s quiet resistance in parts of the West to that possibility. While the UK and US seem content, for now, with the current regime for reasons of regional balance, Israel and others appear to be pushing for regime change.
As always, it comes down to trade and control over resources, not nuclear capability per se. That’s just the surface narrative. The real struggle is over influence, access, and long-term economic interests in the region.
That’s a vital lens — and to truly understand Iran’s path, we need to zoom out across the last 200 years. Iran wasn’t colonised in the way India or Africa were, but it was carved up, manipulated, and humiliated—particularly by Britain and Russia during the Great Game. It became a classic imperial buffer zone: its oil extracted, its leaders installed or toppled at will, its cultural sovereignty eroded through decades of indirect control.
That left deep scars, not just economic, but existential. The 1979 Revolution wasn’t just about Islam or the Shah. It was the reverberation of centuries of intrusion. A rejection of that long manipulation; of coups, of MI6 and CIA fingerprints, of a monarchy that felt increasingly like a vassal court. For many, it was the first time in living memory that Iran said: enough.
But here's the thing - resisting imperialism isn’t the same as building something just. Iran rejected the empire, yes. But it's still grappling with the harder work of creating a state that reflects not just sovereignty, but also dignity, plurality, and wisdom.
Meanwhile, the UK still owes Iran billions in unpaid debts - a symbolic wound that speaks volumes. The empire extracted and never settled. Now, in its decline, it massages numbers and watches its own domestic fabric fray. And yet, it still tries to dictate terms abroad.
The Persian response to this has never been one of servility. We remember. From the Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1907 to the 1953 coup, it’s all in the bloodstream. Iran plays the long game because it’s been on the receiving end of short-term Western games for far too long.
The real question now isn’t whether Iran resists the West, it’s whether it can move beyond resistance into genuine, dignified renewal.
A good deal of truth to this. Now, try to convince the average frustrated MAGA.
To give one example - women are routinely elected to the Iranian Parliament, the Majlis. How many women are elected to the Saudi Parliament? None - there is no parliament and Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy.
How can anyone in Iran still trust the West when they just had a refresher course in their neighborhood of what Western regime change means? Can anyone who isn’t a throat cutter himself prefer Golani‘s IS thugs to the Islamic Republic, where minorities like the Jews are able to live in peace instead of being slaughtered?
I have read horrible stories about the Shah regime, some no doubt made up or embellished. Don’t young people know the recent history of their own country?
Yes, but not just an iranian problem. How many people died during the past week in Israel and Iran because of the bombing? My guess is less than 3000 (9/11). You will find people everywhere willing to sell their country. And the consequence might be a totalitarian society as nobody can be trusted (Stasi DDR comes to mind)
Thank you for the pedantic lecture focused on illuminating Iranians about what they need to do to be “smart”! Despite the good intentions, there’s no shortage these days of the centuries old colonial mentality that assumes these “natives” are just a little thick, dumb, or slow for even appreciating what’s obvious or they need kindergarten level reminders like slogan sounding exhortations of the need for nuclear weapons now as if it’s never occurred to the Iranians themselves.
Pay them no mind, especially my fellow Americans and even more so the "brits" give them any excuse for them to lecture someone else on what should be done, allows them to pretend that our own Govt.'s are just wonderful and are not squeezing the populations for unwilling or misguided support for every policy guaranteed to make our lives even worse.
This attack was a probing attack by the USA, so Iran does need to get nukes. Regime change is on the cards. China and Russia needs to make sure this never happens. Iran has to be the line in the sand.
That is the lesson, not only to Iran, but every other country, threshold State is a losing play, guaranteed. Expect Japan, Brazil and others to take note. Especially Japan. They are about done with the hegemon.
Explain me this: If Trump is trying to free himself of the deepstate neocons, and still keep some semblance of being the (I’d say ‘a’) leader of the free world, why rescue Israel when he was so annoyed with them?
Also, begin infiltration of troops and munitions into Iraq. Roll back the US/Israeli forces. Start by attacking the US bases in Iraq. What happened to Iran's "increased influence" in Iraq? Surely plenty of Iraqis would be delighted to join any campaign to drive the US out of Iraq?
I think one consideration with the GBU is that these are pretty obsolete given the realities of war and the target. Gravity bombs that have to be flown within 10k of the target are not much more than paperweights. Why not fly them in to make a big boom (very Trumpian MO) and clear out some warehouse space for drones and rockets.
Iran had rejected a military pact with Russia for fear of antagonising the US. That no longer applies. In failing to bring down Iran as in foment its internal collapse- another Syria- and what the western hegemon had intended viz Russia-(that went well!), the US has just made it stronger, or it will be as the Russia China Iran NK bloc beds in. Same with Russia itself whose economy has never been so robust since the soviet years quarantined it from the west. So much for sanctions, and a cry for more sanctions- the european approach with its astonishing propensity to reinforce failure. If you only have a hammer everything is a nail. If prayer does not work you are just not praying hard enough. It is medieval.
Iran declined a military pact with Russia because Iran doesn't want ANYONE controlling them Look what happened to Syria. They never got those weapons that could have stopped anyway Israel from wrecking their airport every weekend. Iran isn't scared of the US and never has been.
Strategic manipulation of hostile entities (the US) isn't necessarily motivated by fear, but Iran certainly made a mistake here. And knows it and is correcting that mistake.
Indeed. Putin never crossed Netanyahu and allowed The Syrian Arab Army to be hit every day for years, until it collapsed. I believe the Iranians noticed, and questioned whose side Putin was on.
And that has not changed. Iran will need to focus on China, which is not compromised by dual nationals, donors, media barons etc.
I mean yeah - Russia's a great friend to have - a very great friend. I'm not sure about the dual nationals the donors the media barons...I don't know much about that but as far as being the BOSS in the military sphere, because that is what would happen. Syria was dependent on Russia for military support. Iran doesn't need or want that. Poor Syria. I hope that soon it can be fixed. Erdogan is another snake in the grass that seems to have some hold over Putin. Iran is friendly with Turkey but would not trust it. I hope Palestine can become a naiton with a military - what an improvement that would be. Yemen feels more brotherliness towards Palestine than any other country. Why is that ? And sadly , after I read Glasshopper's interesting comment - and thought it made total sense....then I read this article, where, near the bottom it talks about China's business dealings with Israel. 2nd Biggest trading partner - it sucks. https://anthonyjhall.substack.com/p/israel-the-worlds-top-candidate-for/comments
The article states “China is Israel’s second biggest trading partner after the United States, and actually not too far behind.” meaning Israel depends on China and China doesn't depend on Israel. Here are China's largest trade partners.
Putin is very tolerant of Israhell because 2 million Russians live there.
It is a point of chagrin for many Russians who have had it with Israhell (which supports Ukraine with more than tacit moral fraternity), and Putin is at odds with most Russians on this point.
Israhell is a country of psychopaths, and can never be trusted in any form.
It has forfeited its right to co-exist with the planet's other nations.
Agreed. Iran doesn’t fear external powers easily, it sees itself as the cradle of civilisation, with a legacy stretching back millennia. The refusal to enter certain military pacts stems from a desire to maintain strategic autonomy; such agreements would only limit their flexibility.
Behind the scenes, there’s also significant backchannel negotiation with various Western factions aimed at preserving the current balance of power. It’s not a simple case of East versus West, or friend versus foe; Iran operates in a far more nuanced, multi-directional way.
They understand the value of their geopolitical position and are willing to leverage it from all angles—what you might call a 360-degree strategy. The Persian language even reflects this mindset: zerang (زرنگ) describes someone sharp and street-smart, while kalak-bāz (کَلَکباز) refers to a trickster or schemer. Both terms capture a cultural pride in strategic thinking - however it manifests.
That comparison misses the mark. Iran isn’t clinging to the past like a museum piece; it’s operating through a civilizational lens that still actively shapes its political identity, strategic patience, and sense of sovereignty. This isn’t nostalgia. It’s continuity.
Unlike Egypt, where the Pharaonic legacy was severed and commodified under foreign rule, Iran's self-image as a civilisational state was never fully broken, despite invasions, coups, and isolation. That matters. Because when a state sees itself as part of an unbroken arc, not a post-war invention or colonial afterthought, it behaves differently. It plans differently. It doesn’t panic. It doesn’t buy into the short-term wins the West so often misreads as “strength.”
This isn’t just poetry either, it informs real strategic posture: the refusal to bind itself to bloc politics, the calculated ambiguity, the multi-vector diplomacy, and yes, the pride in zerang - not as trickery, but as adaptive intelligence. That doesn’t make Iran perfect or beyond criticism. But it makes it misread - constantly - by those who think in headlines and hegemonic binaries.
You don’t have to admire the system to acknowledge the shape of its mind. Iran plays the long game because it remembers what long really is.
Again, none of it matters. What matter is power. That is all.
The Pharaohs ruled Egypt for millenia. The time from the First Dynasty to the Ptolemies was long than from the death of Cleopatra VII (yes, I know, she was Greek) to the present. Foreigners with more power than the locals ended Pharaonic rule.
You’re not wrong on the historical arc, but I’d argue you’re still treating power as a purely material, external force. As if missiles and GDP are the only levers that matter. But real power isn’t just what you can project — it’s what you can endure. What you can regenerate, integrate, and carry across centuries without breaking.
The Pharaohs fell, yes — but Egypt’s civilisational continuity was already severed long before Cleopatra. It became a territory, not a subject. Iran never quite did. That’s not romanticism — it’s strategic reality. A people with memory, with a coherent narrative of self, with an adaptive political grammar - they don’t disappear just because a stronger army walks in.
Power without legitimacy is brittle. Power without narrative is rented. Iran understands this, whether we agree with its methods or not. It doesn’t fear a Western boot because it’s survived far worse: Genghis, Alexander, imperial carve-ups. And yet it remains Iran, speaking the same language, praying with the same cadence, and playing a longer game than most modern states can imagine.
So yes - power matters. But power without cultural architecture is just noise. Persia is noise-resistant. That’s the real difference.
Syria didn't see it's collapse coming either. Iran should fear the US - 6 countries trashed, and they are the last on the list. This complacency will be the end of them.
Yeah, the politicians that turned into managers. They know nothing substantial and think they can manage people.
But your comment is ‘cheap’ 😀 as it should be known by now that the EU politicians have become a total disgrace and show incompetence, stupidity, entitlement and any lack of empathy with an obsessed hate towards people that think different from them.
How is it possible that the EU population allowed them in power is somehow mind boggling
they 'took' it, since not all EU layers of politicians are elected and not all election outcomes are honoured. pray the EU implodes (and pls give us back our national currencies).
Nothing will come of this, because nobody of influence and authority in europe wants the eu to implode.
They will do whatever it takes to keep their project together. They've already canceled elections on multiple occasions and banned opposition candidates on the flimsiest of pretexts, all to barely a peep from europeans themselves.
"Iran had rejected a military pact with Russia for fear of antagonising the US"
Is there evidence for your assertion? I'd say Iran had little consideration of US interests. My guess is there were conditions on the table that the Iranians didn't want to commit to. Strategic autonomy seems to be their mantra.
Israel won, it just killed anyone who had an IQ of over 110 in the regime. You can only do so much with the dumb-dumbs who have been threatened and seen their predecessors fate. Not only did they get nuclear scientists but AI specialists, computer programmers of note, cyber security specialists, it was primarily an anti-tech/anti-science attack. The Iranian population rallied only to be disappointed. There was no serious pain, only symbolic pain. Significant anti-air complexes have been eroded.
Whatever Israel suffered will be rebuilt/given free by the West (probably literally stripped from Ukraine if need be), the US is already going to absorb its war debt in some manner.
I wouldn't be surprised if the ceasefire was accepted because enough of those in the Iranian government who opposed it and resisted Israeli threats are dead. Now its the compliant ministers with direct lines to Mossad.
Though not using air fighters was interesting, I had assumed Iran amassed F-5 clones for anti-drone/multi-mission swarm warfare but yeah it didn't deploy anything really not even in defense. And we've yet to see cruise missiles which apparently are harder to detect.
Anyway doubt this holds for long. Something is brewing..... something closer home.....
The level of stupidity shown again and again by quarrelsome zionists in Israel and the US is stupendous. American ziocons in particular look degenerates with psychological/mental abnormalities. As for Israelis, it is hard to imagine any decent jewish person desiring to live in the fascist jewish state.
A good news is the jewish victimhood profitable card is decisively over. Kaput. Zionists jews are branded globally as genociders. Unfortunately for the jewish tribe, it is predominantly zionist, aka genocidal.
As long as Hollywood controls the airwaves everyone will "stop noticing" in 5-10 years, a new cohort of young people raised on Netflix will believe Israel is the victim surrounded by barbarians. They'll let out the Harvey Weinsteins to make hits like Fight Club and The Matrix to distract the masses.
"The sun may rise in the East, at least it settled in a final location
It's understood that Hollywood sells Californication"
IQ is the stupidest measurement to have ever been conceived that measures nothing but the ability to solve western style puzzles. It is not a measure of any people intelligence and it's use for assessing military potential of a nation is as misguided of an attempt as one could be.
I agree that "IQ" is a stupid measure. But in fact, it is, not by chance, highly correlated to level of education. In fact, "IQ" test inventories are school performance tests, not much more.
So, what does it tell when Iran is ranking above Israel in such measurement? Prolly that murdering scientists will not help the Zionists a löt.
This is patently false. I can tell the difference between a programmer who is at 100 IQ, 110 IQ, 120 IQ and above instantly. The capacity for abstraction matters. Most people who say this took an IQ test and scored really low.
I’d argue the ceasefire was anything but disastrous for Iran. It was a masterclass in calibrated restraint. The regime took a hit, yes, but it didn’t fall apart. The state held, the streets didn’t erupt, and crucially, the leadership avoided being drawn into a broader war on terms they didn’t choose. That’s not weakness, that’s control.
What looks like passivity from the outside often conceals a deeply Persian approach to power: ta’arof — the art of strategic politeness, of deferring action while quietly asserting dominance through endurance, ambiguity, and psychological terrain. In Western terms, it might be mistaken for indecision. But in Iran, it’s often a tactic, one that masks calculation beneath ritual.
Iran is not interested in a decisive clash that drains its long-term leverage. It operates across decades, not news cycles. The goal isn’t revenge for every loss; it’s to remain in the game, outlast the pressure, and continue shaping the region quietly and asymmetrically. That’s why it doesn’t deploy its air assets rashly or unleash full capacity, not out of fear, but out of awareness that time is on its side.
