SANCTION IRAN

“They've now discovered that they can control it, that they can even threaten ships by suggesting there are mines at the bottom of the seas. And, of course, insurance companies are not going to risk it, and that alone will upend the global shipping and energy and economy. So they now have a tool in their disposal, and they're trying to figure out how to monetize it because they've calculated that if they toll the ships that are passing through the Strait Of Hormoz, they can make a lot more money than they do from their oil revenues.”

“The IRGC has decided that the best way to handle their failing economy and their failing legitimacy at home is to lash out at the global energy supply by launching new attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. This is a classic move by a regime that feels the walls closing in, but they are playing a very dangerous game with the world's oil supply. If they think the world is just going to sit by while they choke off the energy lanes, they are deeply mistaken.”

“These generals are not as motivated and driven by the cleric ideology that defined Iran in the past forty seven years, sort of the death to America, the religious theocracy. What motivates these generals is power and money. And for both of those things to happen, the regime needs to survive, and it needs to thrive economically.”

“The incident started when a gunman attempted to storm the annual event where president Trump and senior cabinet officials were in attendance. The attacker ran through a security checkpoint and exchanged fire with the authorities before being subdued and taken into custody. He was armed with knives, a shotgun, and a handgun.”

“For the first time in forty seven years, the generals have gone to the Americans and said, if there's a deal, your oil and shipping companies can come and invest in Iran. You can help us reconstruct and rebuild. And that's something that's never been done before.”

“Iran's foreign minister went to Islamabad, and The US special envoy Steve Witkoff and president Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner were scheduled to also fly to Pakistan on Saturday, and everyone anticipated another round of talks. And then we started getting mixed messages. The Iranians said, oh, well, we're not meeting directly with the Americans, and the foreign minister left Pakistan. And president Trump abruptly announced on social media that he was canceling the talks and not sending his envoys to meet with the Iranians.”

“Every time I would ask that question from sources, I would say, who is making the decisions? Who's running the country? And I would hear Sepah. Sepah means the revolutionary guards. No one said the Ayatollah. No one said it's the supreme leader, and that was just such a difference to how things were done before the war where the senior Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran for thirty seven years, always had the last word on all decisions that were critical to the state.”

“He's been moved to a very high secure secret place. Access to him is almost impossible for government officials or military commanders. There's no electronics around him. He can't speak on the phone or engage electronically in any way. And communicating with him is sort of, you know, the old ways of writing longhand letters, sealing it in an envelope, and having a human chain of couriers carry the letters to his secure place and then back.”

“Well, because these generals are not as motivated and driven by the cleric ideology that defined Iran in the past forty seven years, sort of the death to America, the religious theocracy. What motivates these generals is power and money. And for both of those things to happen, the regime needs to survive, and it needs to thrive economically.”

“They've now discovered that they can control it, that they can even threaten ships by suggesting there are mines at the bottom of the seas. And, of course, insurance companies are not going to risk it, and that alone will upend the global shipping and energy and economy.”

“In my interviews over the past month, every time I would ask that question from sources, I would say, who is making the decisions? Who's running the country? And I would hear Sepah. Sepah. Sepah means the revolutionary guards. No one said the Ayatollah. No one said it's the supreme leader. And that was just such a difference to how things were done before the war, where the senior Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran for thirty seven years, always had the last word on all decisions that were critical to the state.”

“For the first time in forty seven years, the generals have gone to the Americans and said, if there's a deal, your oil and shipping companies can come and invest in Iran. You can help us reconstruct and rebuild. And that's something that's never been done before. The senior Ayatollah Khamenei had specifically banned all American companies from coming to Iran after the 2015 nuclear deal, and now the generals are doing away with that order.”

“The Iranian regime is essentially signing its own death warrant by continuing down this path of escalation and refusal to compromise. They are betting that the West is too tired of conflict to respond, but history shows that when you threaten the global economy and pursue nuclear weapons simultaneously, you eventually cross a line that cannot be uncrossed. This regime is flirting with total destruction.”

“There is a move within the Democratic Party toward what I call Third Worldism, where the interests of rogue states are prioritized over the interests of the United States and its allies. This perspective sees the United States as a global bully rather than a force for good. It’s a ideology that treats the IRGC with more sympathy than it treats the people who are actually trying to maintain order in the Middle East.”

“President Trump is currently doing what he does best: keeping everyone guessing as to what his next move will be. The media wants a five-point plan, but Trump understands that unpredictability is a form of leverage. By keeping the Iranian regime off-balance, he prevents them from being able to calculate exactly how far they can push before they face a devastating response.”

“In fact, people who I spoke to in Iran were telling me that the decision making is now kind of like a board of directors, that the Ayatollah is sort of the director of the board, and the generals are the members of the board, and that, yeah, it's not a one man show anymore. And when those decisions are eventually brought to the supreme leader, through couriers, to his hideout, is he essentially being asked to rubber stamp them?”

“He's had three operations and is waiting for a prosthetic leg. He's had operations on one of his arms and hands, and his face and lips have been burned severely. And the burns are so extensive that he can't even speak properly, which is one of the reasons why we haven't heard his voice or seen his face.”

“Iran's foreign minister went to Islamabad, and The US special envoy Steve Witkoff and president Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner were scheduled to also fly to Pakistan on Saturday, and everyone anticipated another round of talks. And then we started getting mixed messages. The Iranians said, oh, well, we're not meeting directly with the Americans, and the foreign minister left Pakistan.”

“They are announcing to the world that they won’t negotiate on nuclear arms or their missile programs, which is essentially telling the international community to go jump in a lake. This isn't just posturing; it's a fundamental rejection of the diplomatic process. When you refuse to talk about the very weapons that threaten the existence of your neighbors, you are signaling that you have no intention of ever living in peace.”