So yes, something may well be brewing. But don’t mistake a pause for surrender. In Iranian strategy, the silence after tea is often louder than the shout across the table.
This ceasefire was a mistake... Iranians were ready for the long war, Iranian liberal feminists were on the street gagging for a nuclear bomb dropped on Tel Aviv.... its VERY RARE for a nation to have its Pearl Harbour moment and not go "balls deep" if you get my meaning. One might even say a really bad call. A boomer calculus mistake (like Nasarallah trying to counter balance Israel instead of fight it, getting himself clipped in the end).
Do you think Israel will be this weak ever again? After fighting for nearly 2 years, its population going through all kinds of disruptions, do you imagine it would be easier or harder to deal with Israel in the future when a new generation of people, with new generations of weapons, and new lessons from this war, start this up again?
Strategic politeness worked back in 1886 when men shot pistols at each other for honor. This is 2025, we got guys wearing smart glasses doing work while their self driving Teslas are taking them places... Perception is part of the battlefield. If you haven't noticed the cycles to condition the population into war are shorter and shorter. We (the collective west) are entering hot wars at faster and faster rates. Perception is the biggest component that allows this. We perceive no cost so it continues. Vietnam created a perception of US losing wars, this stopped the US from entering large wars for a relatively long time. Everything is going to restart a lot sooner than Iranians are comfortable with but in a much more unconventional way.
A civil war was never gonna really break out (the geography alone is unforgiving). The IRGC counter balances the national army from a coup. The Basij counters violent riots. The only way it was going to shift was what Israel was trying to do, take out as many people inside the government that may have extreme hardline views to shift it (like assassinating Raisi for this cardiologist turned president).
I even read that in the final days Israel tried to knock out as many officers, offices, headquarters, armouries of the Basij as possible. What could the goal of that be?
Now Mossad will go look for foreign Iranian students, blackmail them, and when they return become a serious threat. They're going to go on a campaign of retribution, not aiming for scientists but their families. People don't understand how pressure is applied. Its now going to be pain for Iran (like the past) but without the excuse to fire missiles at Israel. How is this better?
Unless Russia and/or China threatened the US with something to make them back off. Iran doesn't have enough leverage over the US to sustain the peace treaty.
The only thing holding it together is Trumps ego. Literally. The sheer power of his narcissism. And rational actors know what happens if you push a narcissist too far.
I still don't understand why Iran would be so quick to end the war if Israel was really on the ropes. It's all so damn confusing, like a terribly written Steven Segal war movie from the 1990's
Maybe the Iranian’s are better assessment makers, knowing tgeir strengths and weaknesses. Surely they are more intelligent. I can imagine that they may make a calculus to prevent less damage and less needless death on their side. Maybe it has something to do with their religious position, in the same way as not wanting to have nukes?
The other day India and Pakistan could have gone to war over 26 people killed (sad for those left behind). A war could have resulted in thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of victims. A country must make such calculus otherwise they demonstrate their utter stupidity. The USA is different as they are protected by big oceans
In the previous episodes between Israel and Iran, Israel assassinates some Iranian figures.. Iran makes a symbolic bombing back. Bu Israel NEVER learns its lesson and each new episode results in more Iranian dead. It's a jus a stupid game to play with them. In this case, I believe holding back in the wrong move.
The simple answer is likely because they didn't want to 'push their luck' with the US. We can laugh at US/Trump all we want, but let's be realistic. Trump remains unpredictable and besides the fake strikes, even in its imperial twilight, the US remains a formidable force that could wreak havoc across Iran if Trump was truly mad enough.
Trump came up w/the peace proposal while he was on his way to the NATO Summit in The Hague (where he's fêted by his hosts, the Dutch king and queen). it's as cheesy as it comes and fits perfectly in the grand theatre play being performed.
Hegelian dialectic: problem (T's popularity's waning) - reaction (drop bombs) - solution (instigate a peace initative: popularity saved AND he's on time for gloating some more at The Hague's NATO Summit).
Absolutely, and that caution is the strategy. From a Western lens, restraint can look like weakness or fear. But within an Iranian framework - both political and cultural - it's more like a deliberate form of timing. The regime understands the volatility of US leadership, especially with someone like Trump potentially returning. They’ve no interest in handing him an excuse for escalation.
This isn’t about being intimidated by American power per se - Iranians aren’t naive about the US military machine. But neither are they eager to play into its theatre. It’s a deeply Persian approach: don't provoke the madman, don’t corner the beast. Buy time, observe the shifting winds, and act when it counts. It’s less about pushing luck and more about preserving optionality.
Iranian strategy tends to be poetic before it’s kinetic, shaped by centuries of navigating empire, invasion, and survival. Silence is a tactic. Delay is a shield. It’s not always satisfying in the short term, but it often wins the long game.
That is so true and on target. People just babble sometimes like it’s a western movie saloon out there and all you need to do is to walk in, all dicks swinging, and John Wayne the way in a quick shootout. They have little conception of “war as continuation of politics by other means” where a return to politics as early as feasible is the most viable strategy! There’s a limit to brinksmanship and management of multiple potential risks and vulnerabilities is the most effective approach for long term survival or triumph. This is well demonstrated by Russia which has navigated and managed its position vis-à-vis US during the whole SMO. Despite the certainly that America via NATO and EU has been the driving force behind Ukraine as a proxy, Russia has wisely tried to avoid escalation beyond Ukraine and especially direct confrontation and potential war with US/NATO. Obviously, Russia is not afraid of anyone, especially not when they can wipe out the US even more swiftly than the other way around. BUT only a fool could conclude that it would be in Russia’s interest to expand the war it can already manage and surely win via a grind in Ukraine than risking Armageddon by opening multiple fronts and inviting simultaneous wars. Iran is taking a similar approach. If it needs to fight Israel or America in the near or foreseeable future, which it would do if forced or imposed, it will try to the extent possible to do so by fostering conditions as favorable as possible for maximizing its chances of survival and success. Despite being blindsided and surprise attacked, Iran didn’t panic and wisely calculated an a flexible, yet systematic and disciplined strategy that morphed into a lethally attritional one with rapid turnaround and payoff within a few days. Who could’ve imagined such patience paying off, absorbing losses and not desperately rushing to make major moves such as closing the gulf right away.
Absolutely spot on — and it’s refreshing to see someone speak to the real strategic depth behind Iran’s actions, rather than falling into the usual “shootout at the saloon” narrative. Too often, people analyse Iran (and Russia) through the lens of Western immediacy — as if all states are just reactive, pride-driven actors waiting for a trigger. But Iran, like Russia, doesn’t think in cinematic cycles. It thinks in centuries.
Both civilisations carry long memories of encirclement, betrayal, and existential survival. For Russia, it’s been about territorial depth and calculated stoicism. For Iran, it’s about navigating between empires, sometimes resisting, weaving through, but always preserving the thread of identity. And when you add the Shi’a cosmology into the Persian strategic mind, you get something uniquely complex: a worldview that doesn't equate suffering with failure, or delay with weakness.
In Shi’a consciousness, Karbala is the defining reference point — a small force surrounded, standing for truth, losing the battle but shaping the soul of a people forever. It’s not about "winning" in the way Clausewitz or the RAND Corporation would frame it. It’s about absorbing, outlasting, and choosing the terrain of response, not out of fear, but fidelity to a longer arc of justice and endurance.
So yes, what we’re seeing is restraint, but not passivity. Iran absorbed the initial blow, calibrated its posture, avoided overreaction, and reasserted its presence without triggering a wider war. That’s not folding, that’s classical Persian strategy: survive first, strike meaningfully, and stay in the game long after your opponent burns themselves out.
Iran, like Russia, knows the West is playing fast. They’re playing deep. And the outcomes aren’t measured in headlines - they’re measured in what remains standing a decade from now.
Yes, but the best strategy requires the ability to act sometimes with immediacy and decisiveness when it is warranted, as opposed to always resorting to Persian patience and restraint.
I hope I am wrong but part of me fears that Iran will look back with regret on this time it had Israel on the ropes and just let it go.
>Thus, Israel was slowly losing its capability to deal damage
Not sure about that, the bombing of Tehran really intensified the last few days, and it certainly looked like Iranian AD was broken.
>Israel has now lost against Hamas, lost against Hezbollah, and lost to Iran
How did Israel lose against Hamas when Gaza is completely leveled and how did it lose against Hezbollah when Hezbollah lost hundreds of its top men and pulled back from the border?
Regardless, this is all missing the point.
Look at the bigger picture and look deeper at the history of the region.
This war might be remembered as the Twelve-Day war, in reference to the Six-Day war. The Six-Day war was an overwhelming victory for Israel, but then in 1973 things didn't go so well for them and they had to make concessions later on. However, what happened in the end, both in the long and short term? First, Egypt flipped quickly. Then over time Israel won decisively. It took decades, but they did -- Syria is now gone, Iraq is gone, Libya is gone, Iran is the only one left standing.
Does anyone in their right mind think that the Israelis will chill from now on in perpetuity? Of course not, these people are relentless psychopaths.
And Iran now is a target more than it has ever been before.
So what are Iran's useful moves from here on? They can acquire nukes, but here's the problem -- they have been trading missile strikes with Israel for more than a year now, the last two weeks for real, and Israel does have nukes. But that didn't stop Iran from striking them. So how will it stop Israel? Probably won't. Deterrence doesn't quite exist here anymore.
But if Iran doesn't have nukes very soon, deterrence will be completely non-existent.
Thus Iran kind of has no choice, they have to get nukes.
And that is a strategic defeat for the "multipolar" world, and especially for Russia.
Because once Iran gets nukes, the next country to immediately get them will be Ukraine (likely not theirs, they will be given nukes by the West, to checkmate Russia). Some of us have been warning that there is a very brief and rapidly shrinking window in which the Ukrainian question must be decisively and permanently resolved, but Putin's continuous prioritizing of oligarch profits over the most fundamental interests of the country prevented that. So here we are.
But it won't be just Iran. Turkey will get nukes too. Which will also be a strategic defeat for Russia. Up until now there was an extreme power imbalance between those countries, but once Turkey goes nuclear, well...
Others will follow too.
This is what happens when you are always on the defensive and have the initiative -- you get maneuvered into one lose-lose situation after another.
>It is interesting, however, that Iran’s airforce did not seem to participate at all—some experts suggest Iran likely relocated its entire airforce to the far east of the country and simply kept it out of harm’s way the entire time.
Iran's ancient planes don't stand a chance against the IAF, this is why they were kept out of the fight. Iran essentially doesn't have an air-force. And it is not clear if it will be given time to acquire one before the next war. These things take decades. Russia doesn't have the production capacity to supply them with a triple-digit Su-35s and Su-57s, China does have it, but will it do it? Kind of doubtful.
>By the way, as another nail in Israel’s phony ‘shadow war’, Iranian general of the Quds force Ismail Qaani, who was said to have been “killed” by Israeli strikes, miraculously reappeared in the victory celebrations today in Tehran:
Which makes him a prime suspect of being a Mossad agent, doesn't it?
They also bet that movement of Russian troops were a bluff before the Russians attacked. They bet sanctions would cripple the Russian economy and the war would be short. They bet Russia and China would never work together.
I've seen some coping in my time, but you've won the Gold medal here. You've conveniently forgot to mention it was Israel who stopped all media showing the destruction of its tiny enclave. You've conveniently not mentioned any footage of any Israeli "far superior" aircraft over Iran airspace. Because there wasn't any. You also haven't mentioned how small a warhead is the fighter jets carried to Irans borders, are able to carry & use. As opposed to the huge ballistic missiles that decimated the likes of Haifa port. You do the same old trope every time you comment. You make the false accusations of superior military attacks with superior equipment. But never ever have any proof to back your accusations up. Because there is no proof. You're obviously a paid BS merchant. As you do the same thing on many sites, that all coincidently show proof of Western failures & lies. At this stage anyone who is used to your nonsense, knows your full of BS. Why was Israel asking the Iranians to stop, when the Iranians had no interest in stopping? That seem like someone winning does it in your tiny mind? Why is it Iran was only needing to use smaller amounts of missiles to get through Israeli air defences if Israel had plenty of air defensive missiles left? Just like the much talked about Iron Dome. You're statements are full of holes, for any informed rational person. You're a paid BS merchant you know it, I know it. I'll admit the only proof I have is your constant comments refusing all evidence of facts. But youre doing it that often on many different people sites. It's obvious.
Iran basically capitulated. Israel dictated the time and terms of the war and now the peace. Your remarks may be true that they were running short of munitions, but then why did iran agree? Because, obviously, they were getting wrecked
No one wanted the iranians to put up a fight more than I did. But they didn't. Israeli and American ISR meant that western iran became a kill zone for any TELs, and/or the iranian launch procedures are so slow that by the time they roll out the launcher to fire they are already detected and targeted
One of the key changes which will arise from this conflict is that the geriatric sclerotic clerics who run the country will be shadow deposed by technocrats and other secularists who dont rely on divine intervention as a battle strategy
Trump in the end threaded the needle, whether you want to admit it or not. He busted the neocon nut by finally bombing the nuke facilities AND extricated the US inside of 72 hours, and as of this writing civilian air traffic is resuming to both Tehran and tel aviv.
Will it hold? Probably not. The iranians will only cement their incompetence if they do anything but rush to a bomb (or several), immediately, and conduct an underground test or two. And then we are in a new world.
>The iranians will only cement their incompetence if they do anything but rush to a bomb (or several), immediately, and conduct an underground test or two.
Undergrounds tests without working ICBMs is the worst possible move right now.
It opens them to an immediate much more vicious attack with the US joining without Iran having the capability to meaningfully strike and thus deter the US.
ICBMs are needed first, and you need a few dozen of them too, you build up the warhead stash in paralle, and only then do you reveal that you have at least 50 nukes to put on those ICBMs,
Presumably the Iranians have various MRBM's which can carry 1-ton (give or take) warheads, which should be in theory easy to swap out with a nuclear warhead. But, we didn't really see those get rolled out in any quantity over the last 2 weeks so I am inclined to agree with you.
You seem to have witnessed a different war than I did. Iran did great damage but she also took some terrible hits. What we see is just a lot of face-saving on the part of the Americans and the Zionist Israelis to avoid admitting their defeats. Iran is happy to let them play, but everyone knows what really happened.
Without a doubt, interpretation of the outcome of this short conflict is going to be up for serious debate, and I certainly accept your viewpoint. Something to ponder though - when or if this conflict kicks off again, do you doubt that it will be the Israelis who strike first?
Historically, the Zionist entity has always broken ceasefires, so yes, it will be the Israelis. Iranians are civilized people; Israelis are barbarians.
These are hasbara trolls liking and replying to each other. I live in China and the media there is very pro Iran. I saw entire Israeli neighbourhoods looking like Gaza.
People are accustomed to movies, where the bad guys are beaten within one and a half hour. The reality is not like this, and the Iranians know better than distant onlookers.
Can you even fathom the thought that Iran does not want to go to war- or be in an extended war or be the country to destroy Israel - Israel is the aggressor - Iran responded - like a good neighbor Iran made its point forcefully and was mindful of being humane- Israel is a satellite nation of America it has no humanity and sees all
Non Jews as low life forms with no value so it kills with impunity. The two countries have both suffered but Iran has a moral compass in a world gone mad - Zionist Israel is at this point a death cult with no regard for any ones lives including its own people and it’s American enablers. Morality still lives in the world so sad that it is seen as weakness when in fact it is the heart of Iran.
If you ignore Haifa port being offline, the Haifa oil refinery destroyed, Mossad HQ destroyed, the Weissmann Institute, Unit 8200 HQ. Let's see what Israel looks like in a year. They certainly won the censorship war though.
Lots of Indians, Thais, and other nationalities evacuated. They probably lost 1/6 of their workforce in a week - especially farm laborers, etc - people they need. Their economy was about to implode.
That’s one reading - but it assumes Iran was ever playing to “win” in conventional, Western military terms. It wasn’t. Iran’s entire posture has always been asymmetrical, multi-theatre, and deeply shaped by a survivalist philosophy. Yes, Israel set the tempo, and yes, Western ISR has advanced to the point of near-total overwatch. But Iran didn’t capitulate - it recalibrated. It absorbed the blow and declined to escalate into a full-blown regional war. That’s not surrender; it’s restraint rooted in strategic culture.
From a Western viewpoint, this may look like weakness or incompetence. But in Persian political logic - steeped in centuries of empire, invasion, and survival - this is the long game. It’s not about theatrics or chest-thumping. It’s about remaining intact, outlasting pressure, and continuing to shape the regional board piece by piece. Iran has allies and proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen - those haven’t gone anywhere.
As for the clerical regime, you're not wrong that internal pressure is mounting. But if there's any "shadow deposition" happening, it will be Iranian, not Western-imposed. The youth, the technocrats, and even elements of the IRGC are evolving the game. But transitions in Iran are rarely sudden. They unfold beneath the surface, like tectonic shifts, not like coups. That, too, is a feature of the system.
And while Trump may have managed a limited strike-and-withdraw maneuver, let’s not mistake brevity for brilliance. Iran allowed things to de-escalate not because it was defeated, but because it sees this as just one round in a far longer match. One that spans not just military might, but economic positioning, global multipolarity, and cultural legitimacy in a region rapidly shifting away from American unipolarity.
Iran may or may not “rush to a bomb.” But if it does, it will be because the international consensus — and the JCPOA’s collapse — left it with no other deterrent option. And that’s not incompetence. That’s the slow, brutal logic of realpolitik.
It’s not about whether ChatGPT understands Persians. It’s about whether the ideas expressed carry depth, coherence, and truth, regardless of the tool used to articulate them. You could hand a mirror to a stranger or a sage. The reflection depends not on the mirror, but on what stands before it.
The irony, of course, is that the original article we’re all responding to bears plenty of the stylistic markers of LLM-assisted drafting — the extended em-dashes, the modular scaffolding, the over-polished rhythm. And that’s fine. LLMs are tools, not oracles. What matters is the clarity of the insight, not whether it was typed with ten fingers or nudged into form by an algorithm.
To dismiss an idea solely because it might have passed through a digital hand is to avoid the actual terrain of discussion, which, in this case, is rich with historical nuance, civilisational memory, and cultural psychology. Persian thinking isn’t a riddle locked in bloodline or birthplace. It’s a philosophical current — shaped by poetry, patience, paradox, and pain. You don’t have to be Persian to sense it. But you do have to slow down long enough to listen.
If you’d like to engage with the actual ideas — sovereignty, Shi’a temporality, the slow geometries of civilisational strategy — I welcome it. But if the conversation ends at “ChatGPT wrote it,” we may not be speaking the same language after all.
I feel that the Iranians should have kept on going for a few more weeks with their devastating attacks on Israeli infrastructure. Tel Avi now has a respite and will use that time to recuperate and replenish.
You are right, if you care more about hurting Israel than you do protecting Iran. I am guessing the Mullahs care more about protecting Iran?
You can argue that it's a foolish policy because Israel is inevitably going to bomb again, but my sense is that over time the West gets weaker and the East gets stronger, so they have no need to act/react now.
How is your stolen house in Tel Aviv? Cope harder jew, your run at crimes against humanity is on it's last legs.
Yes my error using the genocidal ashkeNAZI name. It is Tel Al Rabie.
Jew troll.
just go away then jew.
New Jew Propagandists:
lily357
Run Freedom Run
Inisfad
Gabor Salamon
ProMaleCollective
BillLawson
POSA
Skyline
Glitterpuppy
John Law
Jooz are good at making up lies and propaganda (see WWII - fake holocaust - 6 million killed).
Iran will win. The West is going down. The mass migration from Muslim countries is destroying the fabric of the Western Civilisation. I do not expect a big crash, but a slow, but steady decline. Maybe there will be a civil war? Here in Austria a survey by a government agency showed, more than 80% of the voters want dramatic changes to the migration issues. But the government (and EU) keeps the doors open and gives the possible migrants a lot of incentives to come, of course, from taxpayers money. So either we see a Muslim take over, good for Iran, or we see a civil war, good for Iran, or just a collapse of the financial system, good for Iran.
Good to remember that Iranian Muslims are antithetical to Arab Muslims. We haven't even got to the river card yet.
as always it is the jew that sends muslim fighting age males to EU
https://michaelpeinovich.substack.com/p/how-israel-created-the-european-refugee
The world has looked on with shock and horror at the Jewish bombardment of innocent civilians in Palestine since October 7th. As of this writing, at least 35,000 Palestinians have been murdered, 80,000 have been wounded and almost all of the roughly 2 million residents of the Gaza strip have been displaced and made refugees by the systematic Jewish destruction of their homes. Jewish officials in Israel have openly called for killing or expelling the entire population, and have been pressuring Arab states, the US and Europe to accept the Palestinians they have deliberately made refugees.
This is not the first refugee crisis Israel has precipitated.....
They did not kill "much of the leadership".
The shitraelis assassinated half a dozen generals (there are thousands left), scientists, some civil servants, and paramedics.
Nuttyahoo requests you cope harder.
Israelis are running from the fascist jewish state.
"Ban on Israelis flying out raises legal red flags, with many needing to leave."
"Hundreds of Israelis are scrambling to flee Israel via boats to Cyprus."
Yes and. the Cypriots do not want them there.
Rats fleeing the sinking ship.
And there is your error "Nothing I’m hearing out of Israel suggests anything like “humiliation."
You are believing jew hasbara and cope. The cunts brag and crow even when they lose.
A ceasefire, the little kids in Gaza can only dream of such a thing.
Mabey trump will put the leash back on mad dog zionist apartide non state.
We had a saying about cars in the 70's. All show and no go! This is the US, Israel and NATO at their finest. Uh we demand a ceasefire!
Getting permission to make a fake bombing attack. Convoluted at best, quiet desperation is the English way.
Were the English in on this?
Pink Floyd reference. Wasn't it the Balfour declaration that started all the violence.
It was violent from the start, so yeah the ultimate divide and conquer crew set the standard.
The elite have gotten sloppy, at this point there are so many unfiled charges against the usual suspects only a major war will slow the vendettas from seriously altering the chain of command. Forever!
Who didn't have a hand in Covid for instance? All these freedom loving oligarchs and libtards backing Ukrainian Nazis? Really? With a straight face?
Not to mention some of the old stuff like 9/11. Far as I'm concerned the US will never heal from that open wound. Or JFK, RFK and MLK. Our heroes assassinated for wanting peace.
Along with Balfour there's the secretive Sykes-Picot agreement between the British and the French to divide the Levantine parts of the former Ottoman Empire between themselves, thus betraying the Arabs. It was about grabbing the Oil.
Yes but regarding your last paragraph, unfortunately most Americans still believe the official story for all these things - never question or use critical thinking
I don't think Americans who have succumbed to brainwashing count as loyal patriots. They are loyal to a globalist agenda that certainly would qualify as Fascist.
It is up to ethical Citizens to save their country from enemies foreign or domestic.
Your perfectionist comment only serves to dramatize the threats we face.
Not desperation - just no lust for long protracted war. Went of public face slapping instead.
Hmm. Forgot about public face slaps.
How the West would howl if Russia started knocking off public authorities and elites in Ukraine, the way the Israelis do in Iran. Like that dirty trick with the pagers.
So rather than a long protracted war, they do long dirty insurgency? When real war looms they get cold feet. Interesting observation Hans.
They are cowards and self-deceiving liars
More succinctly Psychopaths and their minions.
And maybe I'll wake up to a world with no nasty pitbulls.
the jew is holding zion don's leash
Really? I’ll bet they are thinking of ways to kill Jews. Even baby rattlesnakes are cute.
Ah insight into the Zionist mind. Then the stories from the states about Jewish people being killed, because 'someone' mistook them for being Palestinians, don't break your heart even a bit, do they?
Nothing breaks my heart. I haven’t one.
Ok enough with the insights already. Now it's confessions of the bot?
My vision is a world where we all work together and the psychopaths are studied in a secure box, not put in charge.
The claim that newborns are terrorist by birth demonstrates just how mentally sick and deranged you Zionist kikes are.
Total eradication of all carriers of the Ashkenazim genes is necessary for the safety of Mankind.
And, how do you plan to do that?
And we are mentally sick? Lol. Do you hear your ranting? Plus, this kicke would love to wash your mouth out with soap for using bad language.
Who is going to perform “total eradication “? You? You’re just an armchair wannabe
Regular subhumans, I'm sure....
Happy Feast of St Simplicius
"Victorious Iran" my a..
How many kills did israhell make? And how many Iran?
You tell me. Israel's "kills" are already being magically 'resurrected', which you'd know if you read the piece to the end.
Well, it looks like the score is about 997 people killed by the jews, and only about 22 by the Iranians.
And how many of the jews' best generals / IDF are included in those 22?
ZERO! A storm in a glass of water.
Israhell, unfortunately, has achieved more of their nefarious objectives.
When will Iran be able to create REAL deterrence? So far, ... zero, zilch, nada.
Enough with false bravery and pats on the back - for actions that are militarily INSIGNIFICANT. Even from a pure civilian infrastructure damage point of view, Iran felt inferior, UNFORTUNATELY.
How does the score tally up when compared per capita, one wonders?
Just what a chinoviki would say to lessen the traumatised family's grief.
It doesn't matter. The entire discussion is like listening to chest-thumping Americans talk about kill ratios in the Vietnam War.*
It doesn't matter how many more Vietnamese peasants were killed, it doesn't matter if the generals could have won the war if they only had X or were allowed to do Y or if the civilians just trusted them more or whatever - the United States still lost.
* or, for that matter, white supremacists bleating about the Rhodesian Bush War.
More importantly, what does tallying dead civilians as victory tokens say about you, the Israeli's and us Americans against the obvious consideration given to human life demonstrated by Iran?
What was the Soviet/German kill ratio in 1940's. It shows the motivation of oppressed people/slaves of tyranny. The Zionists won't fight to the last man! How can they when all they got are devils!
that's because of the decency of Iran. Long term thinking.
"....and only about 22 by the Iranians."
shitraeli censorship, you are ignoring that.
Shhh, are you crazy? Waking them up like that is anti-Semitic!! Shame on you.
If Israel was winning they wouldn't have stopped. Their surprise attack gained them some advantages but these all evaporated when Trump played the joker on Netanyahu. Iran clearly achieved their deterrence goal and what did Israel achieve? A distraction from their genocide.
As you say Israel floated that two week timeframe because they knew they'd be limited by resources. They either underestimated Iran's strike power or overestimated the US appetite for a head on with Iran. I'd say it's the latter as True Promise II showed how a stand off.battle would progress. I guess Netanyahu rolled the dice hoping the Iranian leadership would implode.
And totally agree that Israel are still moving ahead with their machinations. Ofc so are the Iranians. I'd say their support for Yemen will increase.
Dump is of course a rodeo clown but under mafia Don's 'leadership', this is the very first presidency where the Zionist entity has gotten a serious "beat-down". Finally, some street justice...
🤣 Funny, with all those massive kills, it is still your beloved genocidal sewer that begged for a ceasefire, just like it was forced to do in 2006.
Enjoy your wet dream 🤣
Israel's best general's, Ha! These guys are nothing but terrorists with medals on their chest awarded for their assassinations of innocent men, women and children. The coward's go to kill methods.
Don't just see the official casuality numbers. Add to that how many people left their respective countries for other supposedly safer nation with intentions of not ever returning again.
Especially the younger generation.
Such data would have been a better comparison.
He probably missed that detail the same way you always miss questions about the Dniper bridge, and some other like ones, to your posts on Russia-Ukraine.
Happens, even to the best ;).
not at all.
The Iranians are very still dead. Barking will not change the fact.
Feel free to continue believing that the "bodycount" decides wars.
Never mind the accuracy of the body count, esp. on the talmudic fascist side.
The Zionists have made it a crime to film any of the results of the counterattacks lest they serve to assist the Iranians in fine tuning their targeting so the truth may never be known to us.
The fact that they are even arresting anyone cheering on the strikes and their incessant shrieking that we pull their fat out of the fire indicates they have been dealt some painful blows.
To this day, the IDF continues to incur losses in Gaza alone so any total tally given by Israel is almost certainly under reported and the true figures are covered up.
On the subject of under reported aspects the Greater Israel project is the ethnic cleansing of some of the world's oldest Christian communities in post-Assad Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axT37P_oz1k
Truly sickening that so many heretical "Christian" Zionists here are either ignorant or indifferent to all the Orthodox and Maronite Christians, including some within Hezbollah's ranks, that have lost their lives.
Yesterday the IDF lost 7 men killed and over 17 wounded in an ambush. This level of casualties is leading to growing desertions and demoralizing its troops conducting the genocidal war in Gaza.
While I am gladdened to see that seven more Zionists were summarily ganked, it is going to take much more than that.
How many kills did the US have in Viet Nam? They still lost, bigly!
Bad terms of comparison. During Vietnam there were boots on the ground. And more mixed forms of combat, including air forces.
Were are the Iranian's air forces? I'm bringing such point with sadness, because I do not want the ... jews to prevail!
Even with boots on the ground, it were 64k US vs. 3.5M Vietnamese killed. The US lost anyway. And there is no evidence that Iran even tried terror murders like Israel did.
A people fighting for its land is very difficult to defeat. That is also the reason why the genocidal fascists, who infiltrated Palestine like the vermin they are, cannot win because it is not their land, their land is Khazaria, a.k.a. the Ukraine today.
I was hoping that Iran would fight as Vietnam did - no compromises - sending a message to the US (which only respects strength), such that Americans shudder at the thought of another war with Vietnam. Vietnam was not too proud to seek help - from China, then the USSR. They did not carefully inform the US in advance of attacks, or place faith in ceasefires or a negotiated peace. Vietnam and North Korea are the honey badgers of international politics.
I hope that Iran understands the ceasefire is not a victory, any more than Minsk 1 or 2 were, merely a pause for the US to rearm Israel, ship in more supplies, upgrade the air defenses of their bases and intensify efforts to destabilize Iran.
Iran wanted to show what it could do alone to Israel. And ot has shown it very well, making the terrorist entity face something it never faced. This short war has consolidated the Iranian society and exposed the real face of West to Iranian proWest liberals. Iran now needs to work on its weaknesses and deficiencies along with its partners in the so-called axis of evil.
Some *yahoo(s) need to re-take a course in game theory.
If the Iranians are smart, they will take advantage of the military partnership offered by Putin and the Russians. Iran's AD needs big improvements and Russia can help them massively. Iran took too long to respond to Russia's offer and it hurt them in this conflict.
There will, of course, be another war at some point. Or this one will reignite. Either way, Iran needs to be ready and it needs to improve its AD as well as its offensive capabilities.
Iran also needs to get nukes. There is no other option for them or they will be attacked by the US at some point. The US has NOT given up on regime change, what is happening now is a respite because the Israelis were in deep trouble, and the US cannot currently even sufficiently build enough gear for itself, never mind Israel as well as Ukraine.
Look no further than Kim in North Korea. He was smart, and he knew that he needed nukes or he risked the same fate as Gaddafi and Saddam. Now, nobody is stupid enough to screw with North Korea. Compare that to Iran, which also stupidly tried to meet the West halfway and got attacked for it as a reward. Now the Iranians know that the game is rigged, and nothing they do will please the West or placate Israel. Only a complete regime change would do that, and that would be the end of the Islamic Republic.
So nukes are now on the table for Iran, and for any other country that doesn't want to be attacked by the US.
Forget Bilderberg. That's for losers. All the cool kids were at the Global South meeting in St Petersburg.
LOL still creepy as hell though - https://21stcenturywire.com/2025/06/20/review-of-bilderberg-2025-ai-drones-technocracy-and-the-transatlantic-alliance/
Indeed. I was half joking. These people are dangerous maniacs and shouldn't be underestimated.
Yes, it's so prosaic to point at BP, Exxon, Shell and US energy hegemony as culprits. It's so much more interesting and fun to investigate the history of mysterious secret cabals and to blame the British.
Closer military collaboration with Russia and China is now crucial.
Dave the Russians are very active in Libya I am told. Can anyone confirm?
If they are it's a bit late John, unlikely they would be able to clean up the situation up. Look at the efforts in Syria not once did they protect IRGC or SAA from Isreali air strikes nor attacks on Syrian military positions either.
I truly feel they are part of the kabuki theatre and only have oligarchical business dealing as a priority.
The Russians are strong backers of Haftar.
Absolutely. That marks another fail for globohomo: they failed to take down a major BRICS player and disrupt the alliance's internal trading and communication routes.
Really? Are the Russians really an ally? If the Planes attacked from the Caspian Sea, then this leads to some conclusions. I would advice the Iranians to act carful and do not trust the Russians.
When reading "7 seconds to die", I was shocked how close Turkey and Israel were obviously working together, and Russia was standing just beside, doing nothing. On the other hand the EU is doing everything to be on good terms with the Azeris. The helicopter crash of the Iranian President was when returning from Baku. There is a lot of oil and gas involved and like in Libya, BP is an important player. But when we say BP, then the MI6 is not far away. But what it the Israeli component here?
Israel has set up smart villages in Azerbaijan at the border with Iran. Azerbaijan sells cheap oil/gas to Israel through Turkey and used Israeli weapons amd tech against Nagoro Karbakh. Iran is as surrounded by NATO as Russia is but I don't understand why Iran is not more sceptical and cautious about Azerbaijan and Turkey.
They don't, they only need to look at how the Russians dropped Assad.
This is more complicated. Assad was removed by a crippled economy. And when looking at Iran, it is more China that helps. The will to help might exist, but the economic power is only with the Chinese, not the Russians. And China is dangerous too; they helped Iran (and will help!) because of energy, not because of some moral thinking. Sanctions work! And in the case of Assad, the US physically occupied the land where the oil and wheat fields are.
The Iranians were not much help either, you may recall.
The Russians do not want to end The West but to join it. Hence they are dithering and indecisive.
The West, by contrast, has no such scruples.
The West is literally kidnapped by weirdos handing out Golden Pagers. Russia is making sincere efforts to become part of the West since Peter the Great and that is over 300 years ago. As things stand in the last decades, the 'West' needs Russia more than anything else to remain sane and functional.
The Russian leadership simply wants to be allowed to join The Club.
The Club has no particular need for Russia, other than as a Scary Enemy/All Purpose Boogeyman.
Not sure it's the case nowadays. I think lots of illusions about West are gone.
Indeed. I believe that if Iran decides to develop a nuclear arsenal, that would be a mistake and a certain guarantee of attack by israel/US. They would have to have developed a massive number of nukes and demonstrated delivery systems in order to wave off potential strikes by the US and israel. I believe their best bet is to go into an arrangement with Russia and China that would immediately bring them under the nuclear umbrella both of Russia and China.
Or Pakistan. Start ordering J10s and other Chinese fighters, surveillance and bombers from China delivery ASAP, and payment pending. Also, what happened to Iran's increased influence in Iraq? Sadly missing. No Iraqi militia attacking US bases in Iraq? Maybe start infiltrating soldiers and material into Iraq now to push back the US/Israel forces.
Pakistan will do no such thing.
Besides having a....rather testy relationship with its Shia minority and with Iran in general, The United States has considerable leverage over Pakistan.
Iran already has the best fighters Russia builds, it doesn't need Chinese planes. Although those long-distance air-to-air missiles would be a blessing.
Won't be long now before it occurs to some smartasse egg-head to attach them to drones for aerial denial outside of borders with little risk.
On the final days, Iran absolutely FLATTENED the Israeli border posts on its land crossings - the Iraqi militias were likely tooling up to join with Jordanian Palestinian militant and head for the crossing.
You think Ben Gvirs women and child-murdering militias would have lasted more than a few hours?
Another of the reasons that Israhell and USA was panicking.
The Iraqi militias had also causing a LOT of damage to the US bases in Iraq during this conflict, little reported in Western media (I simply cannot imagine why), and there's not a single Sunni regime in the area who is not looking nervously at their own populations right now.
Don't write off the Arabs so easily. They may not have achieved independence like the Persians did, but they have shed infinitely more blood for their freedom than Europeans and Americans have for ours, against the same enemy.
Which crossing are you referring to?
I *think*, without watching it all again, it was a claim by Laith on this show: https://rumble.com/v6v77fx-middle-east-in-depth-wlaith-marouf-ep-51-israel-defeated-us-sparks-regional.html?e9s=src_v1_mfp
The attack is baked in the cake, regardless.
and perhaps in the making: "...One option floated by some analysts [....] would be a full security partnership with Russia and perhaps China, with Iran positioned under their nuclear umbrella [...] the Empire war is fundamentally a war against BRICS...' (Pepe Escobar) - https://www.unz.com/pescobar/empire-of-chaos-takes-war-on-brics-to-next-level/
Quadrella with trade routes. Arguably the most important.
colonialism at its best :-/
This whole "we do not believe in bloc polítics" is getting very old and starting to stink. Because bloc politics is coming for all of them, time to get real 🧐🙄🤬
It was the wiser Raisi who initiated the defence treaty, and Israhell assassinated him. Pezeshkian is learning... far too slowly. Iran cannot afford to have a BBC-brainwashed well meaning fool at this time.
I have little doubt the IRGC and Grand Ayatollah are shouting at him a LOT these days.
Others regimes, less merciful, would find him accident prone himself.
Pezeshkian is a doctor. Such people can be very estimable personally, but are a comprador class by definition. They are pharma's pushers and have the ideological blindness to match. They should be kept very far from power, every where and almost without exception.
I wouldn't have agreed a few decades past... experience teaches.
While there ARE some good doctors - John Campbell fx, who has done such good work exposing the Covid scams, and other such shenanigans, all too sadly 'the exception tests the rule'.
I wouldn't trust a "Psychiatrist" anymore than I would a Guantanamo torturer.
Nothing more than legal drug-pushers, and even more damning, drugs that are CONSIDERABLY more harmful than anything Nature provided us with... which are "Illegal" since the last century.
There is that old rule of thumb - never buy a product from a pusher they haven't/wouldn't taken themselves. I'm guessing a lot of 'Psychiatrists' would forego all those golfing holidays if it was THEM resulting in a lifelong addiction to a mentally-destructive and experimental drug that made them permanently suicidal. Just a guess, mind.
Lets not even touch the cov-vax, ffs.
War is interested in them, even if they are not interested in war
Bullseye 🎯
I think that was clear to most sane people from the time of Hiroshima and Nagasake. Which the kindest democracy and the most humane army and air force in the world (no, not the IDF) needlessly inflicted on Japanese civilians.
Do I recognize some sarcasm here😀
You didn't mention the years of firebombing civilians. 70% of their cities were razed. MacNamara's handiwork.
>If the Iranians are smart, they will take advantage of the military partnership offered by Putin and the Russians. Iran's AD needs big improvements and Russia can help them massively. Iran took too long to respond to Russia's offer and it hurt them in this conflict.
It might be too late.
How many advanced AD systems do you think Iran needs to protect that vast territory and what is Russian production capacity, especially given that Russia has a war to fight itself?
China might be a better bet in terms of production capacity, and their AD systems are derivatives of Russian designs anyway, so there might be some compatibility. But that would require them to really step up.
And there is very little time -- the next war might happen in just a few months.
>Iran also needs to get nukes.
Won't be enough on its own, they will have to also demonstrate delivery capacity against the continental US and the willingness to use the nukes even in case of a conventional attack. This means ICBMs and an absolutely ruthless ultra-trigger-happy launch-on-warning posture. Do you see the current Iranian leadership as being capable of that?
Otherwise they will continue to trade strikes with Israel despite both countries having nukes, and over time they will be degraded (as Iran doesn't have the untouchable rear that the US and the EU are to Israel).
>Look no further than Kim in North Korea
Note that Comrade Kim has ICBMs that can reach anywhere and nobody doubts that those will be fired the moment the country is attacked. Iran already had the capacity to send Israel to the stone age even just conventionally -- hitting the TPP in Ashkelon, the refineries, and the five desalination plants would have sufficed -- but they only hit one of the refineries.
you can drive an S-300 battery into an area and get to work almost immediately, Iran already has guys who can run stuff like that. They should be able to really shore things up, if not perfectly, in a month or two.
Do they want to Joshua, they played the game with lying dishonourable Trump so they are not serious. Isreal is evil so anything is expected from them.
AmIsrael is evil - it’s
not one without the other- Americans are complicit.
Yes Karla the US is the quartmaster and the instructor.
Exactly. Iran could have already crushed, or severly damaged, the israeli society. They abstained. What says they will have the balls to do it when they have nukes?
One can argue that Iran hesitated to take out the NPP and desalinations plant because they knew Israel would launch nukes against Iran.
With same logic you can say, once you have nukes, there would be no attacks threatening your existence. That logic fails when you look at Russia. Although you can say that Russias existence has not (yet) being in threat.
The Iranians don’t want nukes
It’s all a ruse- politics over BRICS.
They have declared that. And they better not have nukes. Nukes is of no use if you are not commited to use them. Iran had 1000 of missiles they didnt use.
A weapon used is a weapon lost. Even if Pezeshkian is an idiot, the IRGC isn't. This war is NOT over. They have to keep a reserve for the next outbreak.
Many in the government do, and apparently lots of articles last year in the paper supported getting nuclear weapons. There must be pressure mounting for the Ayatollah to remove the fatwa.
Articles in the paper are propaganda - who actually talks to the Iranians- not the US we just project our beliefs on them aka propaganda to legitimize demonizing them for enriching uranium with no proof that this is for making a nuclear bomb- DJT supposed peace president would be better off pushing for a reduction of nukes and elimination of nukes in every country starting now - peace does not come from war - Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not necessary kill sights - the war was over - we had the weapon and we used it on a culture and race we hated because we could - reality sucks, we bombed Dresden into rubble post WWII because we could - power plays extraordinaire. Then we put 700 hundred bases around the world to control the west because we could- NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization - a war club - see Ukraine proxy war brought to the world by the NATO club because we could . We have been aiding and abetting Israel
for 77 years in ME, not to protect the Jews, but to have a
beachhead in ME that we control because we could.
The fatwa will remain the Ayatollah hopes to
remind the world that their is one place on earth where religious beliefs take priority
against man’s inhumanity to his fellow man.
:kissing_heart:
So, US targeted missiles deep into Russia was not a threat?
Read again. Russias nukes didnt stop attacks on them.
They can't USE nukes against Israhell. They would kill mass numbers of Palestinians, for a start, Let alone breaking the fatwah/Shariah injunction against innocent civilian casualties.
As GM said, for the Iranian nuke threat to work, they have to be able to hit US cities.
He was on the ball for once.
In fact, there is no evidence that Israel has more advanced AD systems left than Iran. Latest interception rate was 50%, against a mix of most advanced and older ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, even drones.
And interception was not Israel alone. Attacks on Iranian missiles started right after launch from Persion Gulf located US destroyers, US AD in Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan SA missiles and warplanes with AA missiles, even helis , Red Sea destroyers, and finally Mediterranean sea based AD, US as well as British.
It was not the "Iron Sieve" alone failing, but all of NATO AD.
Granted Israel retained attack capabilities. But unability to defend counts a lot.
You are putting your finger on an important point. The more so as AEGIS backed by ciws is the one NATO system that seems able to protct itself at least.
I guess the Iranian Air Force could not gin up their flying carpets in time for interception.
According to Pakistani media, it seems they are negotiating purchase of 5gen chinese warplanes which fared quite well against indian air force.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/170332 So new flying carpets, and possibly second thoughts about S400 and radar station purchase in Russia.
Sending Israel to the stone age when the USA has escalation dominance is stupid. You want to give the USA the pretext to nuke Iran?
Why did they hold back?
"Won't be enough on its own, they will have to also demonstrate delivery capacity against the continental US and the willingness to use the nukes even in case of a conventional attack. This means ICBMs"
No, it doesn't mean ICBMs. That's a myth that you'd think all the recent examples of incursions deep into big countries has dispelled. The Israelis had a small army of operatives in Iran building and dispatching very big drones against local targets and the Kiev junta sends entire trucks equipped with terrorist gear across nine time zones.
With millions of foreigners walking across loose borders and narco-gangs shipping hundreds of tons of dope through (literally) hundreds of sophisticated tunnels and many thousands of containers being delivered to US coastal cities, you don't need an ICBM to bring a nuclear explosive the size of a largish microwave oven into the US. Heck, if you want to bring in a multi-megaton *thermonuclear* explosive the size of an apartment refrigerator that's easy too.
In point of fact, you don't even need to bring the device into the US. Many key US cities are port cities where all you need do is deliver a container into the port where it awaits clearance by customs. That's close enough to wipe out New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Baltimore, LA, Seattle, San Francisco and other cities.
But with a tiny bit of thought it's easy to bring nukes into the US and then truck them around to wherever you want them, keeping them in the target ready to explode whenever you want. The technical term for that is "pre-positioning." So when anybody tells you Iran or anybody else needs ICBMs to incinerate US cities, ask them to spell "pre-positioning" for you.
By the way, all the talk about NEST teams and radioactivity detectors to prevent pre-positioning is propaganda for morons. During a congressional hearing back in the day a nuclear expert from one of the US's labs was asked what tools he would bring with him to detect a pre-positioned nuke. His answer: "a screwdriver." When asked why he'd bring a screwdriver, he answered, "To pry open any crates to see what was inside."
Nobody in government talks about pre-positioning because the moment you apply common sense and consider the reality of that strategy it makes it clear that all the idiotic trillions proposed to be spent on Star Wars and Golden Domes and other pork projects are a total fraud. Any serious enemy will already have nukes in key locations in the US and no Golden Dome fakery is going to stop them.
Thanks for stating what should be the obvious John. If volume coke and fentanyl can be moved across our borders, what would be so hard about doing the same with nukes? Nothing hard about it at all is the answer.
They could employ you, you know, to make sure they are “smart”. I’ll bet you can help them out of this imperialist attack on the friendly administration of Iran. Long live the ayatollah
For once I agree. Well spoken.
>So nukes are now on the table for Iran, and for any other country that doesn't want to be attacked by the US.
Guess what happens then -- first Ukraine, then Turkey, then Poland, then Germany, Sweden (which had a nuclear weapons program once upon a time), Japan, etc. will get nukes.
The biggest loser? Russia.
Depends, although with these lunatics in Ukraine you never know.
Ukraine having a nuke ‘could’ freeze the conflict at the current frontline and maybe we could go back to normality.
At the same time I think NATO will not br happy Ukraine having nukes. Too much of a risk of escalation to a full nuclear war that NATO also will not survive
Exactly. Europe knows the dark truth about Ukraine and for sure they don't the most corrupt and criminal country in Europe to have a nuke.
Nobody will ask europeans what they think, like or want.
Well there'll be a vote but you're right, they'll likely vote as they're told.
Or they'll cancel democracy, because reasons.
Europeans are the most easily herded humans out there, and humans in general are weak-minded and easily herded.
The average Japanese citizen is vehemently opposed to building their own nukes. A Japanese nuclear arsenal would only be required if they needed to deter an invasion by China. And, that, is highly unlikely since China is already their largest trading partner.
Col. Macgregor is quite correct when he stated that neither China, Japan, either of the "two" Koreas or Taiwan are interested in armed conflict. It is only the satanic pedophiles who have infested the U.S. government who are interested in starting a war in Asia. And just about everywhere else, I would add.
As far as Iranian nukes, that is solely for them to decide. As part of the BRICS' multi-polar worldview, neither Russia nor China is going to interfere with their internal decision making but neither will they refuse any assistance, if asked.
"The average Japanese citizen is vehemently opposed to building their own nukes. "
So? Since when did citizens get any say?
Not only the citizens but the corporations who are profiting from trade with China.
GM as you correctly portray Russia doesn't want a win so that puts them in the losing category only the degree changes unfortunately.
You are addicted to doomerism, ridiculous.
Just need to make sure Africa and South America (especially Brazil) also have nuclear weapons. The US will lose big time. EU would be surrounded by nuclear neighbours. Maybe peace will increase. Why would Russia be the biggest loser? They don't need any more land or resources. Russia doesn't plan to invade the EU.
South Africa had nuclear weapons at one time.
You're backsliding in the quality of your comments. Suggesting Russia would ever tolerate nukes in Ukraine is just plain nuts. Japan already has nukes (Japan has the largest stockpile of plutonium in the world, courtesy of their breeder reactor fuel cycle). They're just undeclared.
I was thinking about the same, but what exactly would Russia's response be if Ze declares he has a nuke, and via those Neptune missiles has a way to deliver it. What is Russia's next move if they don't exactly know where that 1 or more nukes are, or even if he is bluffing - would that not push Russia to negotiate?
I mean at the start of the SMO I thought there was allot that Russia would not tolerate but I am just not sure they would start nuking things, or bombing NATO or would they dare him to use it?
It should absolutely never have been allowed to get to this point.
Which is why it was existentially important that the whole of Ukraine be placed under Russian control immediately in the beginning of the war.
But Putin didn't want to do it and didn't mobilize the necessary resources, then continued to refuse to do for four years, and still does. We don't need to go over all the catastrophic decisions (and indecision) yet again.
What I do need to point out once again is why that happened -- Putin does not serve the interests of Russia the country or the Russian people, he is the CEO of Russia Inc., the shareholders of which are the Russian oligarchs. The composition of the shareholders may have changed somewhat, but the essential fact of that being how the country is run has not.
And the Russian oligarchy firmly didn't want to:
1) Place the country on wartime footing because it would mean a reduction in their power once the state took over the economy
2) Pay for the reconstruction and reincorporation of Ukraine
3) Hurt short-term profits on commodity exports
4) Destroy relations with the West long-term, which also would have reduced their power automatically.
5) You can add the Israel factor too -- half of those oligarchs are dual-passport holders and a defeat of NATO in Europe means a strategic defeat for Israel because NATO in Europe is Israel's rear.
All of the above is grand treason. What Putin the person thinks is irrelevant, the actions are what matters. And those constitute grand treason by any reasonable definition of the term.
For which Putin, most of the current leadership, and most of the oligarchs should literally hang. Publicly.
But that cannot happen as long as the majority of the Russian people are brainwashed into thinking Putin is their savior. Not all of them think that way, there is a growing awareness of the real situation, but it is not safe to say the truth openly, and it is still a minority without any power, because the state apparatus is much more focused on cracking down on such dissent than on fighting the Ukronazis.
The "alternative media" in the West being almost entirely Putin sycophants does not help at all either.
>Japan already has nukes (Japan has the largest stockpile of plutonium in the world, courtesy of their breeder reactor fuel cycle). They're just undeclared
I am well aware about the plutonium, but they don't have delivery systems
>Suggesting Russia would ever tolerate nukes in Ukraine is just plain nuts
What are they going to do about it when presented with the fait accompli?
We might just find out in both cases.
Trump says Iran cannot have a nuke, if they say they have one what will the usa do?
In the case of Russia, I am curious why Ukraine does not already have a nuke.
>Trump says Iran cannot have a nuke, if they say they have one what will the usa do?
If they have a nuke but not ICBMs, Trump will nuke them.
>In the case of Russia, I am curious why Ukraine does not already have a nuke.
They might in fact already do and that might explain some of the way the war is (not) fought. They didn't return all warheads after the collapse of the USSR, this is a little secret of theirs.
There might be a better option for Iran than building their own nukes. Refining uranium can be used for energy and uranium, but a nuke just sits quietly in the basement as a threat. Since the Russians and Chinese already have nukes, I would rather see the 'nuclear umbrella' revived.
It's not about Iran's ethics but about enforcing ethics on Israel. The threat of getting nuked will do that.
Hello Steg! Good point!
The problem with the nuclear umbrella is it looks good on paper but it does not necessarily performs when the moment comes.
But its power lies in the fact that the enemy can't guarantee that.
It is like the major German and Italian gold deposits at the US Federal Reserve. The news says the gold might be there but it is also possible that it was already shipped to the only democracy in North Africa. In an age when wars have prearranged conclusions smaller nations can be and are sold by the pound by the superpowers.
even a few baby sized tactical nukes should be enough to deter the zionists and their golem. A dozen 12kt warheads is hardly the nightmare proliferation disaster that tiny, nonviable Israel poses with its huge H-bomb arsenal.
“Yes” on getting Russian AD; “no” on getting nukes.
These are most likely mutually exclusive choices. Russia is adamantly opposes to nuclear proliferation, and will supply AD on condition that Iran does not seek nukes. Between these two choices, I would go for AD. To the commentor below who says Iran is too big and cannot implement full AD coverage in time: it doesn’t need to. All it needs is to protect key assets and civilisn centers and credibly threaten to be able to shoot down attacking planes, because neither US nor Israel is willing risk their over-priced and over-hyped hardware.
Russian may be opposed to nuclear proliferation but they also know that if Iran goes down, they are next.
Russia is helping to build more than one nuke reactor in Iran. I was curious if Iran formally left the IAEA, would Russia pull out of that construction given that Putin is a stickler for law.
Good question. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I would expect Russia to cut Iran some slack for the time being, in light of the fact that the IAEA was literally acting as a spy for Israel and the US, passing on info that allowed Israel to murder Iranian scientists, and promoting AI-generates ‘intelligence” unconnected to any real evidence to justify Israel’s strike. Until the IAEA restores its own credibility, the NPT is basically a dead letter.
Legally, IAEA presence in Iran has nothing to do with Russians building nuke power plants in Iran.
As long as Iran is a member of NPT, it has the right to have any kind of nuke power plants it is able to get and there's absolutely no reason to deny them to Iran.
Also of note, Russia has no problem with building nuke power even in non-NPT countries, like in India for example
When I first read this I thought you were probably wrong. I thought Russia would oppose, and Iran would not seek to obtain nuclear weapons. But now I think you’re right. What changed my mind was this brilliant analysis by Arnaud Bertrand.
https://open.substack.com/pub/arnaudbertrand/p/the-key-lesson-from-iran-kim-jong?r=145k0&utm_medium=ios
And in case you can’t access it, Alexander Mercuris summarizes and adds to Bertrand’s analysis here:
https://youtu.be/WhGaP5JFtv0?si=G49JfJEfurGIORG_
Was that a disparaging comment about the world's most advanced fighter bomber?
Yes!
If Russia blocks Iran getting nukes, they are idiots, and deserve to be broken apart by NATO.
China Russia Iran need to be in a close alliance and all need to be armed with nukes.
For several years now I have wondered why countries like Iran and Russia pine to be loved and deal with the West. It can't just be about money. I moved from the West to SE Asia 22 years ago because I had enough of the climate bullshit and burgeoning woke madness. Russia seems to have gotten the message. Maybe Iran will now as well.
I think it comes down to not wanting to have the shit bombed out of them They adopt a defensive posture, unlike their opponents..
"climate bullshit" what do you mean?
The entire climate hoax. There is no science to it. "Scientists" paid to come up with far fetched, ludicrous claims about how humans and CO2 are killing the planet. Greta Thunberg cultists. I'm old enough to have seen the propaganda in the 1970's that due to CO2 emissions we were entering a new Ice Age. 1980's - hole in the ozone layer, 1990's some other bullshit, first decade of the 2000's change again, now global warming. All fake news. When the very wealthy and global elites stop buying ocean front property and then flee inland is when I might start to worry.
You are scientifically illiterate, and a paranoid constancy nut. You man made climate deniers love to bring up Greta Thunderberg, so you can fixate on her and deflect. There was never “propaganda that “We are entering a new ice age” due to CO2 that is a basic misunderstanding of what global warming is. Also the hole in the ozone has nothing to do with global warming. I am old enough to remember when the weather in the UK was colder. We should be in a planetary cooling cycle, but global average temperatures are rising. You sound like “Not muh taxes” right winger.
You are singularly a complete moron. You probably believe and believed all the bullshit about Covid-19 and the clot shots as well. There is ZERO evidence as to the climate changing any more than it ever has for eons. You have fallen for the propaganda. Better go clutch your pearls and drive your EV which causes far more emissions to build and mine all of the components to go into it than any internal combustion engine vehicle. It's always something with the doomsday climate crowd. You better move from the UK because your shitty island will be under water by this time next year.
I love this projection, calling people morons, from those who saw through 'covid' and jabs BS (I'm team no pandemic no virus BTW) but who have fallen hook, line and sinker for the propaganda deliberately fed to them, for obvious reasons, by big oil and big animal ag via the Heartland Institute, that climate change is a hoax.
It's no use pointing out evidence, they're so convinced they're invincible to manipulation. https://jowaller.substack.com/p/what-is-the-heartland-institute?utm_source=publication-search
You're fighting a losing battle on here mate!
.....And you are, by your own description, so singularly pro male, you sound seriously gay.
Some day Haywood, Greta will finally get a boyfriend and porcine Al Gore will lose 75#s and the climate "crisis" will be geo-located, simmering, to the back burner of our collective hand-wringing until resurrected in the interest of SAVING THE PLANET...again! If there was a bonafide "crisis"...suburban moms wouldn't be driving to Starbucks in F150s for a double plus good, 36 oz Chai Latte. With oat milk. War and our carbon gulping Dep't of Offense would be defunded etc etc...if any of this was real. The best handle on this fraud is exposed by comedians. In our freaky-fun-house world, you have to listen to comedians to really find out "what's actually happening" out there.<<link>>
https://youtu.be/wSPokPXRcEY?si=KbERlN_dEiCnoy-D
😂
"For several years now I have wondered why countries like Iran and Russia pine to be loved and deal with the West."
A good question. Short answer - soft power works.
A degree from Georgetown opens doors, even in Russia, that a degree from Moscow State University does not. Local oligarchs fight for trophy properties in London, not Karachi. Hollywood films may insult my intelligence, but they are viewed around the world. Even collectors of African art seek plaudits from western cultural institutions and not African ones. Opinions of western pundits are treated as oracular, no matter how many times they prove wrong.
You get the idea.
Fair? Nope.
"A degree from Georgetown opens doors, even in Russia, that a degree from Moscow State University does not." Nonsense. A degree from Georgetown is laughed at in Russia.
"Local oligarchs fight for trophy properties in London, not Karachi." Ah, no they don't, because they know the Brits take their property whenever they want. Hundreds of billions of dollars in oligarch wealth have been repatriated and reinvested in Russia as a result of Western confiscations of oligarch yachts, real estate and other trophy assets.
These days oligarchs in Russia are fighting for trophy properties in elite settings in Moscow and down South, along the Black Sea coasts of the mainland and Crimea. Buying and developing elite wineries is particularly "in."
"Hollywood films may insult my intelligence, but they are viewed around the world." By people with limited intelligence. In Russia there's been a huge resurgence of truly outstanding Russian films. The Hollywood stuff is not just too boring stupid for words, it's also offensively woke (still).
"Even collectors of African art seek plaudits from western cultural institutions and not African ones." Nope. Perhaps *Western* collectors of African art seek plaudits from western cultural institutions, but not Asians and Russians. Nobody seeks plaudits from African institutions, but that's a result of Africa being far behind the curve, not because a staggeringly corrupt and intellectually bankrupt West has somehow become vital again.
"Opinions of western pundits are treated as oracular, no matter how many times they prove wrong." This is a joke, right? Propaganda for morons continues to work on morons, as always, while intelligent people in the Global Majority have taken to ridiculing the West.
Funny, I have a degree from Georgetown and it certainly opened Russian doors....
And of course the London property market has no oligarchs seeking trophies, in spite of everything.
As for the rest of it, stop kidding yourself.
"Funny, I have a degree from Georgetown and it certainly opened Russian doors...." Perhaps in the 90's and early 2000's but certainly not today.
Did you take classes with a real Jesuit or one of the hired help?
And no, I know more than one genuine, 100%, dollar-billionaire Russian oligarch and they don't give a shit about London property trophies anymore.
"Kidding" myself? About what? Nobody gives a shit about western pundits, and that's certainly true in Russia, China, India and the rising economic powers of southeast asia. They're all looking East man, and if you don't know that you're kidding yourself.
Of course, there are no oligarchs other than Russian, the London high end property market is going begging, etc..
When I lived in Ukraine, there was a fashion to denigrate the West, wester institutions. The moment Club membership was dangled out like a treat to a dog, all was forgotten, all was forgiven.
Iran doesn't need to improve AD as much as it needs to improve internal security.
Its AD is mostly all right. The infiltration problem is horrible.
Palantir's Ai: "...since 2015, the IAEA has relied on Palantir’s Mosaic platform, a $50-million AI system that sifts through millions of data points – satellite imagery, social media, personnel logs – to predict nuclear threats [...] On 12 June, Iran leaked documents, which it claimed showed IAEA chief Rafael Grossi sharing Mosaic outputs with Israel..." - https://www.unz.com/acrooke/the-key-nuclear-allegation-that-started-the-war-was-coaxed-from-a-palantir-counter-intelligence-algorithm/
and the first bombings happened early-morning on 13 June
Palantir is getting a lot of deserved attention right now. Another organisation that needs to be reined in with extreme prejudice.
absolutely.
Wait?
Palantir a gov contractor determining what? Nuclear threats - sounds like a dangerous lack of oversitebto me- what could go wrong?
That's because—contrary to popular perception—the Iranian regime is not quite as authoritarian as it's often portrayed in Western media. It is certainly unpopular in many quarters, but the political landscape is more complex than a simple dictatorship. There remains a deep divide within Iran between those loyal to the pre-1979 monarchy and those aligned with the ideals of the Islamic Revolution. Among the younger generations - Millennials, Gen Z, and now Gen Alpha - there's a strong sense of global identity rather than the insular nationalism of the past. Many of them are culturally pro-Western, even if politically disillusioned.
Interestingly, patriotism still runs deep, especially when the country is under external threat, like in the recent flare-ups with Israel. But at the same time, there’s widespread belief among people on the ground (I’m Persian myself and spoke with friends in Iran just yesterday) that some kind of internal deal has been struck to preserve the current regime, even as underground support grows for a restoration of the Shah - something openly promoted by certain Israeli information campaigns.
What complicates matters further is the geopolitical chessboard behind the scenes. The UK, for example, owes Iran billions in frozen assets - a debt that might be called in if a pro-monarchy government returned. There’s quiet resistance in parts of the West to that possibility. While the UK and US seem content, for now, with the current regime for reasons of regional balance, Israel and others appear to be pushing for regime change.
As always, it comes down to trade and control over resources, not nuclear capability per se. That’s just the surface narrative. The real struggle is over influence, access, and long-term economic interests in the region.
That’s a vital lens — and to truly understand Iran’s path, we need to zoom out across the last 200 years. Iran wasn’t colonised in the way India or Africa were, but it was carved up, manipulated, and humiliated—particularly by Britain and Russia during the Great Game. It became a classic imperial buffer zone: its oil extracted, its leaders installed or toppled at will, its cultural sovereignty eroded through decades of indirect control.
That left deep scars, not just economic, but existential. The 1979 Revolution wasn’t just about Islam or the Shah. It was the reverberation of centuries of intrusion. A rejection of that long manipulation; of coups, of MI6 and CIA fingerprints, of a monarchy that felt increasingly like a vassal court. For many, it was the first time in living memory that Iran said: enough.
But here's the thing - resisting imperialism isn’t the same as building something just. Iran rejected the empire, yes. But it's still grappling with the harder work of creating a state that reflects not just sovereignty, but also dignity, plurality, and wisdom.
Meanwhile, the UK still owes Iran billions in unpaid debts - a symbolic wound that speaks volumes. The empire extracted and never settled. Now, in its decline, it massages numbers and watches its own domestic fabric fray. And yet, it still tries to dictate terms abroad.
The Persian response to this has never been one of servility. We remember. From the Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1907 to the 1953 coup, it’s all in the bloodstream. Iran plays the long game because it’s been on the receiving end of short-term Western games for far too long.
The real question now isn’t whether Iran resists the West, it’s whether it can move beyond resistance into genuine, dignified renewal.
A good deal of truth to this. Now, try to convince the average frustrated MAGA.
To give one example - women are routinely elected to the Iranian Parliament, the Majlis. How many women are elected to the Saudi Parliament? None - there is no parliament and Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy.
How can anyone in Iran still trust the West when they just had a refresher course in their neighborhood of what Western regime change means? Can anyone who isn’t a throat cutter himself prefer Golani‘s IS thugs to the Islamic Republic, where minorities like the Jews are able to live in peace instead of being slaughtered?
I have read horrible stories about the Shah regime, some no doubt made up or embellished. Don’t young people know the recent history of their own country?
Yes, but not just an iranian problem. How many people died during the past week in Israel and Iran because of the bombing? My guess is less than 3000 (9/11). You will find people everywhere willing to sell their country. And the consequence might be a totalitarian society as nobody can be trusted (Stasi DDR comes to mind)
If countries under attack from the west need to be authoritarian to survive. We see what happens when target countries open to the west.
Why not both?
Putin: Iran didnt ask us for help.
That might change.
Thank you for the pedantic lecture focused on illuminating Iranians about what they need to do to be “smart”! Despite the good intentions, there’s no shortage these days of the centuries old colonial mentality that assumes these “natives” are just a little thick, dumb, or slow for even appreciating what’s obvious or they need kindergarten level reminders like slogan sounding exhortations of the need for nuclear weapons now as if it’s never occurred to the Iranians themselves.
Pay them no mind, especially my fellow Americans and even more so the "brits" give them any excuse for them to lecture someone else on what should be done, allows them to pretend that our own Govt.'s are just wonderful and are not squeezing the populations for unwilling or misguided support for every policy guaranteed to make our lives even worse.
This attack was a probing attack by the USA, so Iran does need to get nukes. Regime change is on the cards. China and Russia needs to make sure this never happens. Iran has to be the line in the sand.
That is the lesson, not only to Iran, but every other country, threshold State is a losing play, guaranteed. Expect Japan, Brazil and others to take note. Especially Japan. They are about done with the hegemon.
Kim was the smart one all along.
Explain me this: If Trump is trying to free himself of the deepstate neocons, and still keep some semblance of being the (I’d say ‘a’) leader of the free world, why rescue Israel when he was so annoyed with them?
Trump is simply trying to show that he is not Netanyahu's sniveling little bitch.
He fools nobody that does not actively wish to be fooled.
Also, begin infiltration of troops and munitions into Iraq. Roll back the US/Israeli forces. Start by attacking the US bases in Iraq. What happened to Iran's "increased influence" in Iraq? Surely plenty of Iraqis would be delighted to join any campaign to drive the US out of Iraq?
I think one consideration with the GBU is that these are pretty obsolete given the realities of war and the target. Gravity bombs that have to be flown within 10k of the target are not much more than paperweights. Why not fly them in to make a big boom (very Trumpian MO) and clear out some warehouse space for drones and rockets.
Iran had rejected a military pact with Russia for fear of antagonising the US. That no longer applies. In failing to bring down Iran as in foment its internal collapse- another Syria- and what the western hegemon had intended viz Russia-(that went well!), the US has just made it stronger, or it will be as the Russia China Iran NK bloc beds in. Same with Russia itself whose economy has never been so robust since the soviet years quarantined it from the west. So much for sanctions, and a cry for more sanctions- the european approach with its astonishing propensity to reinforce failure. If you only have a hammer everything is a nail. If prayer does not work you are just not praying hard enough. It is medieval.
War run by managerialists, what could go wrong?
managerialists - love it!
Iran declined a military pact with Russia because Iran doesn't want ANYONE controlling them Look what happened to Syria. They never got those weapons that could have stopped anyway Israel from wrecking their airport every weekend. Iran isn't scared of the US and never has been.
Strategic manipulation of hostile entities (the US) isn't necessarily motivated by fear, but Iran certainly made a mistake here. And knows it and is correcting that mistake.
Indeed. Putin never crossed Netanyahu and allowed The Syrian Arab Army to be hit every day for years, until it collapsed. I believe the Iranians noticed, and questioned whose side Putin was on.
And that has not changed. Iran will need to focus on China, which is not compromised by dual nationals, donors, media barons etc.
I mean yeah - Russia's a great friend to have - a very great friend. I'm not sure about the dual nationals the donors the media barons...I don't know much about that but as far as being the BOSS in the military sphere, because that is what would happen. Syria was dependent on Russia for military support. Iran doesn't need or want that. Poor Syria. I hope that soon it can be fixed. Erdogan is another snake in the grass that seems to have some hold over Putin. Iran is friendly with Turkey but would not trust it. I hope Palestine can become a naiton with a military - what an improvement that would be. Yemen feels more brotherliness towards Palestine than any other country. Why is that ? And sadly , after I read Glasshopper's interesting comment - and thought it made total sense....then I read this article, where, near the bottom it talks about China's business dealings with Israel. 2nd Biggest trading partner - it sucks. https://anthonyjhall.substack.com/p/israel-the-worlds-top-candidate-for/comments
The article states “China is Israel’s second biggest trading partner after the United States, and actually not too far behind.” meaning Israel depends on China and China doesn't depend on Israel. Here are China's largest trade partners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_China
Israel isn't even listed.
okay- great to clarify.
Putin is very tolerant of Israhell because 2 million Russians live there.
It is a point of chagrin for many Russians who have had it with Israhell (which supports Ukraine with more than tacit moral fraternity), and Putin is at odds with most Russians on this point.
Israhell is a country of psychopaths, and can never be trusted in any form.
It has forfeited its right to co-exist with the planet's other nations.
Agreed. Iran doesn’t fear external powers easily, it sees itself as the cradle of civilisation, with a legacy stretching back millennia. The refusal to enter certain military pacts stems from a desire to maintain strategic autonomy; such agreements would only limit their flexibility.
Behind the scenes, there’s also significant backchannel negotiation with various Western factions aimed at preserving the current balance of power. It’s not a simple case of East versus West, or friend versus foe; Iran operates in a far more nuanced, multi-directional way.
They understand the value of their geopolitical position and are willing to leverage it from all angles—what you might call a 360-degree strategy. The Persian language even reflects this mindset: zerang (زرنگ) describes someone sharp and street-smart, while kalak-bāz (کَلَکباز) refers to a trickster or schemer. Both terms capture a cultural pride in strategic thinking - however it manifests.
"Iran doesn’t fear external powers easily, it sees itself as the cradle of civilisation, with a legacy stretching back millennia."
None of that matters, any more than Egypt and the Pharaohs.
That comparison misses the mark. Iran isn’t clinging to the past like a museum piece; it’s operating through a civilizational lens that still actively shapes its political identity, strategic patience, and sense of sovereignty. This isn’t nostalgia. It’s continuity.
Unlike Egypt, where the Pharaonic legacy was severed and commodified under foreign rule, Iran's self-image as a civilisational state was never fully broken, despite invasions, coups, and isolation. That matters. Because when a state sees itself as part of an unbroken arc, not a post-war invention or colonial afterthought, it behaves differently. It plans differently. It doesn’t panic. It doesn’t buy into the short-term wins the West so often misreads as “strength.”
This isn’t just poetry either, it informs real strategic posture: the refusal to bind itself to bloc politics, the calculated ambiguity, the multi-vector diplomacy, and yes, the pride in zerang - not as trickery, but as adaptive intelligence. That doesn’t make Iran perfect or beyond criticism. But it makes it misread - constantly - by those who think in headlines and hegemonic binaries.
You don’t have to admire the system to acknowledge the shape of its mind. Iran plays the long game because it remembers what long really is.
Again, none of it matters. What matter is power. That is all.
The Pharaohs ruled Egypt for millenia. The time from the First Dynasty to the Ptolemies was long than from the death of Cleopatra VII (yes, I know, she was Greek) to the present. Foreigners with more power than the locals ended Pharaonic rule.
You’re not wrong on the historical arc, but I’d argue you’re still treating power as a purely material, external force. As if missiles and GDP are the only levers that matter. But real power isn’t just what you can project — it’s what you can endure. What you can regenerate, integrate, and carry across centuries without breaking.
The Pharaohs fell, yes — but Egypt’s civilisational continuity was already severed long before Cleopatra. It became a territory, not a subject. Iran never quite did. That’s not romanticism — it’s strategic reality. A people with memory, with a coherent narrative of self, with an adaptive political grammar - they don’t disappear just because a stronger army walks in.
Power without legitimacy is brittle. Power without narrative is rented. Iran understands this, whether we agree with its methods or not. It doesn’t fear a Western boot because it’s survived far worse: Genghis, Alexander, imperial carve-ups. And yet it remains Iran, speaking the same language, praying with the same cadence, and playing a longer game than most modern states can imagine.
So yes - power matters. But power without cultural architecture is just noise. Persia is noise-resistant. That’s the real difference.
Syria didn't see it's collapse coming either. Iran should fear the US - 6 countries trashed, and they are the last on the list. This complacency will be the end of them.
Yeah, the politicians that turned into managers. They know nothing substantial and think they can manage people.
But your comment is ‘cheap’ 😀 as it should be known by now that the EU politicians have become a total disgrace and show incompetence, stupidity, entitlement and any lack of empathy with an obsessed hate towards people that think different from them.
How is it possible that the EU population allowed them in power is somehow mind boggling
they 'took' it, since not all EU layers of politicians are elected and not all election outcomes are honoured. pray the EU implodes (and pls give us back our national currencies).
EU is imploding. Multiple investigations into the EU expenses..........whetther anything happens with this who knows.
exposure of the EU's corruption is a first step. however, would it really make a difference? remember the collusion between French politicians and McKinsey's international financiers - https://www.europereloaded.com/mckinseygate-frances-shadow-government-and-the-rise-of-the-corporate-state/
Hello Mary Lou.
I really don't expect anything to happen BUT I live in HOPE.
Thanks for the link.
Thanks for the link. Very revealing.
Nothing will come of this, because nobody of influence and authority in europe wants the eu to implode.
They will do whatever it takes to keep their project together. They've already canceled elections on multiple occasions and banned opposition candidates on the flimsiest of pretexts, all to barely a peep from europeans themselves.
"Iran had rejected a military pact with Russia for fear of antagonising the US"
Is there evidence for your assertion? I'd say Iran had little consideration of US interests. My guess is there were conditions on the table that the Iranians didn't want to commit to. Strategic autonomy seems to be their mantra.
A ceasefire is disastrous for Iran....
Israel won, it just killed anyone who had an IQ of over 110 in the regime. You can only do so much with the dumb-dumbs who have been threatened and seen their predecessors fate. Not only did they get nuclear scientists but AI specialists, computer programmers of note, cyber security specialists, it was primarily an anti-tech/anti-science attack. The Iranian population rallied only to be disappointed. There was no serious pain, only symbolic pain. Significant anti-air complexes have been eroded.
Whatever Israel suffered will be rebuilt/given free by the West (probably literally stripped from Ukraine if need be), the US is already going to absorb its war debt in some manner.
I wouldn't be surprised if the ceasefire was accepted because enough of those in the Iranian government who opposed it and resisted Israeli threats are dead. Now its the compliant ministers with direct lines to Mossad.
Though not using air fighters was interesting, I had assumed Iran amassed F-5 clones for anti-drone/multi-mission swarm warfare but yeah it didn't deploy anything really not even in defense. And we've yet to see cruise missiles which apparently are harder to detect.
Anyway doubt this holds for long. Something is brewing..... something closer home.....
Iranians' IQ = 106
Israelis' IQ = 92 (same as the Ukrainians' IQ)
The level of stupidity shown again and again by quarrelsome zionists in Israel and the US is stupendous. American ziocons in particular look degenerates with psychological/mental abnormalities. As for Israelis, it is hard to imagine any decent jewish person desiring to live in the fascist jewish state.
A good news is the jewish victimhood profitable card is decisively over. Kaput. Zionists jews are branded globally as genociders. Unfortunately for the jewish tribe, it is predominantly zionist, aka genocidal.
As long as Hollywood controls the airwaves everyone will "stop noticing" in 5-10 years, a new cohort of young people raised on Netflix will believe Israel is the victim surrounded by barbarians. They'll let out the Harvey Weinsteins to make hits like Fight Club and The Matrix to distract the masses.
"The sun may rise in the East, at least it settled in a final location
It's understood that Hollywood sells Californication"
IQ is the stupidest measurement to have ever been conceived that measures nothing but the ability to solve western style puzzles. It is not a measure of any people intelligence and it's use for assessing military potential of a nation is as misguided of an attempt as one could be.
I agree that "IQ" is a stupid measure. But in fact, it is, not by chance, highly correlated to level of education. In fact, "IQ" test inventories are school performance tests, not much more.
So, what does it tell when Iran is ranking above Israel in such measurement? Prolly that murdering scientists will not help the Zionists a löt.
Well put.
No, the American National Football League has used the Stanford Binet IQ test for decades. They say it is HIGHLY correlated to on field success.
This is patently false. I can tell the difference between a programmer who is at 100 IQ, 110 IQ, 120 IQ and above instantly. The capacity for abstraction matters. Most people who say this took an IQ test and scored really low.
I’d argue the ceasefire was anything but disastrous for Iran. It was a masterclass in calibrated restraint. The regime took a hit, yes, but it didn’t fall apart. The state held, the streets didn’t erupt, and crucially, the leadership avoided being drawn into a broader war on terms they didn’t choose. That’s not weakness, that’s control.
What looks like passivity from the outside often conceals a deeply Persian approach to power: ta’arof — the art of strategic politeness, of deferring action while quietly asserting dominance through endurance, ambiguity, and psychological terrain. In Western terms, it might be mistaken for indecision. But in Iran, it’s often a tactic, one that masks calculation beneath ritual.
Iran is not interested in a decisive clash that drains its long-term leverage. It operates across decades, not news cycles. The goal isn’t revenge for every loss; it’s to remain in the game, outlast the pressure, and continue shaping the region quietly and asymmetrically. That’s why it doesn’t deploy its air assets rashly or unleash full capacity, not out of fear, but out of awareness that time is on its side.
So yes, something may well be brewing. But don’t mistake a pause for surrender. In Iranian strategy, the silence after tea is often louder than the shout across the table.
This ceasefire was a mistake... Iranians were ready for the long war, Iranian liberal feminists were on the street gagging for a nuclear bomb dropped on Tel Aviv.... its VERY RARE for a nation to have its Pearl Harbour moment and not go "balls deep" if you get my meaning. One might even say a really bad call. A boomer calculus mistake (like Nasarallah trying to counter balance Israel instead of fight it, getting himself clipped in the end).
Do you think Israel will be this weak ever again? After fighting for nearly 2 years, its population going through all kinds of disruptions, do you imagine it would be easier or harder to deal with Israel in the future when a new generation of people, with new generations of weapons, and new lessons from this war, start this up again?
Strategic politeness worked back in 1886 when men shot pistols at each other for honor. This is 2025, we got guys wearing smart glasses doing work while their self driving Teslas are taking them places... Perception is part of the battlefield. If you haven't noticed the cycles to condition the population into war are shorter and shorter. We (the collective west) are entering hot wars at faster and faster rates. Perception is the biggest component that allows this. We perceive no cost so it continues. Vietnam created a perception of US losing wars, this stopped the US from entering large wars for a relatively long time. Everything is going to restart a lot sooner than Iranians are comfortable with but in a much more unconventional way.
A civil war was never gonna really break out (the geography alone is unforgiving). The IRGC counter balances the national army from a coup. The Basij counters violent riots. The only way it was going to shift was what Israel was trying to do, take out as many people inside the government that may have extreme hardline views to shift it (like assassinating Raisi for this cardiologist turned president).
I even read that in the final days Israel tried to knock out as many officers, offices, headquarters, armouries of the Basij as possible. What could the goal of that be?
Now Mossad will go look for foreign Iranian students, blackmail them, and when they return become a serious threat. They're going to go on a campaign of retribution, not aiming for scientists but their families. People don't understand how pressure is applied. Its now going to be pain for Iran (like the past) but without the excuse to fire missiles at Israel. How is this better?
Unless Russia and/or China threatened the US with something to make them back off. Iran doesn't have enough leverage over the US to sustain the peace treaty.
The only thing holding it together is Trumps ego. Literally. The sheer power of his narcissism. And rational actors know what happens if you push a narcissist too far.
I still don't understand why Iran would be so quick to end the war if Israel was really on the ropes. It's all so damn confusing, like a terribly written Steven Segal war movie from the 1990's
Correct. They should have inflicted even more pain.
It was also true that the Zionists did a lot of bomb damage. Iran did not get away scot-free.
Because even if Israel was "on the ropes", Iran was in far worse shape. Sometimes it is what it looks like.
Possibly.
Alternatively, Iran knows it can't destroy Israel and would invite massive US responses if it tried. So "victory" isn't on the cards.
May be it just wants the Israelis to calm down, because there's no big win possible for either side.
The Americans don't want war, the Iranians don't want war and the Israelis can't do it on their own. So we get this "theatre".
Maybe the Iranian’s are better assessment makers, knowing tgeir strengths and weaknesses. Surely they are more intelligent. I can imagine that they may make a calculus to prevent less damage and less needless death on their side. Maybe it has something to do with their religious position, in the same way as not wanting to have nukes?
The other day India and Pakistan could have gone to war over 26 people killed (sad for those left behind). A war could have resulted in thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of victims. A country must make such calculus otherwise they demonstrate their utter stupidity. The USA is different as they are protected by big oceans
In the previous episodes between Israel and Iran, Israel assassinates some Iranian figures.. Iran makes a symbolic bombing back. Bu Israel NEVER learns its lesson and each new episode results in more Iranian dead. It's a jus a stupid game to play with them. In this case, I believe holding back in the wrong move.
Stripping the descriptives out of your article reveals a journalist with some value. I’ll put the rest down to marketing
The simple answer is likely because they didn't want to 'push their luck' with the US. We can laugh at US/Trump all we want, but let's be realistic. Trump remains unpredictable and besides the fake strikes, even in its imperial twilight, the US remains a formidable force that could wreak havoc across Iran if Trump was truly mad enough.
I thought it might be because they dont want to use all the missiles in one go.
Very good asessment.
Trump came up w/the peace proposal while he was on his way to the NATO Summit in The Hague (where he's fêted by his hosts, the Dutch king and queen). it's as cheesy as it comes and fits perfectly in the grand theatre play being performed.
Our esteemed peace president - make war to create peace.
Hegelian dialectic: problem (T's popularity's waning) - reaction (drop bombs) - solution (instigate a peace initative: popularity saved AND he's on time for gloating some more at The Hague's NATO Summit).
ugh
Absolutely, and that caution is the strategy. From a Western lens, restraint can look like weakness or fear. But within an Iranian framework - both political and cultural - it's more like a deliberate form of timing. The regime understands the volatility of US leadership, especially with someone like Trump potentially returning. They’ve no interest in handing him an excuse for escalation.
This isn’t about being intimidated by American power per se - Iranians aren’t naive about the US military machine. But neither are they eager to play into its theatre. It’s a deeply Persian approach: don't provoke the madman, don’t corner the beast. Buy time, observe the shifting winds, and act when it counts. It’s less about pushing luck and more about preserving optionality.
Iranian strategy tends to be poetic before it’s kinetic, shaped by centuries of navigating empire, invasion, and survival. Silence is a tactic. Delay is a shield. It’s not always satisfying in the short term, but it often wins the long game.
That is so true and on target. People just babble sometimes like it’s a western movie saloon out there and all you need to do is to walk in, all dicks swinging, and John Wayne the way in a quick shootout. They have little conception of “war as continuation of politics by other means” where a return to politics as early as feasible is the most viable strategy! There’s a limit to brinksmanship and management of multiple potential risks and vulnerabilities is the most effective approach for long term survival or triumph. This is well demonstrated by Russia which has navigated and managed its position vis-à-vis US during the whole SMO. Despite the certainly that America via NATO and EU has been the driving force behind Ukraine as a proxy, Russia has wisely tried to avoid escalation beyond Ukraine and especially direct confrontation and potential war with US/NATO. Obviously, Russia is not afraid of anyone, especially not when they can wipe out the US even more swiftly than the other way around. BUT only a fool could conclude that it would be in Russia’s interest to expand the war it can already manage and surely win via a grind in Ukraine than risking Armageddon by opening multiple fronts and inviting simultaneous wars. Iran is taking a similar approach. If it needs to fight Israel or America in the near or foreseeable future, which it would do if forced or imposed, it will try to the extent possible to do so by fostering conditions as favorable as possible for maximizing its chances of survival and success. Despite being blindsided and surprise attacked, Iran didn’t panic and wisely calculated an a flexible, yet systematic and disciplined strategy that morphed into a lethally attritional one with rapid turnaround and payoff within a few days. Who could’ve imagined such patience paying off, absorbing losses and not desperately rushing to make major moves such as closing the gulf right away.
Absolutely spot on — and it’s refreshing to see someone speak to the real strategic depth behind Iran’s actions, rather than falling into the usual “shootout at the saloon” narrative. Too often, people analyse Iran (and Russia) through the lens of Western immediacy — as if all states are just reactive, pride-driven actors waiting for a trigger. But Iran, like Russia, doesn’t think in cinematic cycles. It thinks in centuries.
Both civilisations carry long memories of encirclement, betrayal, and existential survival. For Russia, it’s been about territorial depth and calculated stoicism. For Iran, it’s about navigating between empires, sometimes resisting, weaving through, but always preserving the thread of identity. And when you add the Shi’a cosmology into the Persian strategic mind, you get something uniquely complex: a worldview that doesn't equate suffering with failure, or delay with weakness.
In Shi’a consciousness, Karbala is the defining reference point — a small force surrounded, standing for truth, losing the battle but shaping the soul of a people forever. It’s not about "winning" in the way Clausewitz or the RAND Corporation would frame it. It’s about absorbing, outlasting, and choosing the terrain of response, not out of fear, but fidelity to a longer arc of justice and endurance.
So yes, what we’re seeing is restraint, but not passivity. Iran absorbed the initial blow, calibrated its posture, avoided overreaction, and reasserted its presence without triggering a wider war. That’s not folding, that’s classical Persian strategy: survive first, strike meaningfully, and stay in the game long after your opponent burns themselves out.
Iran, like Russia, knows the West is playing fast. They’re playing deep. And the outcomes aren’t measured in headlines - they’re measured in what remains standing a decade from now.
Very thoughtful and so eloquently stated!
Yes, but the best strategy requires the ability to act sometimes with immediacy and decisiveness when it is warranted, as opposed to always resorting to Persian patience and restraint.
I hope I am wrong but part of me fears that Iran will look back with regret on this time it had Israel on the ropes and just let it go.
There objective to keep the US from back stopping Israel's attack must have been agreed to in the meetings with Witkoff and Vance.
>Thus, Israel was slowly losing its capability to deal damage
Not sure about that, the bombing of Tehran really intensified the last few days, and it certainly looked like Iranian AD was broken.
>Israel has now lost against Hamas, lost against Hezbollah, and lost to Iran
How did Israel lose against Hamas when Gaza is completely leveled and how did it lose against Hezbollah when Hezbollah lost hundreds of its top men and pulled back from the border?
Regardless, this is all missing the point.
Look at the bigger picture and look deeper at the history of the region.
This war might be remembered as the Twelve-Day war, in reference to the Six-Day war. The Six-Day war was an overwhelming victory for Israel, but then in 1973 things didn't go so well for them and they had to make concessions later on. However, what happened in the end, both in the long and short term? First, Egypt flipped quickly. Then over time Israel won decisively. It took decades, but they did -- Syria is now gone, Iraq is gone, Libya is gone, Iran is the only one left standing.
Does anyone in their right mind think that the Israelis will chill from now on in perpetuity? Of course not, these people are relentless psychopaths.
And Iran now is a target more than it has ever been before.
So what are Iran's useful moves from here on? They can acquire nukes, but here's the problem -- they have been trading missile strikes with Israel for more than a year now, the last two weeks for real, and Israel does have nukes. But that didn't stop Iran from striking them. So how will it stop Israel? Probably won't. Deterrence doesn't quite exist here anymore.
But if Iran doesn't have nukes very soon, deterrence will be completely non-existent.
Thus Iran kind of has no choice, they have to get nukes.
And that is a strategic defeat for the "multipolar" world, and especially for Russia.
Because once Iran gets nukes, the next country to immediately get them will be Ukraine (likely not theirs, they will be given nukes by the West, to checkmate Russia). Some of us have been warning that there is a very brief and rapidly shrinking window in which the Ukrainian question must be decisively and permanently resolved, but Putin's continuous prioritizing of oligarch profits over the most fundamental interests of the country prevented that. So here we are.
But it won't be just Iran. Turkey will get nukes too. Which will also be a strategic defeat for Russia. Up until now there was an extreme power imbalance between those countries, but once Turkey goes nuclear, well...
Others will follow too.
This is what happens when you are always on the defensive and have the initiative -- you get maneuvered into one lose-lose situation after another.
>It is interesting, however, that Iran’s airforce did not seem to participate at all—some experts suggest Iran likely relocated its entire airforce to the far east of the country and simply kept it out of harm’s way the entire time.
Iran's ancient planes don't stand a chance against the IAF, this is why they were kept out of the fight. Iran essentially doesn't have an air-force. And it is not clear if it will be given time to acquire one before the next war. These things take decades. Russia doesn't have the production capacity to supply them with a triple-digit Su-35s and Su-57s, China does have it, but will it do it? Kind of doubtful.
>By the way, as another nail in Israel’s phony ‘shadow war’, Iranian general of the Quds force Ismail Qaani, who was said to have been “killed” by Israeli strikes, miraculously reappeared in the victory celebrations today in Tehran:
Which makes him a prime suspect of being a Mossad agent, doesn't it?
the bombing of Iran in the last few days was becaue of the delivery of some big bombs
If the Israelis ever neutralise Iran they will turn on Egypt.
Spot on! How long until Kiev announces that it has received some nuclear armed ICBMs from its BFFs?
The day before Ukraine is renamed Chernobyl, courtesy of Russia.
They are betting that Russia doesn't have the stones.
So far, Russia is doing everything in its power to prove them correct.
They also bet that movement of Russian troops were a bluff before the Russians attacked. They bet sanctions would cripple the Russian economy and the war would be short. They bet Russia and China would never work together.
China isn't much help to Russia, as Chinese businesses fear western secondary sanctions.
I've seen some coping in my time, but you've won the Gold medal here. You've conveniently forgot to mention it was Israel who stopped all media showing the destruction of its tiny enclave. You've conveniently not mentioned any footage of any Israeli "far superior" aircraft over Iran airspace. Because there wasn't any. You also haven't mentioned how small a warhead is the fighter jets carried to Irans borders, are able to carry & use. As opposed to the huge ballistic missiles that decimated the likes of Haifa port. You do the same old trope every time you comment. You make the false accusations of superior military attacks with superior equipment. But never ever have any proof to back your accusations up. Because there is no proof. You're obviously a paid BS merchant. As you do the same thing on many sites, that all coincidently show proof of Western failures & lies. At this stage anyone who is used to your nonsense, knows your full of BS. Why was Israel asking the Iranians to stop, when the Iranians had no interest in stopping? That seem like someone winning does it in your tiny mind? Why is it Iran was only needing to use smaller amounts of missiles to get through Israeli air defences if Israel had plenty of air defensive missiles left? Just like the much talked about Iron Dome. You're statements are full of holes, for any informed rational person. You're a paid BS merchant you know it, I know it. I'll admit the only proof I have is your constant comments refusing all evidence of facts. But youre doing it that often on many different people sites. It's obvious.
You are absolutely correct
Iran basically capitulated. Israel dictated the time and terms of the war and now the peace. Your remarks may be true that they were running short of munitions, but then why did iran agree? Because, obviously, they were getting wrecked
No one wanted the iranians to put up a fight more than I did. But they didn't. Israeli and American ISR meant that western iran became a kill zone for any TELs, and/or the iranian launch procedures are so slow that by the time they roll out the launcher to fire they are already detected and targeted
One of the key changes which will arise from this conflict is that the geriatric sclerotic clerics who run the country will be shadow deposed by technocrats and other secularists who dont rely on divine intervention as a battle strategy
Trump in the end threaded the needle, whether you want to admit it or not. He busted the neocon nut by finally bombing the nuke facilities AND extricated the US inside of 72 hours, and as of this writing civilian air traffic is resuming to both Tehran and tel aviv.
Will it hold? Probably not. The iranians will only cement their incompetence if they do anything but rush to a bomb (or several), immediately, and conduct an underground test or two. And then we are in a new world.
>The iranians will only cement their incompetence if they do anything but rush to a bomb (or several), immediately, and conduct an underground test or two.
Undergrounds tests without working ICBMs is the worst possible move right now.
It opens them to an immediate much more vicious attack with the US joining without Iran having the capability to meaningfully strike and thus deter the US.
ICBMs are needed first, and you need a few dozen of them too, you build up the warhead stash in paralle, and only then do you reveal that you have at least 50 nukes to put on those ICBMs,
Presumably the Iranians have various MRBM's which can carry 1-ton (give or take) warheads, which should be in theory easy to swap out with a nuclear warhead. But, we didn't really see those get rolled out in any quantity over the last 2 weeks so I am inclined to agree with you.
MRBMs can't reach the CONUS.
You have to be able to take out DC, NYC, Boston, LA, the SF Bay Area, etc. for credible deterrence.
Otherwise having nukes without adequate delivery systems just makes you a target for immediate annihilation.
North Korea has entered the chat. 😏
You seem to have witnessed a different war than I did. Iran did great damage but she also took some terrible hits. What we see is just a lot of face-saving on the part of the Americans and the Zionist Israelis to avoid admitting their defeats. Iran is happy to let them play, but everyone knows what really happened.
Without a doubt, interpretation of the outcome of this short conflict is going to be up for serious debate, and I certainly accept your viewpoint. Something to ponder though - when or if this conflict kicks off again, do you doubt that it will be the Israelis who strike first?
The balance you rightly emphasize cannot be altered, as long as Iran aren't able to make atom bombs.
I understand. When I was a cowboy literally 'riding the range', I always carried a saddle rifle. Of course, I never had to use it.
Even a dirty bomb will do for the time being.
Historically, the Zionist entity has always broken ceasefires, so yes, it will be the Israelis. Iranians are civilized people; Israelis are barbarians.
While I would like nothing more than to posit that civilised people always prevail over barbarians, we both know it doesnt work like that.
These are hasbara trolls liking and replying to each other. I live in China and the media there is very pro Iran. I saw entire Israeli neighbourhoods looking like Gaza.
People are accustomed to movies, where the bad guys are beaten within one and a half hour. The reality is not like this, and the Iranians know better than distant onlookers.
You're right. In real life, the bad guys win, and then tell everyone they are the good guys.
In the end the only thing that matters is power and the will to use it. Everything else is downstream.
In essence, being at real war with Israel or Ukraine overlaps with being at war with NATO (that is, the USA)...
Can you even fathom the thought that Iran does not want to go to war- or be in an extended war or be the country to destroy Israel - Israel is the aggressor - Iran responded - like a good neighbor Iran made its point forcefully and was mindful of being humane- Israel is a satellite nation of America it has no humanity and sees all
Non Jews as low life forms with no value so it kills with impunity. The two countries have both suffered but Iran has a moral compass in a world gone mad - Zionist Israel is at this point a death cult with no regard for any ones lives including its own people and it’s American enablers. Morality still lives in the world so sad that it is seen as weakness when in fact it is the heart of Iran.
If you ignore Haifa port being offline, the Haifa oil refinery destroyed, Mossad HQ destroyed, the Weissmann Institute, Unit 8200 HQ. Let's see what Israel looks like in a year. They certainly won the censorship war though.
Lots of Indians, Thais, and other nationalities evacuated. They probably lost 1/6 of their workforce in a week - especially farm laborers, etc - people they need. Their economy was about to implode.
the illegal jew state economy is completely subsidized by jewSA
That’s one reading - but it assumes Iran was ever playing to “win” in conventional, Western military terms. It wasn’t. Iran’s entire posture has always been asymmetrical, multi-theatre, and deeply shaped by a survivalist philosophy. Yes, Israel set the tempo, and yes, Western ISR has advanced to the point of near-total overwatch. But Iran didn’t capitulate - it recalibrated. It absorbed the blow and declined to escalate into a full-blown regional war. That’s not surrender; it’s restraint rooted in strategic culture.
From a Western viewpoint, this may look like weakness or incompetence. But in Persian political logic - steeped in centuries of empire, invasion, and survival - this is the long game. It’s not about theatrics or chest-thumping. It’s about remaining intact, outlasting pressure, and continuing to shape the regional board piece by piece. Iran has allies and proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen - those haven’t gone anywhere.
As for the clerical regime, you're not wrong that internal pressure is mounting. But if there's any "shadow deposition" happening, it will be Iranian, not Western-imposed. The youth, the technocrats, and even elements of the IRGC are evolving the game. But transitions in Iran are rarely sudden. They unfold beneath the surface, like tectonic shifts, not like coups. That, too, is a feature of the system.
And while Trump may have managed a limited strike-and-withdraw maneuver, let’s not mistake brevity for brilliance. Iran allowed things to de-escalate not because it was defeated, but because it sees this as just one round in a far longer match. One that spans not just military might, but economic positioning, global multipolarity, and cultural legitimacy in a region rapidly shifting away from American unipolarity.
Iran may or may not “rush to a bomb.” But if it does, it will be because the international consensus — and the JCPOA’s collapse — left it with no other deterrent option. And that’s not incompetence. That’s the slow, brutal logic of realpolitik.
ChatGPT wrote this. So easy to spot the writing style
Indeed, from my prompt, it doesn't alter the argument. You do not understand Persians or Persian thinking.
But ChatGPT does?
You're asking the wrong question.
It’s not about whether ChatGPT understands Persians. It’s about whether the ideas expressed carry depth, coherence, and truth, regardless of the tool used to articulate them. You could hand a mirror to a stranger or a sage. The reflection depends not on the mirror, but on what stands before it.
The irony, of course, is that the original article we’re all responding to bears plenty of the stylistic markers of LLM-assisted drafting — the extended em-dashes, the modular scaffolding, the over-polished rhythm. And that’s fine. LLMs are tools, not oracles. What matters is the clarity of the insight, not whether it was typed with ten fingers or nudged into form by an algorithm.
To dismiss an idea solely because it might have passed through a digital hand is to avoid the actual terrain of discussion, which, in this case, is rich with historical nuance, civilisational memory, and cultural psychology. Persian thinking isn’t a riddle locked in bloodline or birthplace. It’s a philosophical current — shaped by poetry, patience, paradox, and pain. You don’t have to be Persian to sense it. But you do have to slow down long enough to listen.
If you’d like to engage with the actual ideas — sovereignty, Shi’a temporality, the slow geometries of civilisational strategy — I welcome it. But if the conversation ends at “ChatGPT wrote it,” we may not be speaking the same language after all.
By the way I'm Persian - so I certainly do.
So many assertions, most so vague as to be unfalsifiable.
but zion don backed down from "regime change" and gave in to full Iranian oil shipments to china...
I feel that the Iranians should have kept on going for a few more weeks with their devastating attacks on Israeli infrastructure. Tel Avi now has a respite and will use that time to recuperate and replenish.
As far as anti-air missiles are concerned where will they get them from in enough numbers? The cupboards are bare......
Yep. And what they will get is overpriced, over-engineered US crap.
Haven't the Chinese embargoed their critical minerals for US arms manufacturers? The cupboard really might be empty.
Which the US will pay for.
You are right, if you care more about hurting Israel than you do protecting Iran. I am guessing the Mullahs care more about protecting Iran?
You can argue that it's a foolish policy because Israel is inevitably going to bomb again, but my sense is that over time the West gets weaker and the East gets stronger, so they have no need to act/react now.
I concur
So the putrid Satanyahu has simpliciusly exposed his Chosenites to a Nuclear strike without warning. Congratulations Benny Miliukovich, Zhopa!